I don’t want to be a Hero

WinnTech

 

Fodder…their skulls litter the ground in a maze of death and destruction. They failed, they died, you alone must gather your strength, gather your trusted friends and step forth to glory, step forth to riches, step forward to be exactly like the rest of the people that played before you.

 

"Excuse me Mr. Dun Geonmaster, I changed my mind. I don’t want to be a hero."

 

Some words are just over used. “Heroic man saves sandwich of blind guy” well, congrats you great savior of the mustard and pickle. The Incredibles had it right when Syndrome chimed “Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super, [laughs maniacally] no one will be” This is the sad fact about MMOs, no one is trying to be creative enough to say, no, you aren’t a superhero, you are regular everyday guy that runs out with several others people and pulls off the insane that known world NPC heroes could not do. Let’s be for real, in games where your general tells you, “We tried to take that town with EVERYTHING we had and failed. Now it is up to you and your party to take the town by force.” How realistic is that really? One can try to overlook this fact as much as one would like, the fact of the matter is, everyone is a super, everyone is a hero, and everyone is the same. How could evil prevail under the onslaught of heroes? What was the real danger you Highness? I started with a loincloth and stick beating up pigs and now I am Captain Imgonnapwnu and me and my righteous band of merry men (not in that way of course) are up to defeat the guy that just handed you and your epic army their rear ends.

 

Yeah, so many games want you to play the hero. No, I don’t want to be your hero. I want to be the Hans Solo that doesn’t see the light, takes the money and says “Have fun with the Sith Lukey boy!” Jump in my ship and jump to where my next job is. Heck, it might even be FOR the Sith. Developers want you to be a hero too much. So few games come out that let you jump in the fray and not be a hero. I recall the days where you would, as in Freespace 2, fly and command a wing or be commanded by another yelling at you to dip, dive, duck and dodge. After the mission was over, they would rate you on how well you did and how well your team did, if you let your wingman to die, you heard about it. It wasn’t a, “well you did AWESOME cause you are the MAN (or woman)” and your wingman was just dust around an asteroid.

 

Heroes act heroically; if everyone acts heroically then the standard gets raised a bit. Doing A, B, C makes you a hero…wait, now it’s A, B, C, and D…. Once you realize the futility in it, it can be a depressing subject altogether. I want to be a part of something bigger than me THEN make my way to standout. A hero, no, not at all; what was done was my task; I just did it exceptionally well. I will give credit to the one game I feel did this aspect well, Descent Freespace 2. The story pulled you in, “hey rookie, you are flying with me now.” Soon it is “lead these troops and do it well.” The method of decision making and flying skill made you have to excel, they expected you to. To me, the last great spaceflight game was Descent Freespace 2. You aren’t a hero, you are in charge or not, but expected to do well. You get a slap on the backside for a great job, or reamed for doing a terrible one. Consequences are awesome things.

 

So as you can see Mr. Geonmaster. I don’t want to be your hero. So grab your gun and ammo and have fun, just show me how to get to payday.

Ironfungus

Fear is the path to the dark side, good sir.

Lukooone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKDkvy9sKuY

 

This is what happens to people who wants to be a hero in a MMORPG, we know it since EQ1

Ceridith

Pretty much.

Sadly, a lot of people, particularly developers, can't quite grasp this concept. You can't be the cream of the crop unless there are countless other beneath you. You can't be "uber", when you're as powerful as everyone around you.

Besides, there's something to be said about alternative gameplay methods as well. UO and SWG offered non-combat related skills and professions that were actually viable methods of play, and contributed to the game community. Best of all, they were actually fun for a lot of people who chose to do so. Yet, pretty much every new MMO these days is jsut combat, combat, combat, on the treadmill for epic loot.

if you truly want to play a game and be the hero, then play a single player game.

Raxxo82

From now on your my hero!

Loke666

Anti heroes have their good sides too. But you are thinking of Bobba Fett, not Han Solo and who wants to play Bobba Fett?

