Zorafim
Nov 4, 2016, 04:25 PM
Think of the MMO of your choice. Think of how you collect item upgrades.
Isn't it messed up?
Let's take PSO2 for example. Most rares you get off the corpses of monsters. Kinda cool at first glance, but it stops making sense if you think about it. And then it makes terrible sense once you think harder. Monsters kill humans. Weapons are meant to be used by humans. And we found a weapon on a monster. So what does that mean?
That means the sword you picked up off the corpse of that dagan used to belong to another ARKS member. Until that dagan killed him.
You're swinging around a new sword because someone else died.
More typical MMOs like WoW are even more disturbing. You enter an enemy stronghold, kill someone, and loot their corpse for their equipment. If that doesn't sound wrong to you, strip off the layers of fantasy.
A SWAT team breaks into a gang hideout. They encounter resistance from the gang members, but manage to shoot them down. After securing the area, they inspect the corpses... and strip off any valuables to keep for themselves.
It's a horrific thought, right? So why am I pretending to do that in so many games?
All these work counter to the typical fantasies of their settings. And I didn't realize how much it bugged me until they started offering me alternatives to that method of progression, which I found more satisfying. The Class Hall sets in WoW, for instance, reward you with new pieces of equipment for completing certain tasks. Which I found to be rewarding and fitting with the class hall fantasy. FFXIV and I think PSO2 now has you go out to collect valuable items to use as currency for ancient or powerful relics. Which again, fits the fantasies of those games well.
But then I enter a monastery governed by a corrupt official, slay the monks defending their holy building, strip the gown off their back, and wear it as my own.
So disturbing.
Isn't it messed up?
Let's take PSO2 for example. Most rares you get off the corpses of monsters. Kinda cool at first glance, but it stops making sense if you think about it. And then it makes terrible sense once you think harder. Monsters kill humans. Weapons are meant to be used by humans. And we found a weapon on a monster. So what does that mean?
That means the sword you picked up off the corpse of that dagan used to belong to another ARKS member. Until that dagan killed him.
You're swinging around a new sword because someone else died.
More typical MMOs like WoW are even more disturbing. You enter an enemy stronghold, kill someone, and loot their corpse for their equipment. If that doesn't sound wrong to you, strip off the layers of fantasy.
A SWAT team breaks into a gang hideout. They encounter resistance from the gang members, but manage to shoot them down. After securing the area, they inspect the corpses... and strip off any valuables to keep for themselves.
It's a horrific thought, right? So why am I pretending to do that in so many games?
All these work counter to the typical fantasies of their settings. And I didn't realize how much it bugged me until they started offering me alternatives to that method of progression, which I found more satisfying. The Class Hall sets in WoW, for instance, reward you with new pieces of equipment for completing certain tasks. Which I found to be rewarding and fitting with the class hall fantasy. FFXIV and I think PSO2 now has you go out to collect valuable items to use as currency for ancient or powerful relics. Which again, fits the fantasies of those games well.
But then I enter a monastery governed by a corrupt official, slay the monks defending their holy building, strip the gown off their back, and wear it as my own.
So disturbing.