Gamer Bushido Virtues

Last week, I had a lot to say on respect. I thought I would have enough content to warrant each virtue its own post. I don't.

Respect
Gamers come from all sorts of backgrounds and gene pools.  They are all human and deserve to be treated as such. More over, they should be treated as a comrade in arms, regardless of heritage, upbringing, or lifestyle. Games are for everyone.

Treat others with the respect they deserve, and demand the respect you deserve.  We are all here to play.  Give your respect freely until you have reason to revoke it. Welcome new players with respect, and our community will flourish.

Loyalty
As a gamer, you belong to a fellowship of players.  Do not betray this comraderie, and, more importantly, do not betray the game creators that make this community possible.  They should have your respect and admiration for their great sacrifices made on a daily basis. Be loyal to them.

Stand up and defend them for the work they do, even if you disagree with their decisions. Don't like the sorceress design in Dragon's Crown?  Good, have your opinion. Don't like that your favorite weapon in Call of Duty will have its damage decreased by a hardly perceivable amount in the next patch? Feel free to get sad, even mad, but understand that game design at such a minute scale is intensive work that has been thoroughly playtested. Even when the publisher mandates a feature into a game, stand with the developer. They will deliver the best game possible under their constraints.   If a feature prevents you from enjoying or purchasing a game, write to your developer to voice your opinion in a calm and respectful manner.

Do not pirate any game under any circumstance (see Extra Credits for the one and only exception). Getting laid off because your studio doesn't make enough money is devastating, and studio closures scatter amazing talent.

Finally, do not ever threaten any gamer or game developer in any capacity. I shouldn't have to even say this, but some people are just less than human. Deny these monsters the rank of gamer - they are not worthy.

Honor
Do not game the system. Be it the integer overflow in Diablo III, the dance-to-disengage from SWTOR, or EA's new return policy for digital games, do not take advatage of games, developers, or publishers.

Do not cheat in multiplayer, and obey house rules (e.g. no Oddjob in Goldeneye, no overshield in Halo, no "power overwhelming" in Starcraft).  If the developer left cheats for you, enjoy them honorably - in single player or when cheats have been declared fair game.  Play fair.

Do not rage against quit. Admit defeat in the time honored tradition of "gg" - "Good Game."  End all matches this way, regardless of the victor.  Lose with grace.

Honesty
Be true to yourself.  Whether you like or dislike something, do not deny your feelings. Be prepared to explain your opinion in a well-formed response.

Do not "go easy" on a less skilled player without their request.  To do so is disrespectful. Respectfully offer a handicap if you feel it is warranted.

Benevolence
Be kind. The world has a very poor opinion of gamers.  If they saw more good works, such as Child's Play, maybe our public image would improve.

Be kind to new players. Welcome them to our community. Offer to help when it is timely, and offer constructive criticism if they ask. Be helpful, but do not mandatr their actions.  Let them choose how they want to play the game.

Courage
Have the courage to stand up to adversity. Stand up for games, gamers, and developers. Do not suffer disrespect of yourself or others. Stand tall and proudly proclaim you are a gamer.

Have the courage to be honest, to do what's right. Have the courage to wait until you can buy the game instead of pirating it. Have the courage to hold your angered toung.

Finally, have the courage to admit your short-comings.  Have the courage to improve.

Rectitude
Be righteous: Do what is right, always and without exception.  Act respectfully, even when you're in a bad mood and losing the match because a new player on your team doesn't know what they're doing.  Be honest, even when your opinion is not the popular one.  Do what's right, now matter the circumstances.

Gamer Bushido Virtues: Respect

Edit: This ended up being one big post instead of seven. Just skip ahead for all seven bushido virtues. 

Gamer culture has become toxic.  I know we can do better (back in my day...), so to that end I offer you this seven part series applying the virtues of Bushido to gaming.  Why Bushido? Because chivalry is dead :)

What are the seven virtues of Bushido?
-Rectitude
-Courage
-Benevolence
-Respect
-Honesty
-Honor
-Loyalty

Respect thy fellow gamer
Respect your fellow gamer's choices.  Just because they choose not to use the mathematically proven best build/load out/whatever does not warrant disrespect.  Maybe they have found a trick that works better than the "best" method known.  Maybe this method just works better with their play style.  Maybe they just find this method more enjoyable to play.  Whatever their reasons, do not harass them about their choice.

