Sunday 20 January 2002

Pic of the day: Aargh! Another dark picture from DAoC. I did not think about it until now. It isn't always like that, you know. Do you like my stylish green attire? It also blends in nicely with most terrains.

Wearing a mask

I spent the entire day, practically, in Dark Age of Camelot. I recreated Itland the Paladin, who had met such an appalling fate last time, ending broke and armorless on the streets of Camelot. This time I made sure to keep any money I could find. And still made sure to have fun.

It has struck me that people have rather different ideas of fun, and of what they like to do when they are wearing masks. For that is what we do in role playing games, and sadly not only there.

***

Here is how I had a good time today in the game. I started up with nothing but a training sword and shield. I did a small quest, then went off and killed small pests like plague spiders and spirit hounds. At level 2, however, I wandered off to a place where I knew there were spriggans. These carry around flint cherts, which most players don't know the value of. There are computer-controlled characters that can make flint weapons; nothing impressive, but far better than the training weapons newbies get. And for free.

So I checked up at this place now and then until another newbie wandered by. A girl (in the game at least), which is generally a good thing. They are more likely to listen to reason. So I asked her to help me kill spriggans for flint. She readily agreed, even though she had not heard of this trick before. So we ganged up on the small monsters, and took their flint and got each of us a nice flint weapon. Then we returned and hunted together and had fun until she had to log off a level or so later.

And then I continued to hunt spriggans, which I could now take alone, and make a dozen or so weapons. Why? To give to other newbies, so they could level faster than I had. Most newbies like to level fast. I like to level others fast. That's just the kind of guy I am - when I am wearing a mask.

***

There are those who believe - at least in principle - than human nature is rotten to the core. If we were not policed and threatened with prison and eternal damnation, we would do nothing but evil all day long. Online games do not support this theory. Well, there are the player killers on Ultima Online and such; but from what I understand, it is a minority of players who make a lot of trouble each.

In DAoC you cannot kill a player of your own Realm, or even his pet. You cannot steal his kill, though you can assist and thereby take some of his XP. You cannot even steal the loot from another players kill. Despite these limitations, the game remains immensely popular. And most players don't seem to go out of their way to be rude to others. Egocentric, yes, sure. Each wants to level as fast as possible; and if they level faster alone, they will do that. If they level faster in groups, they will cooperate readily.

"Not from the kindness of his heart does the baker sell us bread, but from enlightened self-interest" to paraphrase Adam Smith, founder of modern capitalism. Already children know that you can get benefits from being nice to others.

But there are others who don't even stop to collect their reward. Often when I fight some critter, or just passes through, there is the sound of whooshing magic and suddenly my weapon glows with extra power, or a magical shield of protection forms around me. I turn to see who did it, but often enough they are already gone, not wanting for thanks or for me to notice their names.

And I do the same to others. Not all the time, but it has definitely happened when I have a class that can do this at a distance. Yeah, I know if I boast of it, I won't get any reward in Heaven. But for one thing, I'm not sure if there are rewards for video games in Heaven. And besides, sometimes helping others is its own reward.

Even when wearing masks.