Doing It Wrong

Apologies for the lack of updates. Real life has been busy, but I made a commiment to keep this blog updated, and my ass has been slack. Sorry. I'll get back on track.

So... I was playing WoW the other day, with a friend of mine, and we were both playing our low level rogues- mine was 25, his was 21. He decided that we should do the Shadowfang Keep instance- designed for people 18-22, in a group of 5. That sounded fine to me, but these days, finding groups for a low level instance is a nightmare. So I said... "Hang on. We're both rogues, the kings of utility and soloing. Why don't we try to two man it?" And so we did.

And you know, we didn't finish, we died a fair few times, and we ran for our lives more often than that... but it was a blast. Seriously, at LEAST top 10 best runs I've ever had, and that's competing with things like the time I won 3 pieces of Tier Gear in one go. It was incredibly, incredibly fun. With the rogue's vast arsenal of tools, we literally could handle any situation... as long as we played near perfectly. And after the first 5 or so pulls... we were. Throw a distract, double sap, ambush, eviserate, feint... it was an amazing flow, we were in the zone. It wasn't like a regular instance, it wasn't "what button combinations will kill them the fastest". It was part action game, part tactics... you had to minimize the number of enemies you were handling at once, and reduce their abilities, then try to kill them while taking blows bigger than your class is meant to take.

This is all to illustrate a point, of course- that's not how the game is supposed to be played. The game is very definitely designed for a five man party, and certainly we made horribly slow progress. But there is a certain joy to doing things in a way the game developers never expected you to... in doing something they didn't plan for, and didn't balance your class to succeed at. You feel the elation of being good at what you're doing, about playing smart and skillfully... you have to think fast, because all your previous experience is invalidated. You cannot assume they will react the same way... because you are not doing what they want you to do.

And this does not just mean MMOs, far from it. Many's the time where a game told me to run like hell, and I instead gunned down my assailants, and then took my time getting to the exit, and it felt great. I remember in Enter the Matrix (crap game, but some fun moments), your first encounter with an Agent, they tell you that you cannot win, and that you must run. Being who I am, I took that as a personal challenge. I unleashed a flurry of martial arts, all of which he perfectly evaded... and then at the end of the assault, I hit the throw button. As the agent is still bent over backwards dodging, my character leans forward, grabs him by the shoulder and leg, and tosses him off the rooftop. It was a WONDERFUL feeling.

Some games, like GTA, are designed to create these moments, and of course they are pretty awesome in that manner. But really, it's just so much more awesome to actually best the game, to have it tell you exactly what you need to do to win... and win by doing something else entirely. Really, if you haven't... try it. It is a singular feeling.

I Almost Made a Spider Sense Joke Here

You're playing, let's say Final Fantasy. I'm not gonna say which one, that's not important. And you're walking through a dungeon, and suddenly it forks. One way is a dead end, for sure, and one way continues on into the dungeon, toward your goal. How do you know which way to go? Well, this is when your "gamer sense" comes into play, and that phenomenon is what I want to discuss today. You can call it something else, if you want, I'm sure many do, but I've always known it as gamer sense. That ability of gamers to comprehend the layout and design philosophy of a game... you can get more folklorey about it, say that it's like woman's intuition, and I certainly think there's a part of it that can't be explained... but a lot of it can.

First of all, gamer sense comes from a basic understanding of code, and how it works. It doesn't teach you C++, but gamer sense gives you a vague guideline of code's limitations. Gamer sense tells you that the reason enemies don't react to what weapon you're wielding (say, charging you when you have a shotgun) is because that would be a bitch to code. Seeing what good games do, what bad games don't, what NO games do, and what catches your eye gives you a feel for the limits of game creation. It's one of the most basic, no-nonsense parts of the gamer sense. It doesn't necessarily come in handy very often, but it does help you appreciate the plight of the game developer, and understand when you're making an unreasonable request. For example- no, WoW players, allowing flying in regular Azeroth is NOT as simple as just changing a few ones and zeroes. It's a freaking code nightmare.

Another part of gamer sense is understanding the developer mind. This one is a bit harder to explain- basically, by playing lots of games, especially by a certain development team, you get a feel for the kind of decisions they tend to make. You can predict some plot twists, because you can see the telltale signs of a villian, maybe. I know I'm not the only one, playing though FFX (kinda spoilers, I suppose) that knew that Seymour Guado was a bad guy from the moment I saw his Final Fantasy villain long hair. You can also intuit layouts and organization of areas, just because you recall, on some level, what they tend toward. Again, this one is a bit more... mythic. I really cannot explain very well why I know my way through a dungeon in a Square Enix game I've never played before... I just do.

I'd say the final part of gamer sense is a sort of understanding of AI- its limitations, and how it works. You know what actions will trip up the AI, you know what it's good at, and what it sucks at. You know that when you've fired a few shots, and no one has fired back, you're about to get shot in the back of the head. It's almost like a sixth sense- I remember one time, I was playing FEAR, and I was rummaging through a cubicle, looking for gear, and I suddenly got this weird feeling, and I spun around, and there was a trooper about to lay into me with his assault rifle. I gave him a blast from my shotgun, and then paused... how had I known? There was no shadow, no sound, nothing that gave him away. I just... knew. And it happens to gamers everywhere. Gamer sense is an interesting thing, ladies and gents. I'd be interested to hear your stories and theories.

Introducing Justice Per Second

Hey there! I'm this new blog's only writer, SixTwoSixFour. A little about me- I'm a Californian college student who enjoys gaming as his primary hobby, with writing as a second. I'm no console fanboy, I like 'em all for their own things, and I play a little PC gaming too- mostly WoW. I'm not shy about trying unusual games, but I tend toward action and rpgs, usually.

And this here? This is "Justice Per Second", a blog that comments and observes games and game theory. Gaming culture is interesting, but frankly, there are already really amazing sources for that information. What JPS is here to do is try and provide insight into gaming- about new games that are trying new things, about old gems that were overlooked, and just good stories from my gaming experiences. I'll try to update pretty regularly, and warn you when I'm going to have to miss updates. Mostly, the purpose of this blog is for me to work on my writing in a way that others can enjoy. My posts will pretty much always be a few paragraphs, because I just don't think you can make an effective point in less space than that.

The name comes from World of Warcraft- not something widespread, just something me and my friends use. Basically, you usually have DPS, right? That stands for Damage Per Second, or a measure of how fast a specifc character is doing damage. I was fine with that term for a long time... until I made a Fury Warrior. Suddenly, it seemed inadequate. Damage Per Second? That's what you call it when I cut through 3 guys with one slash of my battle axe? No... no, we needed a more dramatic way of saying it. Something more... weighty. This isn't just damage I'm dishing out. This is judgement, this is devastation, this is... justice. So I started calling my DPS "Justice Per Second" instead. It just seemed... more appropriate.

Seeing as this is just an introduction, I'll post this, then get started on a content post. Alright! Good ta meet ya, and stick around! Comments are always appreciated, criticism will be considered, praise will go straight to my head. Be ye fairly warned.