Respect your fellow gamer for who they are.  Gamers can be male or female or anything in between or outside of that.  They can be of any skin color, sexual orientation, creed, name, or any other variable of human.  If non-humans ever become gamers, let them have their fun too.

Respect your fellow gamer regardless of skill level.  Brandishing a new player to a game as a nub/n00b/newb/etc. will only exclude new players from getting into what you love - which will shorten its lifespan (especially in these days of online games and server shutdowns).  Why is LoL more popular than HoN?  Because new players were welcomed, not shouted at with such vile filth that they found something else to play.  On the other side of this coin, do not insult a less skilled player by going easy on them unless they request it.

Respect your fellow gamer's tastes.  Maybe you like Sony and the like Nintendo.  Maybe you like CoD and they like Battlefield.   Maybe they like RPGs, JRPGs, Puzzlers, Horror, Facebook games, or mobile games.  Whatever game they like, letting them enjoy it will not make you enjoy your games less.  Respect their tastes, and be open to discuss quality.  I enjoy Mr. Mosquito for its unique and wacky experience, but I am also one of the first to admit it's an awful game.

Respect your game developers.  Game development is a long and arduous task that is riddled with bureaucracy.  Do not send hate mail their way.  Do not send death threats their way.  Understand how much of their life they pour into these creations.

Respect the non-gamers. They have their own past times and hobbies.  If they don't understand games, they won't want to if gamers treat them poorly.  If all they see is the exclusive and toxic culture we have now, why wouldn't they think less of us?

See you next week.

Review: New StreetPass Games

Nintendo recently decided to beef up the 3DS StreetPass Plaza, adding a myriad of new puzzles, plenty of hats, four new games, a new interface, and some optimizations to boot.  While the new games cost $5 each (or $15 for all four), it's a small price to pay for a set of games that give you reason to keep your system with you.  It works out to about 30-60 minutes of play time every time you check your StreetPasses, which can easily work out to 20 hours of gameplay just to complete the main goal of each game, and 40+ for full completion.  However, since play sessions are broken up, it doesn't carry the same commitment as a RPG of comparable length, allowing you to just play and enjoy the fun.

Mii Force
Starting out as a 2.5D scrolling shooter, this game approaches bullet hell as the difficulty ramps across the missions of variois themes.  You play as the commander of Mii Force, a galactic defense squad akin to Star Fox, but wih questionable choice in weaponry. Your StreetPasses become pilots of ships-that-are-guns called pods.  That person's favorite color determines which weapon you acquire, ranging from lasers and missiles to bouncing balls and buzz saws.  Each weapon has its pros and cons, but some seem useless when compared to others; the bomb hits its target, the bounces off to explode a second later - after the enemy has moved on.  Each mission has a set of three goals above completion: Target score, Collect the five gems, and No-hit clear.  These add to mission replayability, giving you a reason to retry missions instead of pushing through the campaign.

However, there's a core design flaw that makes this game overly difficult at times.  Since pods are both weapons and health,  your firepower and survivability are directly correlated to the number of people you've StreetPassed.  For anything beyond the first set of missions, you'll want at least three pods, which can be hard to get if you don't live in a tech-savvy metropolitan area.  You can spend StreetPass Coins to hire mercenaries of a random color or certain people in your history, but this only works so well. With a cap of ten coins earned in a day and several other games to spend these on, its hard to convince yourself either cost is worthwhile.

Overall, Mii Force is fun when you have enough people StreetPass queue, but obnoxiously difficult when you don't.  It's a cool concept, but that design flaw keeps this one from really shining.

