A troll in the desert

I had considered calling this article “everyone has buttons” and you will soon see why. Read on…

This guy pushes my buttons

You might recognize the desert that this particular troll is standing in – it is the post apocalyptic Arizona desert, about 150 years from the current date.  Now why, you might ask yourself, does a troll standing in a desert “push my buttons”? Well lets be a bit less obtuse about it then…

One of my “buttons” in this case are players who, having decided they don’t like a game also decide that no one else should like a game as well. Not long ago I read a forum troll for one of the newer games on the shelf that started as follows:

“Am I the only one who doesn’t feel like logging in any more?”

My immediate thought was, of course, “Yes, you are the only one. The game has just come out and some of us are actually enjoying the game.”  Fortunately, many of the games today are solo friendly and the solution for those who rushed to the level cap and have no guild mates to play with is easy: Re-roll a new character and solo it through the content again…put another way, go play with yourself and leave the rest of us alone.

Now there are some of our long time readers who at this point will remember the phrase I am wont to use, and that is “Hell hath no fury like a gamer whose game has been scorned.”  Yes, in this case, the phrase does especially apply to yours truly. But why get so defensive about it?

Well it might be that the folks at Icarus studios are some of the nicest most considerate game developers we here at No Prisoners No Mercy (NPNM) have ever had the pleasure of meeting…but that isn’t it.  It might be that, as an independent developer we  here at NPNM wholeheartedly agree with the discussion we had with Dr. Richard Bartle not long ago when he was a guest on our show – that even if you don’t like a game, if it accomplishes something new that it is worthy of praise.  After all, no matter what anyone thinks (including the imbecile we read on the Internet who thought that Fallen Earth was copied from Star Wars Galaxies) Fallen Earth has given players a new game world, with alot of virtual world thrown in, that breaks the same tired old fantasy world mold.

But none of that is the “it” in question.

There are some causes that just strike a nerve, push a button, or hit home if you will, and one of those causes is independent game developers.  It’s just in my nature, and trying to champion a cause doesn’t always mean the members of a given community wish to have anything to do with me.  There was a time in my not too distant past when I belonged to a social action organization that simply tolerated me to have the membership dues. More is the pity, because of all the members I was (for reasons upon which I will not expound) in a better position than any to get changes made for the given social issue.  Still, that doesn’t stop me from taking a particular issue to heart; from feeling defensive about the matter.  There is even an old tale that explains why I feel compelled to champion the cause of independant game developers: It’s in my nature.

One day, a scorpion and a frog met by the side of a river.

The scorpion wished to cross the river, but it was too wide and swift for him to do so. Not being able to cross the river himself, he decided to enlist the aide of the frog:

“Mr. Frog!” said the scorpion, “Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?”

“Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?” asked the frog hesitantly.

“Because,” the scorpion replied, “If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!”

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. “What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!”

“This is true,” agreed the scorpion, “But then I wouldn’t be able to get to the other side of the river!”

“Alright then…how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?” said the frog.

“Ahh…,” crooned the scorpion, “Because you see, once you’ve taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!”

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog’s back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog’s soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog’s back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

“You fool!” croaked the frog, “Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?”

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog’s back.

“I could not help myself. It’s in my nature.”

(source of this version of the tale)