Teamplay -required-, communication and social structures
Fieari
Join Date: 2002-10-22 Member: 1566Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2002-10-22 Member: 1566Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">You must win so I can win, then we can all win (an essay)</div>The big thing that really drew me to Natural Selection over Counter Strike and other FPS was the social nature of the game. I wasn't just fighting off aliens or repelling the human menace by myself... I can do that in single player games. I know, some people play multiplayer because humans are more challenging opponents than any AI can be, but I liked the fact that in any good server, just about everyone would have voice communication, and we remained in communication from the beginning of the game.
Why was this the case in Natural Selection, but not in any other multiplayer game I've ever played, before or since? I'm convinced it's because of the nature of the game. In no other game is your personal success reliant on the success of other people. You can't do the job alone. If nothing else, the grunts need a commander to get cool guns, and the skulks need gorges to get resources. If the gorges don't do their job, if the commander doesn't do his job, it doesn't matter how skilled you are: you can't do jack. THEIR success is crucial to YOUR game.
When this happen, communication becomes part of the game. More than communication, teaching, which fosters social bonding. If you can't do it alone, you need someone else to cover the other roles. If they suck, you still don't win, so you teach the other guy how to play. And to teach, you need communication.
This is what I've found lacking in all the other source mods I've been playing as of late, and Eternal Silence in particular comes to mind here. Yeah, teamplay helps... organization helps... but it isn't required for you to play and have fun. You don't get cool guns by talking to other people. Natural Selection is the only game in which I've ever seen that happen. That's the biggest draw for me.
If the communication and social nature of the game were removed, I would no longer play.
So please, I beg, please keep this aspect of the fundamental game. There's no where else to turn!
Why was this the case in Natural Selection, but not in any other multiplayer game I've ever played, before or since? I'm convinced it's because of the nature of the game. In no other game is your personal success reliant on the success of other people. You can't do the job alone. If nothing else, the grunts need a commander to get cool guns, and the skulks need gorges to get resources. If the gorges don't do their job, if the commander doesn't do his job, it doesn't matter how skilled you are: you can't do jack. THEIR success is crucial to YOUR game.
When this happen, communication becomes part of the game. More than communication, teaching, which fosters social bonding. If you can't do it alone, you need someone else to cover the other roles. If they suck, you still don't win, so you teach the other guy how to play. And to teach, you need communication.
This is what I've found lacking in all the other source mods I've been playing as of late, and Eternal Silence in particular comes to mind here. Yeah, teamplay helps... organization helps... but it isn't required for you to play and have fun. You don't get cool guns by talking to other people. Natural Selection is the only game in which I've ever seen that happen. That's the biggest draw for me.
If the communication and social nature of the game were removed, I would no longer play.
So please, I beg, please keep this aspect of the fundamental game. There's no where else to turn!
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