Greedy Goblin

Friday, December 23, 2016

My Christmas wish: a game where I can play positively

One of my highest rated posts is A good project is creative, not destructive. In this I wrote how I should work on creating something "good" (bring something that I agree with into existence) instead of fighting something "bad" (destroying something I disagree with). Yet here I am, working on a "do not play League of Legends because it's rigged" permanent page.

This project didn't start this way. It started for a "how to play a-socially for win" guide, one that teaches how maximizing farm and using the teammates as glorified mobs brings you wins. Only after I noticed that most of my defeats are to having a 0/6/0 teammate before 10 minutes and most of my wins are because of a 6/0/0 teammate instead of whatever I was doing I changed focus to the matchmaking.

I'm at the end of my findings and soon the results will be published. The numbers are pretty damning. But a "don't play LoL" page is destructive, it tries to deny players (= income) to an "evil" studio. It doesn't help anything "good".

I promise to post my results at Jan 2, Monday and uninstall LoL. While I liked playing sometimes and I was thinking about starting to play "properly", learning multiple and in-meta champions, I obviously won't do it when I have clear evidence that the game is a rigged cash grab.

Instead, I will look for a game I can play positively. One where I can start a project that others can join. One where I can build a guild that makes difference within the game, while making difference in the thinking of the members. I don't know what that game will be. I tried so many candidates:
  • WoW: the optimal way of getting any item lvl or killing any particular boss is to log off for a year, grab welfare gear from the new patch and solo the boss. Nothing to see here anymore.
  • EVE Online: it would be a perfect game if the devs wouldn't interfere constantly with the politics to support their buddies/business partners.
  • Black Desert Online: simply no endgame. You gear up for ... absolutely nothing. Sure you can PvP but receive no rewards for it.

I will keep looking. Crowfall looks awesome, but it's not released and looking awesome on paper isn't that hard. Same for Star Citizen which more and more looks like vaporware. I really hope that Santa will bring forth a game that is worth playing positively.

There will be no posts during Christmas and the New Year Holiday season. The next post will be on Jan 2, closing my LoL project.

31 comments:

Raziel Walker said...

Just because I play it, what about world of warships? Or too much like world of tanks which you already tested and abandoned?

Anonymous said...

With your analytical way to do things, how about you give Starcraft 2 a try?

Anonymous said...

Would you consider Smite?
I don't know much about LoL so I can't really explain the differences to you. In Smite minions/creeps are worth no gold if they get hit by a tower, meaning a good player who pushes the minion wave can hurt his opponent.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to see if you finally have solid proof of something being rigged in lol. Ie. I'm hoping that it's not guesses, assumptions or data 'read in creative way' but actual solid data which we can all agree on.

Unknown said...

Very interested in your findings. So long, merry Christmas and a happy new year.

I am really glad that you too think of Star Citizen as vaporware. I regularly get scolded by my friends who have already put several hundred Euros into that abomination...

CU next year...

Anonymous said...

rigged cash grab.
isn't this the definition of a game? The gaming industry is already a high risk:reward field with fierce competition. You invest, you push ~4y all nighters, you most likely go bankrupt, maybe breakeven or hit in the off chance the jackpot. look at the history of for example Rovio Entertainment with their infamous infograph and random page with their success story.
people don't code games for noble motives. they hack these things together in the hope to get rich. And of course do they all say "I'm a hardcore gamer", "I grew up gaming", "Fair games are good (tm)", "I have a Mario plushy", "Pls hug me! I woke up from a caffeine induced coding coma that lasted 70h" etc of course they say that. the same like EVE devs say "all about space ships" ... it is the same cringe compared to back in the day where government and parent organisations pulled some kids on top of a stage and let them promote "drug free rock" ... in other words I don't give a shit what they say. their actions and product speak for themselves.

not only software. you think LEGO has a noble goal? ofc they do as a PR slogan. But they are money grab too, every time I buy a set for my kids I can see that.

Anonymous said...

have you tried minecraft?

maxim said...

So are you saying that you have conclusively proven that LoL is rigged?
Because nothing so far was really conclusive, but more of a "can we please consider this in only the way i want and not any other way" kind of thing.

Anonymous said...

http://worldoftanks.com/

Not sure if you've seen this before. Already home to many math nerds.

Gevlon said...

@Raziel: the same scammers make it like WoT. No thanks.

@Anon: Starcraft is APM game. It needs no brain just fast fingers.

@99smite: it doesn't matter what we think. What matters is that Star Citizen isn't published yet. Anyone paying for something not even existing is either an idiot or a selfless donor.

@Anon: there is difference between "creating a product for profit" and "scamming money out of customers"

@Anon: minecraft is not a game. It's a hobby. There is no task or opponent or challenge.

@Maxim: the numbers aren't published yet. They are lovely.

@Anon: I have a permanent page for World of Tanks. It's rigged and the optimal way of playing is dumb rushing.

Anonymous said...

