A brief stay in a city of villains
"In the endless fog shrouded moonlight, Device Five surveys Port Oakes."
src="images/screenshots/gun01.jpg" />
So I’ve been playing City of Villains once every few months on
my friend’s son’s account as I house sit for them. So why wasn’t I
playing World of Warcraft, which was also on my friend’s machine?
The irrational reasons I haven’t tried
"World of Warcraft. Pronouced: Wow.">WoW yet are:
- Simply everyone is doing it these days or
"http://www.bakafish.com/archives/2005/04/wow_guild_1.html">has
done it. - Since I play paper-based fantansy role-playing games in
hardspace I get enough of that genre in my life. - Maybe it’s just because WoW doesn’t let characters wear
fezzes like Asheron’s Call does.
Now that I think about it, Neverwinter Nights doesn’t let you wear
a fez either. This is important. I like the enormous
customizability of the "City of Heroes or Villians. Pronouced: See-Oh-Aitch-Vee.">COH/V
character editor. COH/V has five types of characters, each with a
big range of abilities to chose from and tune but, for me, what
really makes a character unique in a "Network Role Playing Game. Pronouced: En-Ar-Pee-Gee. I dislike using MMORPG.">
NRPG is how it looks not what abilities it has. - I think the premise of COH/V works better for NRPGs.
"Device One waits in Fort Darwin" src=
"images/screenshots/device01.jpg" />
Let’s examine that last point. My reading of some comics seems
to indicate that the costumed adventurers are nearly as common as
ordinary people in the big city. How many superheroes are in
Marvel’s New York or DC’s Metropolis? Scads and scads! You can
hardly spit without hitting one! An issue of
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tick">The Tick once parodied
this ubiquity years ago; the superheroes were so common in New York
they had to ration out the criminals! In
"http://www.channel102.net/show.php?show=88">The Defenders of
Stan (Which I highly recommend if you have the bandwidth!) this
is taken to its logical extreme with hilarious results.
In fantasy novels however, with some key exceptions, the heroes
tend to be very rare and exceptional. They alone change the
world.
"Device Two stands a boat deck with one of its peripherals." src=
"images/screenshots/device02.jpg" />
The experience in NRPGs is that everyone who logs in to play is
exceptional, if not superhuman, so why not roll with that
unavoidable fact? Imagine a world like Ha and Moore’s
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_10_%28comic%29">Top Ten and
you have City of Heroes/Villians.
Anyway, let’s look at what I’ve done.
I’ve built a collection of five robotic characters each with a
different tactical focus. I was inspired to do this because:
- My misanthropy–call it the Susan Calvin gene–drives a strange
attraction to the ruthless killing machines of science fiction. (I
suppose I should reconsider this. The nightmare is fast becoming a
reality, if recent US warfare is any guide.) - Over two years ago Wade introduced me to City of Heroes. There
I created another robot, Device Zero. I only played for a few hours
at his apartment but the character stuck in my mind.
"Device Three, just prior to activating its cloaking projector."
src="images/screenshots/device03.jpg" />
I tried to give them a background that tied into the City of
Heroes/Villians history. They were built by Arachnos technicians
(Arachnos is a secretive, quasi-fascist organization bent on
tyranny, world domination and the usual bad guy goals.) to serve as
support for their supercriminal gangs and hit squads.
The way I imagine them, the Devices aren’t capable of human
levels of thought. Their brains are more like those of pack and
herd mammals; they imprint on someone as leader and simply follow
orders, unconcerned about morality and other higher issues.
I’ve tried to give each robot powers that seem realistic, just
within possibility for military hardware of the near future. So
I’ve avoided flight, mind control, telekinesis, fire imps, magic
energies and such flummery. I tried to make each robot look vaguely
similar, variations on a basic chassis but, with suggestive
differences.
"Device Four, just prior to setting fire to a warehouse." src=
"images/screenshots/device04.jpg" />
Device One is obviously a brute archetype. It’s enormous with
big hands for smashing things and long legs for running and
leaping. It’s clearly the heavy tank of the squad. It’s got red
highlights but, what does it really need to hide from?
