You Don't Have To Try: A Thesis Against Ranked Modes In Video-games
This is a response to
http://kotaku.com/the-guy-with-the-lowest-possible-rank-in-overwatch-1785662123
I really enjoyed this article. It was funny and it reminded me of how I would stress about the Arena in WoW: BC. Well, back then, it was just about getting items. Doing well wasn't directly tied to feeling good about myself, but if I got nice items, I would feel better about myself. So I guess I stand corrected; in fact, doing well in Arenas was indirectly inspired by a desire to feel better about myself.
My favorite game of the generation is Splatoon. It has a Ranked Mode, but I stopped at A- (C- to S+). I see a lot of people incorporating their Rank into their self-esteem, self-worth, and in effect, it affects how they view others as well. If someone is a lesser Rank than him or her, he or she will feel less respect toward the one with lesser Rank. Also, because there are not too many things to distinctly "accomplish" in Splatoon, many players feel the need to rank-up, as if it's something they should do as if it was a single-player game and they needed to collect all the gold stars.
Capitalism is about competition and feeds off insecurity and low self-esteem to inspire people to work hard, and developers have incorporated this philosophy into their game-design. How could they not? We are soaking in the filth of capitalism everywhere.
Games to me are about fun, and not overcompensating for a real-life deficiency, nor accomplishing something because we can’t accomplish anything in real-life. Ranked-systems are designed like capitalism - most people will be in the middle class. So you have a choice. Do you kill yourself with stress trying to make it to the top or do you try to have fun?
As for me, I will try my hardest to have as much fun as possible.
http://kotaku.com/the-guy-with-the-lowest-possible-rank-in-overwatch-1785662123
I really enjoyed this article. It was funny and it reminded me of how I would stress about the Arena in WoW: BC. Well, back then, it was just about getting items. Doing well wasn't directly tied to feeling good about myself, but if I got nice items, I would feel better about myself. So I guess I stand corrected; in fact, doing well in Arenas was indirectly inspired by a desire to feel better about myself.
My favorite game of the generation is Splatoon. It has a Ranked Mode, but I stopped at A- (C- to S+). I see a lot of people incorporating their Rank into their self-esteem, self-worth, and in effect, it affects how they view others as well. If someone is a lesser Rank than him or her, he or she will feel less respect toward the one with lesser Rank. Also, because there are not too many things to distinctly "accomplish" in Splatoon, many players feel the need to rank-up, as if it's something they should do as if it was a single-player game and they needed to collect all the gold stars.
Capitalism is about competition and feeds off insecurity and low self-esteem to inspire people to work hard, and developers have incorporated this philosophy into their game-design. How could they not? We are soaking in the filth of capitalism everywhere.
Games to me are about fun, and not overcompensating for a real-life deficiency, nor accomplishing something because we can’t accomplish anything in real-life. Ranked-systems are designed like capitalism - most people will be in the middle class. So you have a choice. Do you kill yourself with stress trying to make it to the top or do you try to have fun?
As for me, I will try my hardest to have as much fun as possible.
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