Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The game of COD

What does playing COD 4 mean to you?

That is the question that I'm posing to all you gamers of COD 4 and readers out there. Whether you play it hardcore or just play it with a bunch of friends who found it nice to play. What actually made you play the game? Or should I say, why do you actually play?




The reason for posting such a question is out of my own understanding. But it is just something, out of human curiousity, that I pose to myself every day. As I watch a person play COD 4, whether he is a very good, talented or just not very good (NOOB! jk jk...you can do better, i know it), i like to see what type of state of mind the person is in when he or she actually plays.

There is a well known notion that gaming is mostly just something to fill in that extra time of ours. Underneath all that just wanting to fill in spare time, brings us to a point where people actually want to enjoy their time. It's true, everybody likes to fill their time doing something they like. Would you want to spend the whole day staring at *fill in the blank*? (No offense to those rare breeds that just love to stare at objects all day long, and i really do mean...all...day...long...)

I have spent, and still do spend, my time playing COD 4 at Blitzone DJ. Some of you may have seen me there, to some of you i may just be another n00b not worth your time...but that's just fine. But i'd like to say that i got hooked on COD 4 because of how unique the game is compared to other fps games out there. The prime factor is definitely the realism it brings forth for the gaming audience. Plus, the skill involved in the game isn't just anything you take for granted. Probably that was for me, but thats exactly how i improved my game. I play for the fun of it, but i also like to master skills in stuff that i like to do. So i'd like to think that i pushed myself for improvement.

Needless to say, i was motivated by my passion to play. But some people are motivated by other things: money, the need to win and etc. I know some people who improve their gameplay, mainly because they want something to impress others with. They take that and gain bragging rights. I'll admit, being able to pawn a lot of people in the game takes a certain amount of skill and you've earned your bragging rights. But playing the game just brag about it to your friends... show a lot of pride in your character, albeit strange.

I'll call these people the "Dreamchasers" because they mostly end up being very good, driven by their need to gain mastery and showcase their superiority to other people. But perhaps their need to impress will fade away when they hit an obstacle that's too hard for them to overcome as easily as it was in the beginning. They take too much pride in their success that they get too fussed about keeping it, rather than focusing on the more pressing matter at hand: how to overcome the obstacle and improve. No, i doubt it lead to something called Dreamhack =P

I'll not say that my reason for playing the game is flawed. It's strong so much as long as i have the motivation to keep playing. Competitive play is always a plus to keep things going. Encouraging teammates and/or team leaders are perhaps the best type of people for me to work with. But when it boils down to competitions, you'll see me playing to do my best and not playing to win the competition and grab the prizes. It's a two different things when you play win and play to do your best. My will to win is probably much weaker compared to any other person out there, but my passion to play won't fade easily.

I believe that everything that people do shows a part of their character. Even in gaming, competitive or not, the attitudes you show towards playing a game, during the beginning, the playing time and maybe the "quitting" or "break" stage of whatever "gaming-life-cycle" or some-crap-like-that that you would call it; it tells people something about yourself.

Through any leisure activity, you take the parts of yourself that you are not very satisfied with and throw it out for anyone who notices.

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