Thursday 22 September 2005

Nice Americans

This is not really about the game City of Heroes, but that is where it took place. The game has separate servers in the USA and Europe, although each of them cater to the rest of the world as well. But by and large, most of the people playing on each server is from that area.

I used to play on the American servers before Europe got its own, but since then (spring) I have played mostly here, usually in a team of two, no strangers welcome. This was after some rough first weeks, when the teams I was on were often worse than nothing.

This week I've been back on an American server (Justice) and I am amazed by how easy it is to find a team and make friends. I've played for a few days, 15 levels for those who know the game. I have been in random teams almost all the time. None of these have been bad. Some people don't have the gaming skillz perfected, but everyone has been polite, friendly, and ready to play their part in the team.

It is totally opposite of the standard caricature of Americans as arrogant egotists, as they are being portrayed by European media. Perhaps the American government is assembled of that kind of people, it certainly seems that way sometimes, but clearly the common man is decent. OK, perhaps the common man is not roleplaying a superhero. But even so, I really don't think we Europeans have much to teach our American brethren about personal ethics. The casual ease by which people cooperated, even new players (one was only 10 years old) shows that they must hail from a culture where getting along is a prime virtue. They may be superficial, but hey, at least it is a nice superficiality. For everyday life, I guess that goes a long way.