Flower Town
Probably the most different of the StreetPass games (and radically different from what you see in the AAA spectrum of brown and gray shooters),  Flower Town is a game about relaxing, gardening, and just having a good time - or it would be if the game would stop reminding me of that every time I start it up.  You play as a gardener, growing plants qith friends and trying to earn the rank of Master Gardener by growing twenty different breeds.  There are many more than the twenty you need, so, as expected and designed, it's not too much of a challenge.  Aside from growing flowers, you can arrange your garden, talk to the people you StreetPass, visit the mall for supplies (seeds, flower pots, gardening plots, and stuff to decorate your garden with).  There's also a job system where you can grow a flower based on the description of what a client wants (and the law that is the job-giver's suggestions).  It's actually refreshing to see this amount of depth in a game with core mechanics that have nothing to do with defeating enemies or saving princesses.

However that's probably the nicest thing I have to say about this game.  All in all, Flower Town is incredibly frustrating.   The tutorial takes up roughly ten play sessions and consists of forced actions, so if you happen to want to do something with the flower you just grew when it comes time to plant the next tutorial flower, too bad.  You have to grow that flower now, and you can't put it down until it's grown - which prevents you from turning in a flower for a job, rearranging your garden, or collecting more seeds from the flower you just finished growing.  Every time you play the game, you have to go through eight screens of text before you can actually do anything, and another three if you pass someone you've passed before (after they introduce you to special mechanics involving such a person).  It's a perfect example of a game that keeps you from playing itself, and it makes it all the more frustrating because of the intent of a relaxing experience.

Warrior's Way
Conquer the world one country at a time in this rock-paper-scissors strategy game.  You lead an army into battle where you assign troops to the roles of calvary (rock), archery (scissors), or infantry (paper).  During the battle, you choose which of these three units to attack with in each of the three rounds.  Whoever has the most troops in a skirmish wins that round, but these numbers are modified by advantage (calvary halves the troops in an opposed archery unit), random terrain (high winds forces a disadvantage on archery units, even against infantry), and special troops (barbarians reduce an equal unit by 2/3, or 4/5 if they have the advantage).  It's simple and quick, but  can be fairly strategic at times.

You gain troops through StreetPasses.  Owners of the game become monarchs from afar, and you can choose to greet them peacefully for a chance they will give you troops or attack them to forcibly take troops.  People who don't own the game are allies who always give you troops.

As you progress, you gain castle upgrades that award more mercenaries from StreetPasa Coins  or new abilities, such as spy (determine what type of unit your opponent will send next round), deepening the strategy.

Overall, this is probably my favorite game  of the bunch, but I am biased due to the strategic elements mixed with the gambling of taking on armies larger than my own.  The design is undeniably solid while progressing, but I do worry waiting to gather a larger army may get dull - if I ever need to do that.  The game balances based on your current troop count, so pressing through with a smaller army seems to be optimal; if you are stopped to build a larger army, you'll only need a few thousand troops instead of tens of thousands.

Monster Mansion
Certainly the beefiest of the four, this game involves exploring a haunted mansion by gathering puzzle pieces from your fellow explorers trapped in the house.  Each piece lays down flooring in that person's favorite color.  Creating rooms large rooms  of the same color awards the player with loot, but each new color becomes a new room where a monster may be waiting.   Find the stairs to move onto the next floor, or stay to fill the current one.

Monsters trigger an active battle system where you must manage your weapon's energy level while attacking and defending. Some weapons offer charged attacks and special abilities to help defeat your foe.  Winning earns experience points for your current weapon and gems used to further upgrade weapons.

Monster Mansion clocks in as pretty excellent. It's quick to play, simple and variably strategic (I put in a lot of thought into where to place pieces to maximize room size, but there's nearly as much to be gained from numerous small rooms).  I've nearly beat the core objective of the other games, but I have no idea how many more floors there are in the mansion.  All in all, it's a great micro-RPGish game to play when you've got a few minutes.

Conclusion
Even though Mii Force is a bit flawed and Flower Town can really get in the way of itself, I strongly suggest getting the bundle of these games.  $15 is a pretty small price for a fresh breath of air to the entire system. These games can all be fun, and I know others count Flower Town anf Mii Force as their favorite of the few.  In the end, they're all fun, and you're more likely to play these games than $15 of Steam sales.

See you next week (for real this time).