Why do you play?

[Dynamo-Man]

I know this has to have been posted before, but I don't feel like digging. :D

So, I was posting on the Tanker thread about a cool incident I had, and the only responses I got so far are pretty negative. So, it got me thinking, why do people play this game?

For me, it’s for the joy of being a Superhero. I’ve been a comic book fan since I was about 5, and guys like the Thing and the Hulk have always been among my favorites. CoH gives me the opportunity to play these kinds of characters, and I so enjoy kicking butt in the name of Truth, Liberty and the American Way. Sometimes I win, sometimes I end up in the hospital (I’m sure Back Alley Brawler is sick of seeing ALL of my characters run by every five minutes on their way back to the warehouse). But it’s the sense of enjoyment that keeps me coming back.

So, what about you guys? Is it for the joy of the playing? Or is it a challenge to “win” like a chess match? Or do you enjoy crunching numbers and calculating odds?

On a related note, how do you guys make your characters? Do you open the game with a concept in mind, and then try to build that concept with the tools available? Or do you look at the pieces and try to figure out which parts go together best to give you the most powerful character?

For me, it’s option A. When I created Dynamo-Man, he was based loosely on the idea of Mr. Incredible. Strong and invulnerable. That’s what I wanted, and that’s what I made. Is it the best combo? For me, sure. Maybe not the most powerful, or the most advantageous, but it fits my concept, and Dynamo-Man is a much more “real” character for me because of it.

Anyways, just wanted to see what schools of thought you guys have.

[Jade_Dragon]

Well, there's an old story I've been telling from long before this game came out. I first mentioned it in regards to Earth and Beyond, which was one of my other favorite games. And in fact, both games are related by this story.

When I was a kid, I wrote a lot of programs. I had a Commodore 64, and I taught myself assembly language, and wrote a lot of programs in BASIC, as well. Eventually, as I got better at it, I started writing games. Two games in particular had some role playing elements, and were my favorites out of the ones I came up with.

The first was based on the old Star Trek game where the ship flies around a grid of sectors taking on enemies. I always thought it was unrealistic that one ship could take on hundreds and hundreds of opponents, and so I based my game around a squadron of ships, seven of them, each with different abilities. The opposing ships were comparatively weaker, but moved around, and had a goal so you had to stop them before they reached their targets.

While most of the ships were parodies of the Enterprise, Millenium Falcon, Battlestar Galactica and so forth, the one ship I designed myself was a swept wing fighter with a cloaking device. When I first heard of Earth and Beyond, the Jenquai Defender was almost identical to my ship, even down to its appearance. So I felt a connection to the game even before I played it.

For City of Heroes, it was an even closer connection. I created a game that allowed you to create your own superhero, even down to the little sprite that represented you on the screen. It was based on the Atari 2600 Superman game, but had more complicated goals. In fact, it had FOUR missions, selected randomly, that ranged from collecting bad guys, like in the original, to finding and defusing a bomb. You had 15 powers to choose from, and I used the editor to create a bunch of known heroes (including Superman and Batman) and also my own characters.

Of course, my characters had existed long before this game. Jade Dragon and Blue Diamond were created when I was in school, and in fact a friend of mine actually created Blue Diamond. I wrote stories about them, and plan to rewrite most of them and post them on my web page. I've already written the origin story, but that was a couple of years ago, and I keep losing interest in writing. I'm sure I'll pick it up again eventually, though.

At any rate, when I found out about City of Heroes, I already had my characters. Bloodwolf had come out of a D&D game, as a Batman-type character in the D&D world, and Sandy was a character in a fanfic I wrote. So my characters start as a concept first. I definately shape the character to fit the concept, Jade Dragon was given Radiation Blast and not Energy Blast so his blasts would be green. And it's part of Sandy's character that she have a sword (energy, originally, although I settled on Fire Sword) and use it, even if only occasionally.

As for why I KEEP playing, I guess it's because, in the end, I love the game. This is a great game, it has great content, I've got enough flexibility to create the characters I want, and see them take on the bad guys. I do enjoy the challenge of the fight, and I DEFINATELY enjoy "peeking under the hood", and doing research into what the powers do and how they work. If I get a lot of debt, though, or I have trouble moving along, I don't let it get to me. I get frustrated, of course, but to me level 50 is not a goal. Level 50 may never be a goal to me, I never got any of my E&B characters to level 150, and when I got them to 75, I stopped trying.

It's not exactly the game I would have designed, but it's close enough. :D

[Xanatos]

I like the idea of being a superhero in a city full of superheroes. I also play for those moments where I can look back and go "Damn...I'm a superhero"

I also play mainly for the people. I've met some really cool peeps through CoH and I don't really want to lose touch.

[Krypto]

I also play mainly for the people. I've met some really cool peeps through CoH and I don't really want to lose touch.

Same here...but I'm quickly getting burnt out again. I'm sooo close to just, not playing anymore.

[Akamaz]

I play for people, and the whole ability to take hero's i've made in the past with pnp rpg's and try to squish them into the forms allowed.

[doc thunder]

When i saw the first cinematic trialer in 2003/2004 it impressed me. then when it came out i bought the game.
I play because i like superheroes and making my own superhero.

