Whether I’ve consciously realized it or not, I’ve been a PvPer since my first FFA PvP sandbox, Ultima Online, in 1997. Since then, I’ve done factional PvP. I’ve done RvR. I’ve done the weird hybrid thing that was Star Wars Galaxies TEF-based PvP (and it was the most rewarding, for the record). I have purchased and Kickstarted PvP-centric games. If you ask me on a good day, I’ll say PvP is an awesome MMORPG gameplay element, and FFA PvP done intelligently — i.e., with consequences that turn PvP into a measure of last resort rather than the expected outcome of most encounters with my fellow gamers — is something I personally want to see in my sandboxes. I am, by any reasonable definition, someone who likes PvP and is a PvPer.
Alas, this is the internet, and reasonable definitions have no place here. Just as some people want to say you’re not a “real” gamer if you don’t play X, there are corners of the MMOverse that insist you’re not a “real” PvPer at all if you object to the way it’s handled in a particular game, mislike the abusive culture infused within it, or suggest that any PvP but unbridled gankboxing is just as fun. They’re absurd rationales, as silly as saying that you’re not a “real” PvE player if you don’t like group raiding. One gets the impression those goalposts would move even if you did because the whole point of them was to keep you out.
How about you? Do you think of yourself as an MMO PvPer?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