@Anon: there is difference between "creating a product for profit" and "scamming money out of customers"
And I argue that this is a very fine line if there is any.
"scam" and "fraud" comes down on "intent to deception" but how far can a company go, lawsuits full of interpretation of ad regulations and fraud law, show me that they push the boundaries.
LEGO, ok, we can get into a debate if this is a creative toy at all and if kids are better of creating with it or not. But if you have a toy-mall like toys'r'us please go visit and walk through the endless halls of crap. Really stop and look at every product. I asure you, you will have nightmares for a couple days. The same feeling I get right now with steam wintersale ... piles of bubbly and colorful crap. most of that piles of shit even have masterfully crafted ads to point our attention onto their shitpile for a fierce price.
Sure some "product with purpose" can be categorised under "creating a product for profit" without too much malice. But I don't see that in the game-, toy-, slotmachine- or entertainment-industry, they are all scamers. exploiting kids followed by adults.

Gevlon said...

Absolutely not: scamming is offering a deal that the other party wouldn't take if he'd know the full and absolute truth. For example a greengrocer is not a scammer for selling ordinary potatoes. You want to buy potatoes and he is nearby to sell. A scammer greengrocer sells for example potatoes that grown in contaminated land and high on lead and cadmium.

Just because something is "crap", it's not a scam. For example you can make an informed decision about drinking alcohol or eating junk food. Not like anyone claiming these are healthy. Now hiding the fact that cigarettes are addictive WAS a scam and tobacco companies had to pay.

A barbie doll or World of Warcraft are not scams. They are maybe shallow, but they sell exactly what they claim to. On the other hand EVE Online was sold as "players controlled universe", while in reality it's "developers, goldsellers, gamblers and other monetizer controlled universe".

Anonymous said...

Have you considered playing the new Archeage fresh start server?

Unknown said...

Offworld Trading Company

Anonymous said...

> "do not play League of Legends because it's rigged"

Gotta hold off "I told you so", gotta hold of "I told you so"...

Sorry, it's stronger than I am.

I TOLD YOU SO RIGHT AT THE MOMENT YOU THOUGHT OF GETTING INTO LOL.

Anonymous said...

I would suggest monster hunter because the coop is so enjoyable, but not sure there is or needs to be a project

Gevlon said...

@Anon: and did you tell HOW it's rigged? Did you show evidence? Or just an opinion from your ass?

Anonymous said...

I know you are not someone waiting for or considering unreleased games, but I like to point you to Dual Universe anyway.
It may be exactly what you looking for with the possibility to create something big but still with enough conflict to make it exciting.

Anonymous said...

I also would suggest to take a look at archeage, the best gear can be crafted/bought, strong economy gameplay, land owning, crafting, trading, pvp and some pve (not the best i admit but still nmiles ahead of black desert). And a big "pay to win" sign on the front door, but getting richer and stronger, and as a guild owwing a castle on a new server with rules like banning real money except for the subscription, than the "paytowinners" could be a goal to achieve (or something else).

Doktor Jeep said...

Eve online is out. There is no "playing positively". The game weaponizes boredom with bad mechanics, a game you can "win" by not logging in.

As for the people, well the gamblers are likely gone now. Good riddance. But CCP should have had a policy of never letting players become employees and maintaining a total ban on any fraternization between employees and players. That could have helped.

Anonymous said...

Entropia universe!

Anonymous said...

"EVE Online: it would be a perfect game if the devs wouldn't interfere constantly with the politics to support their buddies/business partners."

The devs are clearly doing a bad job at this.

Tithian said...

Sorry to say this, but no pvp game can ever be played constructively/positively. The whole purpose of pvp is to be destructive and disruptive, at least for the majority of the playerbase. And since one cannot play in a vacuum in a pvp game, it's guaranteed you'll get drawn into the same patterns.

Unknown said...

@Doktor Jeep: Eve weaponizes boredom only if you let it do it to you by playing safe. Get out and take risks, and I assure you there is no boredom in that game.

@Gevlon: I do know that if I win the lottery or have the financing to start a MMO game project, you will be on my shortlist of people I'll consult.

@all: happy holidays.

Anonymous said...

Since you like trading, have you tried Path of Exile? It's not an MMO but it has trading (poe.trade) which you seem to like, and plenty of room to experiment with different builds until you find one you like.

Baktru said...

War Thunder was officially released a few days ago. It's like a better World of Tanks (and Planes!) and at least doesn't look rigged to me.

Akely said...

I'm not saying LoL is not rigged... I'm merely pointing out that if you conduct experiments with the intention of proving something you will succeed. That's just how science work.

Anonymous said...

Project entropia! Prove yourself a true trader

Anonymous said...

Here's something completely out of the left field: Planetside 2. It a MMOFPS with proper structure(squads, outfits=clans), it's just that most people don't use it and only log in to "lol around". It's free to play with a very reasonable cash shop(honestly probably only thing they did well in the game is the cash shop)

Smokeman said...

Akely said...

"I'm not saying LoL is not rigged... I'm merely pointing out that if you conduct experiments with the intention of proving something you will succeed. That's just how science work."

Ow. This has nothing to do with the blog, but I couldn't let this pass. That is specifically NOT how science works. That's how a Ministry of Information works, as in a Politburo works. It's how Monsanto does "science." And it's wrong.

Science works through PEER REVIEW. You produce a hypothesis, with what you think is proof... then your peers retest that hypothesis and post THEIR findings. The cornerstone of science is that you can come up with ANY STUPID SHIT YOU WANT, but your hypothesis has to be testable through peer review. If it ain't testable? It ain't science. In the immortal words of Wolfgang Pauli, "It's not even wrong."

Anonymous said...

Have you considered playing Path of Exile? It's a Diablo clone, but much, much deeper than Diablo 3.