Thursday 12 June 2003

Pic of the day: Sisyfos' task: To belabor the obvious.

Return of the newbie

As you may have noticed, I have spent the last week or so playing games, on vacation from reality. In particular Dark Age of Camelot, where I have played Itlandsen (the overly defensive paladin) to level 49.2. But today, there was a misunderstanding between Tash (now Peachess) and me, and a disagreement followed. We disbanded our diamond seal group and I went off to play newbies.

I created a new character, an Avalonian fighter. That is kinda like a joke, because Avalonians are like elves: They are tall and thin and very intelligent, but weak and fragile. You may need brains to play a fighter well, but the fighter character does not use intelligence. Even paladins use piety for their spells. So an Avalonian fighter has an uphill struggle all the way. Thus, I named him Sisyfos. There is a double meaning to this: In groups and local channels, it is common to shorten a character's name to only the first three letters ... It is not necessary to call him "Sissy", everyone will think that anyway. I choose a really cute character mesh too, a bishounen as the Otaku would call it, a pretty boy. The whole idea is to make it look like a hopeless case, and then take everyone by surprise! Muahahaha ... err. Anyway, that's the plan.

I also revisited some other newbie characters that have languished in the shadow of Itlandsen. A young enchanter, an even younger necromancer, and an even younger than that skald. Found that I still remembered my way around the newbie areas quite well. Then again, I have spent an awful lot of time as a newbie. Until recently, that was pretty much all I did. I used to call myself "the eternal newbie", as I would start a new character every few days. The bright side of this is that I have tried out a heap of classes, races and servers. On the down side, I know very little about the high-level parts of the game, and that is an awfully big part of the game.

***

I wonder if there is a deeper meaning to this. I mean, beyond curiosity and a lack of patience. Like, a kind of childishness? I guess when I play these games, it is my inner child that plays. I am not exploring adult themes in-game, like for instance romance, marriage and organized warfare. (OK, I guess one of these is not the same, your guess as to which one ...)

I like to play in a carefree manner. Oh, I am cautious with the best of them. But I don't have any long term goals beyond the obvious. And my short term goals are not really experience points or loot, but fun. While others prefer to group with those higher level than themselves, I am happy to play with lower level characters. I get less experience points that way, but I get the thrill of protecting the younger characters and stand in the front against the imaginary forces of evil.

The long-time reader will remember that I have this habit in real life too, of hanging out with people much younger than me, and preferably students and such who don't have their mind filled with house building, diapers and career. Is it the same thing? Is it that, whenever I risk growing up, I go somewhere else and start being childish in a new way?

If that is so, I wonder about the gradual creeping tendency to play my characters longer and longer. And in particular characters that are similar to myself, in name and in personality. First there was Itlandm the enchanter, level 32 or some such. Then Itland the paladin, level 37. And now Itlandsen, the overly defensive paladin, at level 49.2. You don't get much higher than that before you reach the final level, 50, where your character is seen as "grown up". You can still develop in some ways, but it is a slow and subtle process. Much like being grown-up in real life, it is about acquiring money and equipment and a few carefully selected skills.

***

The ironic part is that leveling these newbie characters is pointless. DAoC has recently got a new feature: If you have a level 50 character anywhere on any server, you can raise your newbie characters to level 20 in a flash, with the /level command. You will even get free equipment, although not very good equipment. So logically I should go play Itlandsen first, and then the rest. But I kinda like the first 20 levels. I like mingling with green newbies who barely know how to attack a water beetle. And I like advancing fast, getting whole new spells or styles every hour or two. In fact, I like being small and weak and poor. As long as it is in the game at least. ^^

And so I am a newbie, over and over again. I never tire of being new.