My husband is a dedicated Overwatch player, and lately he’s been watching videos about improving his skill that frankly seem to have just as much relevance to MMOs in general. For example, one series of videos that he’s been into covers the differences in play by people at different skill and competitive tier levels. And a lot of the difference boils down to nothing more than simple trust.
At lower tiers, observers note, nobody trusts anybody else to get his own job done, so you have a roving pack of people all one setback away from becoming lone wolves. It’s not exactly that nobody ever works together; in fact, even these pick-up teams will at least attempt teamwork a little bit because they know it’s what the pros do. But as soon as the first plan falls apart, so does the trust. Nobody tries again. It’s every man for himself. By comparison, higher-end players tend to maintain trust much longer, and so teamwork strategies that would never withstand bronze matches secure the win in gold and up.
And that was exactly my experience PUGging my way through MMO battlegrounds. As long as we were winning, yes, people would guard their node and stick to the plan, but at the slightest whiff of failure, they were all right back down at the equivalent of Stables, either because they were under the delusion that only they could save the team, or they figured they might as well get some kills before the inevitable loss, which was only inevitable because of the failure of trust.
Likewise, as somebody who plays a lot of tanks and healers in MMOs, I’d attribute most of my clutch successes to having faith that the healer’s going to keep me up and the tank is going to peel the mobs off me. As soon as you lose that trust – as soon as someone panics and runs – a boss fight is toast. It’s phalanx fighting in a nutshell: It works only when everyone holds the line.
So let’s talk about this. How much does trust for other players matter to you and your own play in MMORPGs? Is cultivating and maintaining trust for other players – even knowing some of them will sometimes let you down – the backbone of your success in MMOs?
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!