[Masked Revenger]

Because it's fun!

More than that, too, but that's a big part of it. Like Dynamo-Man, I've been in love with comics most of my life, and really, the super-hero genre specifically. Even though most comic fans now adays are cynical and like to sound intelegent by saying the superhero genre is old and over played, comics like Invincible prove that this just isn't so. Good, old fashioned super-heroes, with bright costumes that are viewed as HEROES by the people in their worlds... THAT's what I like. And CoH has all that. :D

In high-school, I drew several comic series, including one called Raven that was a parody of Batman, and is where I introduced Masked Revenger. I used that character as my first one because I knew no one would have the name, and I was alble to recrete his costume almost exactly. I've re-made most of my other characters at one point or another, but mostly I don't play them. The other characters I play were mostly made with CoH in mind.

As for how I create them, I've only made one character randomly, and he ended up being a Wolverine clone, so I ditched him. Otherwise, I have the concept in mind before I hit the program.

Chris

[Jade_Dragon]

All these one line answers are making me feel like I talk too much. :D

[Larke]

i play cause I pay to and if I didn't I'd feel like I was wasting money... I used to be severely addicted, and then I turned 50.... so I'm waiting for CoV...

[SepTa]

i play cause I pay to and if I didn't I'd feel like I was wasting money... I used to be severely addicted, and then I turned 50.... so I'm waiting for CoV...

^----------I play for her. Tis true 0.o

[SilverStreak]

I got into CoH in the first place because of the opportunity to RP supers - I'm an old-school pnp rpg'er - moved from D&D to Champions as soon as it came out (1981 I think), and stuck with it thru high school and college. Champions was always one of my favs, and when I heard a mmpg about supers was coming out, I was on board. But what keeps me playing?

Well, granted, I havn't played a lot of mmpg's - this is my first, actually - but from what I know, CoH offers a greater level of customizability with character generation than the others. I've played other computer games, from first-person shooters to rts's to "action/rp" games - and my impression is that most mmgp's are more akin to a game like Diablo - there's a small selection of classes or whatever, and some limited customizing of toons available, but the opportunities for RP are much more limited than CoH. That's what keeps me playing CoH - I really enjoy making unique characters and fleshing out their backgrounds and stories.

But I'm not the most serious role-player, so I also have characters that are just fun, goofy concepts - like Oedipal Boy, who tells every female toon he meets, "you remind me of my mom" - that's part of the fun of CoH, too - it's versatility allows you to make characters for different purposes.

[Larke]

^----------I play for her. Tis true 0.o

HEH!!

[Morcalivan7]

Aside from the fact that it's fun. I play it for the characters.

[Emerald Sky]

I play to be a superhero since I can't be one IRL :)

[Graphite]

BEST MMO EVER

Spend time with friends. Kill long hours of the day. Have fun chatting. Prudy colors. Buttonmashing. The ocational Rping.
Oh, and being a superhero is fricken awsome. :chuckle:

[Poison]

It's fun.
It entertains me.
I had some of the best RPs in it (and I've been RPing for 12 years).
Many friends and people I like.
Been here for almost 4 years. So force of habit too, I guess.

[Cold Quake]

When I first heard of Earth and Beyond, the Jenquai Defender was almost identical to my ship, even down to its appearance. So I felt a connection to the game even before I played it.

Bah, Sha'ha'dem all the way! :chuckle:

Anywho... I started playing after EnB went out of service, and stayed because of the gameplay and community. In fact, I'm having more fun now than I did when I started.

[Solario]

I play for the people, the stories and the feeling of being a superhero!

CoH actually got me back into comics, which I'm eternally grateful for.

[ChairLegOfTruth]

I play to be a superhero since I can't be one IRL :)

Ditto.

My grandfather was a person of conscience in a position to act which is about as close to a crusading super hero as you can get IRL. He... urm... drafted the bill of Human Rights with H.G. Wells, during the war he organised the allies air dropping pornography to the nazi troops (everything else he did at that time is still classified but he was Director of Planning for the Political Warfare Executive), he co-founded the WHO (World Health Organisation) and lead CND marches, amongst other things. He did so much during his life that by the late 60's he'd been given a life peerage to shut him up, I mean reward him.

How do you follow someone like that? You can't. The world has changed and these days it's people like Bob Geldof who are making those kind of changes. So I play at it instead. However grandad lives on in CoH since Jude Justice is very loosly based upon him.

[suburbanhell]

1)It's probably no secret that I play for the community. I was originally on Liberty and came over to Virtue during the WL event so I could finally play with all the people I talk to on a regular basis.

2)I'd say it's 50/50, i.e. Dr. Flamestrike was originally Fire/Fire but I re-rolled him to Fire/Dev because it was more powerful, on the other hand, Major 0bvious is an SS/INV tanker because it just fits, plain and simple I wanted a big guy that could cause a lot of damage and take one hell of a beating, but at the same time, look as close to human as possible given the type of hero.

[ShadowSoldier]

I play to be a superhero since I can't be one IRL :)

I also agree.I'm tired of running around my house pretending claws are extending out of my hands. :p