Gaming Value

Kitty eyes her ale with suspicion, lamenting her choice to order the local brew. Intercepting a cockroach as it tries to dart between cover on the bar, she drops it into the ale with the intent to complain to the ostler and request a refund. She startles as something taps her firmly on the hip, leaping from her chair to face her assailant. Before her stands a grey skinned Asuran, a mop of slick black hair tied back from his face reveals darker mottled spots across his nose and cheeks.

Scowling, the Asuran points at the pistols on Kitty’s hips. “Twin pistols, highly inefficient,” he says without preamble.

“I beg your pardon?” says Kitty somewhat indignantly.

Speaking in clipped words the Asuran continues. “Twin pistols, highly inefficient. You must be new.”

Kitty leans against the bar, one hip thrust out to allow for an easy draw if needed. “I don’t think I get your meaning, how is my pistol inefficient?”

“Pistol fine for off-hand, no good for main hand.”

Kitty smiles. “Oh, is that so? What do you recommend then?”

“Dagger or sword in main hand. Or paired daggers like me.” The Asuran indicates the ebony hilts of the knives on each hip.

“I like my pistols though.” She sweeps one out of its holster turning it over in her hand, she carresses the bone inlay on the grip. “I picked them up in Hoelbrak. I really like that the short barrel allows for an easy draw. Sure, I lose some range, but I appreciate what I gain in speed.” She idly sights down the barrel before spinning the pistol around a finger then dropping it into her holster. “I did once use sword and pistol, but I prefer the twin pistols.”

“Sword and pistol better against lesser minions. Black powder flash followed by standard attacks. Sometimes pistol whip.”

Kitty fails to hide a sneer. “But, that sounds pretty boring. You just stand there in the black powder smoke and swing your weapon until nothing moves.”

“Unloading both pistols all the time is boring too.”

Kitty chuckles at the audacity of the Asuran. “While I admit that I do tend to unload with both pistols a fair bit, I’m also in constant movement. I also make free use of head shots to daze my foe and even the occasional body shot to weaken a larger monster if I’m working with others. Black powder is perhaps the one technique I use the least. I’m not one to stand still and keep firing.”

Shaking his head the Asuran simply insists, “Inefficient.”

Kitty sighs. “Well, I appreciate your willingness to help me, but I just like my twin pistols.” She smiles, “Besides, I think they make me look cool.”

Still shaking his head the Asuran says, “You just look stupid, like you don’t know how to fight.”

Kitty’s smile leaves her eyes. “To each their own. Thank you for your advice though. Please, have my ale, I haven’t touched it yet.”

Leaving the Asuran shaking his head as he climbs up the chair and grabs the ale, Kitty heads out to seek a more friendly tavern. Or at least one with better ale.

Efficiency over fun

I often marvel at how people are so dogmatically devoted to efficiency over fun. If something is 5%, or even 2% more efficient, but only half as much fun, they will opt for the efficiency option. Why do they do this? I don’t know, but it’s done under the pretence that failure to be the most efficient means failure to properly support your team. I do like my team mates to be efficient, but what I like more is team mates I enjoy playing with. Perhaps it’s just as well I don’t do the team thing very often.

I’m primarily a solo (or duo with Incarnica) PvE player. I understand perfectly well that full Berserker gear is believed to be the only efficient way to play. However, that’s only if efficiency is defined as killing the fastest. To me, efficiency has a great many definitions. For example, I’ll take a person in Soldier’s gear who can stay in the fight, over a person in Berserker gear who expects a res during every battle. I’ll accept a person playing full Clerics gear if he can convert a stressful short encounter into a slightly longer relaxed encounter. Ultimately, for me, efficiency is not about speed, it’s about overall enjoyment.

I am not by nature a social player. However, if given the choice between a 10 minute speed run through a dungeon, or a thirty minute run where I can laugh and have fun with others, then I’ll gladly take the 30 minutes please.

It’s about value for money

I am a casual player, meaning I have about an hour a day I can devote to my MMO of choice; I sometimes play much longer, but an hour is an average day. If I played more efficiently I could get in maybe three or four dungeon runs, netting me around forty gold. What would I do with that gold? Buy better gear so I can do more dungeon runs even faster? This type of thinking is often referred to as the MMO treadmill, and for good reason.

If I use that hour to roam around, do daily missions and explore a little of the map, I might get one to two gold. What would I use that gold on? Whatever I damn well please. I might try new gear, just to experiment with a build I’ve been thinking about. I might waste it betting on the moa races, or spend it on purely cosmetic armour skins. The point is, the gold isn’t required for anything. What the hour does give me is value for money.

Playing Mass Effect, I could have completed the main story in a couple of days, rather than the few weeks it’s taking me. Once it’s complete I won’t replay it, the content will have been consumed and the game will be retired. By taking my time, talking to every character, or just wandering around the Citadel listening to random conversations, I’m taking forever to complete the game but I’m having a ton of fun. If you play for efficiency, there are countless little jokes and fun moments you will miss by not playing the game at a slower pace.

When new game content is introduced I see a mad rush to complete it as quickly as possible. Two weeks of content can be done in a few hours if you are efficient about it. Then what? You sit around and complain about how the game devs didn’t put in enough content for you? The fact is, you probably missed a ton of content. Little quips between NPCs, funny moments involving chickens, all the ephemera that goes into creating a whole new experience. Sure, none of it will put gold in your bank, but it will give value to your real world dollar.

If you are really all about efficiency, then value for money is where your focus should be. Pay $80 for a game and complete it in 20 hours, that’s $4 an hour, not bad at all. Pay $80 for a game and take 80 hours to complete it, that’s $1 an hour, four times the value.

Final Word

What I’m trying to say is that I think people have lost focus on how to get value from games. Not just games, but life. Take time to savour your food, take time to do something meaningful with friends and family, take time to really see what a game contains. We only have a limited life span, so people feel this drive to cram as much into life as they can. I think better value can be drawn from life if you take the time to live it, rather than complete it. Games are the same, don’t focus on completing it, focus on living it. You’ll get far greater value for your dollar if you do.

If you want to walk to exercise, is it better to walk on a treadmill or to walk through a park? It depends on your circumstances, but in general terms, I think the park offers greater opportunity for a more rounded and fulfilling experience. When gaming, do you want to walk on a treadmill, or explore the world? To each their own,  but I’d rather stay off the treadmill.