Spoiled Forever
You’ll have read in my last post that I was giving Eve another go. That didn’t last long. That game is not for me. I don’t want to fight or mine, so that leaves me with endless missions to earn the money for R&D which I did want to do – and the time that would take is just overwhelming. Plus all the long jumps through space with that music in the background- it was hypnotic yes, but I don’t want to be hypnotised, I want to have fun. So it’s just not for me – I’m not brave enough to try to master the PvP elements, and the PvE is just too slow.
So I tried SimCity. Totally different. Quite enjoyed it but now can’t prise husband off the game. He walks around the house fretting about fires and oil reserves (newsflash- as I type this he tells me his town hall has burned down and he has lost a department- he looks truly traumatized). Over cups of coffee he tells me about his expansion plans for the region. There is a gleam in his eye I find rather disturbing. It’s well & truly his game now – I have admitted defeat.
Desperately I tried Assassin’s Creed. I’d bought it for husband for Xmas but he hadn’t really got into it. Neither did I. Fight combos that involve more that two buttons are out for me. In real life I frequently forget how to work my thumbs. I did not get far but enjoyed the opening cut scenes.
Toyed with the idea of Civilisation. I used to love the original Civ. I invented the pyramid did you know. But in the end decided to try Fable III – it was for sale in town. Hmm. Really enjoyed the opening & the dialogue & the general look of the game but once I started fighting I started to dislike it. I found myself just banging X, or sometimes X, forward, release X (the timing of which often failed me) to do some rolling thing that was singularly unimpressive (since I kept doing it wrong). I was also irritated by the dog barking at me all the time, instructing me to dig like some newly promoted canine foreman (I told him I’d left my spade at home). But what I really disliked the most was the movement and the camera angles.
In Fable III I found myself often facing the wrong way, running towards the camera instead of away from it, and running right through mobs as I hacked & slashed the air. This meant I then had to turn slowly around to get the ones I’d missed (nearly all of them of course) and that meant faffing around with my viewpoint. Oh it was just ridiculously complicated. For me anyway. I found myself yearning for WoW. I really have been spoiled with WoW. The camera is fixed permanently behind my character’s head unless I choose to do something crazy with my left mouse button (which I never do – unless I’m in a panic or want to see how fetching I look in a new outfit). I go forward with W (yes I’m a keyboard mover – don’t knock it – it has built muscles in my index finger that I never knew I had). When I veer left or right the camera goes with me. When I fight I can stand still unless I choose to move (which I don’t – I’m no jack in the box PvPer – I‘m a frozen in ice mouse clicker). And so today finds me with my WoW account back up & running, on a new server (I’ve made the decision not to try to level on a PvP server anymore – frozen in ice mouse clickers do not fair well & nobody shows mercy, even when I wave). I have a level 8 (soon to be 9) blood elf rogue. She runs & the camera follows, she turns left & right & the camera still follows. She never runs past me, giving me a sly little wink as she disappears off the screen. In WoW I even enjoy the fighting (if the mobs helpfully stand in one place anyway).
Or WoW why do I leave you? When will I ever learn? I have to face facts – WoW has ruined me. It’s the only game that fits my particular (low level) skillset. And yes sometimes it gets tedious, sometimes it feels like I’ve done it all before, sometimes I cry when Auntie Bernice hands me the pie for the 999th time. But then I try something else and I remember why I’ve played it for so many years – despite all my shortcomings as a player. The grass is always greener I know - but not when you have to press three buttons or swivel god knows what just to see it properly. It’s not you Xbox games – it’s me. I’ve given my heart to another & it has spoiled me forever.