Device Two is built from the mastermind archtype. Short and
thin, it commands a small squad of simple robots; it has a
distinctive crown of green antennae. Device Two’s intelligence is
destributed among the bodies of its control and peripheral units.
It’s not really complete until all units are present.
Device Three is built from the stalker archtype. It’s tall and
wiry with humanoid hands and feet for fighting hand to hand with
superhumans; it’s built for stealth despite its striking yellow
appearance.
Device Four was built from the corruptor type. It’s covered with
protruding bits of metal and vents to act as heat sinks as it uses
its incindiary weapons. Despite the use of fire, it has misleading
blue highlights.
Device Five is built from the dominator type. It has a broad
stance with heavily articulated legs for leaping and stability
against the recoil of its projectile weapon. It’s got orange
trim.
So, I’m trying to get them to roughly the same level and all
together in one gang of supercriminals, preferrably a heavily
robotic one. That way they’d all be together and other
supervillians on the team could activate the unit needed for the
whatever situation they faced.
This story is unfinished. Perhaps in a few months or so, I’ll
get them together.
"Phytomancer steps out of the resusitator at Fort Darwin." src=
"images/screenshots/phytomancer.jpg" />
I’ve built two other characters: Phytomancer, who’s pictured
here, and Brain Liche, whom I don’t have a screenshot of.
Phytomancer is basically a ruthless wizard with magic that focuses
around plants. She’s sort of an ecoterrorist. Brain Lich is an
undead parasite with mental domination, telekinesis, magic and
such. The Brain Lich is amoral and considers all other beings as
insects to crush under foot.
This makes me think of interesting experiment the COH/V
designers could try. Perhaps they could allow player’s characters
to undergo a moral transformation and join the other side. A hero
could fall into evil or a villain may attempt redemption.
The other thing I’m thinking of is cliche in software games. I
don’t make superbabes or superhunks. As a genre reader, I’m
heartily sick of the crime-fightin’ in lingerie cliche. No bikini
girls with machine guns or fur jockstraps for me, thanks! I got no
problem with that; it’s just that I don’t wanna do it myself.
Alright, alright, alright. I get the point. Time to get off my butt and digitize this stuff.
I was just bugging him about the trail. I’m sure it will be a bit of a letdown when I actually hear it, but there may be some golden moments to be found. He has the first Orc Wars tape digitized, although it isn’t edited.
there is one simple reason that I have not been WoWed– and that is that it is pure and simple crack… my luscious young Thai girlfriend is about all the crack that I can handle right now– along with juggling languages etc… but I expect that I will get sucked in by one of the next generations of computer RPG’s — but the reality is that I miss rolling the bones and look forward to some good old fashioned D&D face to face gaming with the droogies back in the states… some addictions are just really hard to kick– oh and we have so many plot threadds to pick up…. Arnepi, Lord Akira and Barnaby await as do so many others…
have you gotten around to digitizing the Trial yet? or Orc Wars II? :)
Well TypeKey is still locking me out but, I’m not going to worry about it now.
Anyway, I was really focusing on plain ol’ appearance not abilities, items or power. I just want my character to look cool, wimpy loser or no.
Considering all the stories I’ve heard and experiences I’ve had with the enormous time sinks these games can become, I think I’ve been pretty good about controlling myself. I just set down a watch or egg timer and give myself two hours of silly fun and then I walk away and do something else.
It probably also helps that this is not my game or my account. It’s Victor’s so, I only get to log in once every few months.
If you could pick out all your items from the beginning it would remove the whole point of making you grind away like a beaver addicted to pine sap. I’m still pissed that I’ve never owned a stupid Staff of Jordan… but frankly, the less time you waste (yes waste) with these things the better off you’ll be.
For some insane reason TypeKey has refused to sign me in for the last two days. So I have to just go in straight through the comment form.
Anyway, so can you start a character in WoW with an ordinary fez as opposed to the magical fancy one you point to?
But your point is taken, I haven’t play WoW at all so I really don’t know what character generation is like there. There may be all kinds of hats I don’t know about.
Au contraire mon frair… Do your research! WoW most certainly has a Fez:
http://www.thottbot.com/?i=16794