21 ms·

This is my quibble against WoW and the like. I had a lot of growth experiences in a much more brutal environment, a game called Tibia. I haven't heard any MMO a

This is my quibble against WoW and the like. I had a lot of growth experiences in a much more brutal environment, a game called Tibia. I haven't heard any MMO as unforgiving, specially in it's early days. A single death costs you about 15% of your total play time (you lose items, experience, all there is to lose basically). Killing someone usually held a profit. As a kid, it meant you would play hours and hours and get beaten repeatedly. You'd lose everything and then you'd have to find motivation to do better next time. You would find friends and nurture relationships because you needed and later because you found you really enjoyed them. Eventually, you would find you can kill for fun and profit, completely destroying weeks or months of a fellow player. It's a sort of Bottom-Up introduction on how civilizations form, because some time you realize the instabilities associated with violence (or, depending on your personality, just compassion from your repeated deaths). Protection networks formed -- killing someone might get you hunted. Guilds were the next step in this protection network, with huge political intricacies such as necessity of protecting some members which may or may not be in a morally justifiable position to maintain the position of power of the Guild. I could go on. Some of the smartest people I know and many of my best friends played the game in their youth; I wouldn't say it made who they are, but if it didn't it surely provided an amazing opportunity to learn some thing you don't really do until a much later age, if ever.

thret 12y ago
Umm, hardcore Diablo 1, 2 & 3 (3 before the expansion protected paragon experience). You die, you lose everything. The good old days of farming in D2 at 98+ only to have a PK enter the game and declare hostile... that's something like real fear.
HCIdivision17 12y ago
May I recommend EvE? It has an almost silly amount of gamer-driven complexity with a reputation for ruthlessness mostly unseen elsewhere. I liken it to a fun reminder that the real world isn't such a nasty place; and if I ever feel it is, I just need to try to fly a transport through low security space. Preferably with a week's worth of planet junk. It also happens to be a fun game. But it's super easy to make a simple, badly timed mis-click and lose your stuff to a random gank trap. (And no, ship insurance really doesn't help all that much.)

thret 12y ago

Umm, hardcore Diablo 1, 2 & 3 (3 before the expansion protected paragon experience). You die, you lose everything. The good old days of farming in D2 at 98+ only to have a PK enter the game and declare hostile... that's something like real fear.

HCIdivision17 12y ago

May I recommend EvE? It has an almost silly amount of gamer-driven complexity with a reputation for ruthlessness mostly unseen elsewhere. I liken it to a fun reminder that the real world isn't such a nasty place; and if I ever feel it is, I just need to try to fly a transport through low security space. Preferably with a week's worth of planet junk. It also happens to be a fun game. But it's super easy to make a simple, badly timed mis-click and lose your stuff to a random gank trap. (And no, ship insurance really doesn't help all that much.)