Ok, I do.

But you know what? I don't want to be Stormtrooper #478. I rather be Luke anyday (even if let's fact C3PO is the closest he ever gets to an Oscar).

MMOs tends to not let people be heroes or villains, they tend to let us be postmen, vermin exterminators and similar.

That does not mean overinstancing is the right way to make a MMO but it means that if you have quests I should at least either do heroic things or bad stuff, not menial tasks.

Why would I care if some peasant have rats in his cellar? Do you guys see Conan or Bobba Fett clearing small rodents? I don't think so.

Loktofeit

Originally posted by WinnTech

 

 I want to be the Hans Solo that doesn’t see the light, takes the money and says “Have fun with the Sith Lukey boy!” Jump in my ship and jump to where my next job is. Heck, it might even be FOR the Sith. Developers want you to be a hero too much.

Try EVE Online.

SnarlingWolf

Originally posted by Loke666

Anti heroes have their good sides too. But you are thinking of Bobba Fett, not Han Solo and who wants to play Bobba Fett?

Anti-hero is a term often used for characters who do good but not for the sake of doing good, although it is also a correct term in the way you used it.

 

Han Solo (in the first movie) is a decent example of this. He didn't do good for the sake of doing good, he took it on as a job to gain money but the results were good. He isn't a hero because he didn't do it using the standard view of heroics, which is for the sake of doing good and not for personal gain.

 

The Watchmen tend to be an example of anti-heroes as well. They didn't follow the rules, and in fact broke them a lot. They also didn't mind innocent people getting hurt in the process. But the ends were that they allowed for a better world even if their actions weren't selfless or always "good".

Drachasor

For the democratic response:  I want to be a hero when I play a game.  I want to make a big difference.  I enjoy doing that with other people and that's why I like some MMORPGs.

Anyhow, there's a big difference between playing a heroic character and having no consequences for your actions or only doing "impossible" things.  Consider firemen, police officers, and people in the army.  Commonly they are considered real life heroes, but they are all acting as part of a group, and their are consequences when they fail or succeed.  That sort of thing is something games can easily replicate.

WinnTech

You know, I thought the same thing about EVE. I was excited about the game when I started a trial.

I had my Iced Tea ready in a chilled glass

I had my sound system tweaked so I could enjoy the bass of my afterburners

I had my Joystick in my hand

and then...I realized...you can't use the joystick. Matter of fact, this was a space strategy sim, not a twitch-based action space sim. I was floored, depressed with my joystick still in my hand wondering "Why? Why did they not tell me? Why? What manner of freinds did I have that would leave out the most important detail of the game?"

Ok, maybe that is a bit melodramatic, but nontheless, I personally cannot play a space-flight sim without it being twitch based and letting me use my joystick (which is now gathering dust).

After that realization about EVE, I never tried it again. That joystick deserves better...it saw action in "Terminal Velocity" (1995) even...its a trooper.

Also, yes, Anti hero is somewhat the term I was seeking, Mercenary is more along the thought frame. If I couldn't be part of a bigger purpose (fighting force) then I would just merc. Eventually I may decide to help one side that is more righteous and become the Anti-Hero, but sometimes, its all about the dineros.

BTW, I really don't know much about Starwars, I just can't get into the whole thing. I have enough general knowledge about the movies to be able to pick out aspects of characters and that is just about it, lol.

Unknown

I hate being the hero or even anti-hero. I want to be a villain. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go play some Dungeon Keeper, Overlord, Evil Genius, and Ghostmaster. Evil 4 life baby.

croem

if you truly want to play a game and be the hero, then play a single player game.

 But single player game isn't chance to be hero.

swing848

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Originally posted by croem

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if you truly want to play a game and be the hero, then play a single player game.

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 But single player game isn't chance to be hero.

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You missed the point. You are not a hero and never will be in a game.

Kudos to the OP

Nice job.