No post last week due to some birthday
celebrations. Next week will have no post as well unfortunately due
to it being near moving day. This week's post however will be a two
partner post. This week's post will focus on Cooperation mechanics in
games and how they evolved to reflect gamers for nearly 30 years. The
post after will then focus on Guildwars 2 for PC, focusing on the
cooperation mechanics in it and how they compare to current MMO's in
the market.
With that in mind, it's a great idea to
first get acquainted with the onset of playing cooperatively rather
than competitively. In Pong, one could play against both the computer
or another player. Competition was encouraged and while the game was
simplistic, it started a trend as the first successful video game to
play against a friend rather than with them. Usually when we think of
games, we think of a player by themselves or playing against another
player. Back when games were taking off in the 70's the limitations
on technology blocked the progress of co-op. Therefore some of the
earliest co-op games were beat 'em up/brawler games like Double
Dragon or Streets of Rage which
came out in the 1980's and culminating popularity with Street
Fighter II. Later on when more
advanced games came to home consoles, they reached a new level of
popularity. Some series like the Tales
games were unusual in that they were co-op RPGs. They had the ability
to play with up to 4 players which otherwise would have been
controlled with AI. Games like Sonic, Donkey Kong Country and co-op sports games continued
the trend which continued until the introduction of 3D games like the
N64.
Once
the N64 came out with 4 ports for controllers, other consoles
followed suit including Dreamcast, Xbox and Gamecube. With the new
threshold came more delay in co-op as the 64 was limited in capacity
at first. Two games even required extra ram which was sold separately
a few years later but only had competitive multiplayer in Donkey Kong
64.
It's as fun as a mine cart full of monkeys (and apes of course)
On the
PC side however, technology was introduced much faster by nature of
the PC itself. This rapid improvement led the PC to become a mainstay
for co-op gaming. Doom,
release in 1993 led the way for FPS's. While it's competitive
deathmatches were most popular, it did support co-op. Diablo
the help of Battlenet let
characters complete campaign modes together. It wasn't much of a jump
then until the early MMOs then started to emerge. MMO gaming changed
the whole outset of how many gamers play games today. The ability to
actively fix a live game for bugs rather than live with a defect or
to interact with players experiences and wishes gave rise to the
notion of a connected gaming community. In games like Baldur's
Gate and Neverwinter
Nights. The most well known MMO
of course is World of Warcraft.
By partying up to work on completing quests and later on in Dungeons,
world bosses and raids, players could collaborate on a much wider
scale and could then accomplish feats that simply weren't possible
with console games. Antics such as the famous Leeroy Jenkins meme show the consequences of individual's actions on the group are that much more magnified as such acts can have widespread repercussions. Everything is live compared to redoing or restarting a game. Taking the time to plan dungeons runs or strategies to take down a boss are dependent on everyone withing a group.
Yay! They did it!
Games such as MMOs could also retain a constant
presence in cyberspace as it could be played around the world. Some
more recent MMOs that are great examples of games that have complex
co-op games such as EVE Online (a
truly neutral environment), Left for Dead 2
(one of the most popular Steam co-op games) and Guildwars
2, by Arenanet. Guildwars
2 uses WOW's techniques and
builds upon them, stressing cooperation between other players on the
server by not dividing a set amount of loot when dropped by an enemy.
Each player receives their own nominally equal share of the loot. In
addition, one gains experience by reviving a fallen player. More
will be discussed on this and how such reciprocity affect the
culture of Guildwars 2.
The Claw of Jormag, a rather fun battle that can draw players from all over the world map.
The
next time you play something, try thinking about the general
atmosphere and culture of the game you're playing. How does it
compare between competitive games and co-op games. While many
competitive games are great ways to release tension and aggression,
co-op can can be help in creating community and bonds between players
as they much work together to solve a problem which I think can be
under appreciated sometimes. Every player has their own preferences
of course, but I must encourage others to think on the amount of
positive impact they can have as compared to competitive games,
especially for younger gamers.
My own toon. If you're on IoJ, maybe you'll see me.
