Gaming by GlossGreen

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. Since then I've gone online to have hours of quality entertainment.

I can't believe it. I've been banned! And it's all because I'm a n00b (please don't hold it against me, I'm really a nice person deep down inside). I don't have much experience with multiplayer, LAN or online, so I was a little nervous trying it out on Warhawk for the first time. I just got the Warhawk bundle with the headset yesterday and today was the first chance I had to try it out. I had a little trouble setting up the headset, through no fault of the headset or the PS3, I'm just clumsy with technology sometimes. Well, I get the headset recognized, heard my voice in the ear piece as I'm setting it up, and think all is good to go. I don't want to look like a complete loser (not that it actually helped) so when I started the game I set up a LAN game first to practice. I played for about 20 minutes (far too short a time but far too long when I was the only one on the map) and got the basics down ok. I then decided to brave going ONLINE. I am justifiably nervous at this, there are 10 year old kids on there that can fly rings around me. All I can say is thank god for anonymity. I don't think I could handle being whipped and then having them really know who I was. Me being a 33 year old gamer that grew up with a controller in his hand. I come from a time when multiplayer meant it was a 2 player game. Ikari Warriors and Contra are perfect examples of this (and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, point proven).

Anyway, so I get the game started, customize my character and aircraft (my daughter wanted me to use the underwear as my icon, I said no), and join the first server I see. I accidently joined a CTF map with a few people on it. Since I'm not a member of a clan I usually only play DM and usually that helps me avoid all n00bish taunts. When I started the game there was someone near my avatar obviously trying to talk to me, but for some reason my headset isn't working. So there I am, me fiddling with my headset in the real world, while some complete stranger (getting more irate by the second) is yelling at me. I could hear something through my TV, but not enough to make it out. All I understood was this: "GlossGreen....(mumble mumble). GlossGreen (mumble mumble)". I knew he was getting irate because I went a little ways away and he followed me. "GlossGreen....(mumble mumble). GlossGreen (mumble mumble)"! Then he hit me! I think he got me with the knife, must have had friendly fire on 0 because I didn't die, I just got irritated myself. I ran away from him again. You know what he did next? The little bastard threw a grenade at me! So, I get a lot irritated and decide to test out the Warhawk. I jumped into the first one I could find. After hearing "GlossGreen....(mumble mumble). GlossGreen (mumble mumble)!", for a couple more minutes, I quit the game. Upon leaving I get this message "You have been banned from this server." I should have paid attention more in the lobby. The name of the server was "Obey me or else." Whatever.

Well, I'm not that old, but I have been neglecting a segment of the gaming culture for far too long. I have been an ardent game fan for most of my life and have seen a lot of types of games. One type of game that I have completely ignored is the online multiplayer genre. Being a fan of consoles and not owning a computer, I really didn't get to experience the whole fragfest scene, and really had no interest in it. I thought that the best games where the single player adventures with great stories and character development. I really didn't consider the stories I read about with MMOs and the like to be of interest. In all honesty, I thought they were a little shallow.

Recently, I came to a revelation: Games don't have to have a great story to be fun. Games didn't use to have a story at all. Take a look at Pac-Man and the like. What story is there? Why are the ghosts trying to get him? Why are there ghost running around in the first place? We didn't know and didn't care, it was simply fun. The recent consoles have brought the point home even further for me. With Live and PSN, multiplayer has definitely been opened up for all of us. Even those of us that thought it wasn't worth their time before. This is definitely a trend that needs to continue. We need multiplayer in our games. Why? Because it's just plain fun to join either a team or individual multiplayer map and just shoot or slice stuff up, be it a monster of indescribable hideousness or a soldier from that faction we hate.

The image of the lonely gamer in the basement, leveling up his black mage in the latest version of a Japanese RPG, while surrounded all the accouterments of geekdom is slowly going away, and definitely for the better. Now we see a more social experience that bridges the console and PC crowd. There are some diehards that will always say, "First person shooters suck on consoles", or "Platforming blows on a PC". Well, they are both wrong. Games belong to the gamers, not the systems that they play them on. I know people will disagree and that is fine. As long as you are happy when you play and with what you play on, you win.