Today’s post is brought to you by the letter “V” the number “22” and the support of readers like you.
Thank you.
People are different from one another. This may seem like a fairly simple and obvious observation, and it is, but it’s important to remember when gaming with them, and even more so when you live with them!
I’m going to use World of Warcraft to illustrate the differences in play styles between Virginia and myself. Now, I have not actually played WoW, but I’ve played other games like it, and I know myself. Part of the reason I haven't played it is because we've only got one computer that would really be able to run it. When Diablo III is finally released, that'll change, but until then...
Virginia started playing about 9 months ago, just before the Cataclysm. In that time she has started a number of different characters of various races and classes, but her primary is a Night Elf Hunter that is currently hovering at just under level 70. The fact that her primary hasn’t hit the level cap of 85 says something about her playing style. She is taking her time with her character, exploring the world, and completing quest chains. She is also working on a number of different achievements that are not directly related to leveling up, including reading all of the in-game books, loving one of each of the critters, and slaying one of each of the pests, and exploring every corner of the game world as she goes along.
When playing a WoW-like game, my strategy would be almost the complete opposite of what Virginia is doing. I’d have my primary character level-capped by this point, and would have started 2 or 3 other characters that would be well into their 30s-50s. My primary character I would play for a little bit every time I played, as I worked toward completing whatever achievement I had set as my next goal.
Virginia is also soloing the entire game. No quests that require multiple players, no raids, no PVP. Given how little time we have to enjoy video games I wouldn’t be very different in this aspect, but if there was a dungeon or raid that I wanted to tackle, I’d be more willing to try to find someone to quest with, at least for that instance. Going along with that, Virginia has avoided joining any guilds, though she frequently gets offers. The issue with guilds is that they require a certain investment of game time, and that isn’t always doable, especially as we’re both working on our Masters degrees!
Another aspect of the game are the professions. While Virginia has spent a lot of time working on her secondary professions (first aid, fishing, cooking) her primary skills (skinning and leather working) are languishing a bit. This is due to a couple of factors, including that she’s leveled past what her leather working skill can handle. This means that the leather she’s collecting her skill isn’t good enough to work with, necessitating buying leather to work with. In addition to that, there is all the other stuff she needs to buy like dyes, thread, etc. This serves as a hindrance to her using and advancing that skill. I’ve occasionally researched the next couple of recipes so that she knows what to buy. That way she doesn’t have to keep running around trying to collect everything. I do this just because I get frustrated at her lack of advancement in leather working!
In the end, our characters will both get to the same places, and we’ll both have fun doing it, we just take different routes getting there! I find this most noticeable when I watch her play, and I have to remind myself that she isn’t doing it wrong, she’s playing the way she wants to play. She's having fun, and that's what really counts.
Plus we can NEVER play D&D together because my style is so radically different.
ReplyDelete