City of Heroes: Game for the Working Man...and Only the Working Man

My introduction to MMORPG (yes, that does refer to an actual gaming genre) world was one bereft of logic. After shelling out 60 bucks for the game itself, paying a meager fee of 15 (or less) dollars a month seemed downright asinine. But, when you think about any MMO game left to its own instruments, its only purpose is to provide an online battleground/society for its users. And with the amount of upgrades and patches, as well as Events online, they have to make more money somehow.

However, for a jobless student like myself, getting sucked into such a world and paying month to month would most certainly eat steadily away at my hard-earned savings, and who needs the thought of wasting both time AND money on a video game to get lines of code that make your other lines of code cooler?

But…

City of Heroes, along with a short list of well-made MMORPGs, is addicting as hell. There is something to be said about constructing your own superhero down to facial expression and trapping thugs in cases of solid earth while your teammates pummel the crap out of his helpless body. Going solo for the first couple of levels can make you feel invincible…or downright idiotic, which is why team-based combat rules in City of Heroes.

With so many possible costumes and abilities, you can find almost any combination you need. And good teams are still rare, which is why it is such a rush when you get on one.
And good Leaders are hard to come by. Some are decisive, but way too gung-ho, so pals get left behind to be slaughtered. Others are immensely impatient, but sometimes that pays off when teammates take forever to pee ;). But I like the ones that are humble enough that you don’t want to kill them after being led into an ambush and watching your pals be slaughtered like cattle.

Scrappers (melee heroes) do not make good Leaders. I don’t care if you recruit well. When the things get dicey, Scrappers cannot give orders, we’re too busy fighting. Controllers, Defenders, or Blasters make exquisite Leaders. Why? Because they are a fucking distance away. They can easily survey the situation and make educated decisions on what to do about it. It is great fun to watch a Scrapper take on a Boss all alone, and then freeze that Boss solid, so that lone Scrapper really can beat him.
Now, take these comments with a grain of salt. I have seen my share of jerks, no matter what their archetype, and a fair number of Scrappers and Tanks that led very well and it was an honor to kick butt with them, but for the most part, the melee fighters…are absolutely infantile and seemingly inebriated when it comes to leading.

Now, I would not have done such a tangent if I were not fully absorbed by this game. A lot of people would say something along the lines of, “Why are you wasting brain power lecturing nerds on Leading capabilities?” give or take a few terms. And a large side of me would say, “Exactly.”

Because, although I consider myself a Gamer, as I grow older I have come to realize the art of procrastination. In America especially, we are very, very good at procrastinating. And though you could argue that MMORPGs are just another way to interact with other people, and in some sad way you would be correct, it is still effectively keeping us from doing what we are supposed to be doing. It is synonymous with the Everquest-complex: that one is so consumed by this online society, that reality seems less and less appealing. Relationships

So perhaps I should change the title to this Rant to: City of Heroes: Game for the Single Working Man. Someone who is financially covered and who won’t hate himself, at least initially, when the only place he feels at home is in the Pink spandex suit with dangerous shoulder pads at 1:00 in the morning fighting Igneous rock beasts.

Since I feel at home in reality, I can only escape for so long. I have responsibilities and a future to secure, so I only play for a month at a time. The major flaw to such a technique is Personal. I make good friends, who watch my back and I theirs, in this massive world full of different heroes, but then, by leaving for certain amounts of time, they grow up (or just level up a lot) without me. I miss their growth. And when I return, their levels are so much higher than my own that I cannot join them in their current missions.

So for friends, I just start over. And over. And over again.

But for the time being, I am much happier embracing life…
And Unemployment.

Over and Out,
Adam