pacifism
Latest
The Daily Grind: Could a non-combat MMO be compelling?
As much as I like being the action hero in MMOs, even I must admit that the ratio of combat to non-combat activities is lopsided to the extreme. Some days I feel like I'm playing an endless kill simulator that doesn't allow me to live in these virtual worlds so much as attempt to murder most of what is in them. So sometimes I think about MMOs where combat isn't just marginalized but non-existent. Could it work? Sure, we have seen titles like A Tale in the Desert and Myst Online replace combat with community crafting, but such games are so few in number and under-populated. What do you think? Could a non-combat MMO be compelling? Would you play a game that was heavy on sandbox elements but had no fighting? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Would you play a pacifist character if it were compelling?
I don't know what got my mind on this train of thought the other day, but I got a little incensed that MMO developers constantly equate "hero" with "mass murder of hundreds of sentients," not to mention the fact that as a character, I'm more or less pushed into being a weapon. Yes, I can kill to protect and save, but the killing wears on the virtual soul after a while. My mind then turned to the prospect of being a pacifist in these combat-oriented worlds. Sure, there are always people who go far out of their way to figure out paths to leveling without killing, but what if the game made fighting optional rather than mandatory? I'm not talking about just sitting in a hovel crafting but solving quests through deduction, puzzle-solving, diplomacy, and sheer moxie. How cool would it be to be a mage whose spellbook was full of utility spells instead of fireballs and could use those to help NPCs? Would you play a pacifist character if the game made it compelling enough? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Yes, you can play through Thief without killing anyone
Thief just got its second unveiling last week, now retooled to be more traditional and in-line with the original games in the franchise versus the grammar grotesqueness of the announced-in-2009 Thi4f. Eidos Montreal offered further insight into Thief in a blog post, confirming that protagonist Garrett will be able to get through the entire sticky-finger adventure without taking lives.Eidos Montreal's previous offering, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, also allowed players to make it through the game as a pacifist – save for bosses – a good example considering it too was a modern entry in a franchise that had been dormant for quite some time. Thief is currently slated to launch on PC, PS4 and "other next-gen platforms" in 2014. [Art from the official Thief Facebook page]
Cataclysm Beta: Mining and herbalism give experience
We've heard of people trying to play as pacifists in World of Warcraft, but there wasn't a lot of support for it in the game. A lot of the experience was earned from holiday events, battleground dailies, profession dailies, items with repeatable quests, and collection quests scattered across the game. If they played healers, this was much easier, as they could heal dungeons and battlegrounds without participating in the actual killing themselves. Blizzard added another way to earn some experience with the latest patch for Cataclysm. You now earn experience when both gathering from mining and herbalism nodes. This is being reported about 4,000 experience for herb nodes in Wintergrasp at level 80. However, these do suffer from the same experience reduction that lower level quests are hit with. As an example, a level 83 player mining a copper node earns 5 experience but earns a couple of thousand from a titanium node. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In our Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
The Daily Grind: Turning the other cheek
If there's one thing that MMOs have burned into our brains, melted into our psyches and stamped all over our reflexes, it's that if something moves in game, we should kill it. Sometimes we get a little yellow caution light telling us not to kill it yet, because we're not high enough level or that player isn't in a PvP zone, but it's only a matter of time before the light flickers to green and the slaughter commences. So we kill and we kill and we kill some more, because that's how we roll. But are there times when you deliberately choose not to kill something? Maybe it's a cute mob that you can't bear to see dead and twitching on the ground. Maybe it's a former ally who has earned mercy, or a noble race who deserve a reprieve. Perhaps you find that deep within your heart, sometimes you'd rather hug than slug -- and you run by that flagged lowbie enemy player with a smile. Are there times that you refuse to kill a mob or a player on principle rather than practicality?
