I’m a gamer. No no, I think you think that you know what I think “gamer” means but what you think is not necessarily what I think of and may not be the commonly thought view of “gamer”. Follow that? Good. You see, I’m objective. I play a lot of games. I mean a lot of games. I wouldn’t be here at Cheyenne if I didn’t. But unlike so many Internet based vitriolic opinions made with 2 seconds of thought, I tend to see the good in every game I play, along with the bad.

I’m someone who can look at the Star Wars Galaxies NGE and see “why” it was done, understand it, even appreciate the end result even with all of its faults. Wait! Calm down folks, that does not mean I’d “recommend” the game to friends to play, but its to say I have played it (I have two max level toons, and no, the first was not a Jedi), studied it, see what’s good about it and even dare I say it, enjoyed my time with it. But I understand why it’s not a wildly successful product too. However, I can engage in conversation about it open minded.

Name an MMO (at least stateside) and I’ve probably tried it, played it, enjoyed it and left it for various reasons. Ultimate Online, Everquest, Everquest II, Star Wars Galaxies, Earth and Beyond, Asherons Call I and II, Eve Online, Neocron, Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft, Fury, Auto Assault, Jumpgate, Flyff, Hero, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard, Matrix Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Shattered Galaxies, Shadowbane, the list goes on and on. Some Triple A, some obscure. One thing you’ll never hear me say in conversation is “Pfft, that game sucked.” They *all* have something to offer, large or small, there are people playing them who like them and most have little nuggets of great ideas to carry forth into the next round of great MMO’s, of which I’m hoping Stargate Worlds is one.

It never ceases to amaze me though how adamant people can be about a product. Especially if they hate it. Actually, here’s a factoid, engage anyone in conversations about MMO’s and try and keep track of how many times the exclaim something is “horrible” about it vs what was great about it. The “horrible” list is always bigger. “That was stupid” “that mechanic sucked”. It’s like one of our dirty little hobbies is to recite all the things we hate about the MMO’s we played. Regardless of how long we played them or why.

It’s really pretty simple for me, I can enjoy any online social product with the right group of friends. It’s an adventure into a virtual world where the rules are defined. You know what it takes to win and lose and you’re testing your mettle against the environment created for you. Sure, you may not like it at times, you may even scream and yell in frustration. But the question is whether or not the journey was worth it, whether you played for a day, a week, a month or years (guilty!). Regardless, if I played with friends, made friends and made some memories for me it was worth it. Learn a lot about unique gameplay ideas, what works and what doesn’t. The key is not for me, what makes it work for others. Why even games that some people laud as stinkers (adamantly at that) still have 50,000+ subscribers and make money? Why some games that people say are awesome only have 20,000 subscribers?

For me that’s where the passion is. And that’s why I came to Cheyenne Mountain. Now I’m on the inside, looking out and I find it’s even more important than ever to remain objective.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 18th, 2007 at 2:56 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.