) being a "game".Since I stopped being in-world all the time while working on my projects in preparation for the SLCC, I have been able to return to my usual stomping grounds on Xbox Live. I thought it was only fair, given my limited attention span, to stay only in Second Life. I'm far too easily distracted with friends wanting to play co-op this or chat about that. It would have been easy to just log into the Dashboard (the part of Xbox Live that exists outside of any game, allowing you to just see your online Friends and invite them in for chats) but I knew I'd be too tempted to just get back into the swing of things. Shoot people or write SQL code? Hmmm... tough choice.
So after heading back to Xbox Live I booted up a few games, chatted with a few friends who wondered where I had been, I looked at my pile of games. During the last three months I hadn't stopped collecting games, and have a stack of nearly two dozen for the Xbox and Xbox 360 that I was excited to check out. Instead I was drawn to my favorite of the last year and a half and loaded it up: Star Wars Battlefront.
Actually I loaded Star Wars Battlefront II. My copy of the original is still in storage and there were likely more people to be found playing the sequel. I have a decent DSL connection so I like to host the matches making sure everyone has a good time, and you can meet a lot of different people throughout the day with the changing timezones and inebriation levels of online gamers.
For those of you who haven't already fled this thread, and aren't familar with the game in question, here's a quick summary. The Battlefront games are Third Person Shooters (as opposed to most shooters being in First Person, which is an option here) where you assume the role of one of a group of class types (Infantry, Sniper, Engineer, etc.) and set out to capture all of the control points on the map. A control point is taken by standing around it for a length of time, and after being captured it is a place where you can re-enter the fray when you are killed. Instead of capturing all the points you have the option of simply wiping out the other team's reenforcements, which is often the more fun option. These games play on maps that represent various locations from the Star Wars films, and use characters from them as well. I'm a fan of The Empire Strikes Back, but am no Star Wars fanboy, I just love the game. Being old and spastic means I enjoy the run 'n gun, die and come back simplicity. I suck for the most part but am good with the strategy and getting the team to work together, but ultimately it is just a case of being fun.
With my connection I can host 20 players and 16 AI units per side with no lag, making the 26 versus 26 battles seem intense. I throw every map available into a random mode and kick the game off. I usually play as whichever dude has the rocket launcher since they also can lay down mines. Mines are great for those of us who suck at aiming, and also add some strategy since you can only have four mines out at a time and you need to know when to play offense or defense. This play styles normally gets me called "Rocket Whore" or "Mine Whore", but I don't care, it's usually those who get a rocket up the ass or step on a mine while racing to a command post that cry loudest.
Once inside the game it's great to see 20 Xbox Live GamerTags (the equivilent to Second Life avatar names) running about. You can voice chat with your team, telling them where you are going or what you are defending or calling out for an engineer to get over here and repair this damn vehicle, I gots me some peoples ta blows up! Often times there are people who are shy, that you have to coax out into the social world of the gameplay. Others are more fond of screaming "Eat it!" as they execute the other team. It's all good. Later you'll spnd the time talking about some movie you saw or last night's new episode of some television show you love or maybe someone will talk about some messed-up relationship issue that leaves you scratching your head over their wish to air such dirty laundry on an open channel. Whichever way it goes, thre's fun to be had in both conversation and gameplay.
Once a round is over you head back to the lobby, look at your statistics and get to chat with everyone from both sides. I set the server up to both randomly pick the next map and which team you are assigned to. This is part of the fun for me, because the guy who sniped you from halfway across the map mere seconds before you finished capturing a control point could now be running along side you into battle. And your friend who you enjoyed so much backing you up is now fair game for a rocket up that ass that will have you bragging in the next lobby, "Man, I saw you standing up by that pillar and shot a rocket up your ass!" Laughs were had by all.
If only we had the option to leave the lobby and the game and enter a world like Second Life, search for some cool custom weapons or outfits, spend some time exploring or at a club. If the option to build a new venue for gameplay were only available so that we could revisit old haunts or give new environments a shot we'd have a truly social world of our imagination. And we could then re-enter the fray. That had been my hope, my imagination, in regard to Second Life. Because in the end my world is a social one, a fun one, one filled with excitement from simple gameplay, and one where imagination should be the only limit.
For the Love of the Game.
Cross-posted from http://forums.slhomepage.com/showthread.php?t=33