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Bloody Initiate
Passenger Gunner
Passenger Gunner
Posts: 1025
Joined: Wed May 07, 2008 4:58 pm
Gamertag: Bloody Initiate

Re: Your Halo 3 Goals

Tue Sep 14, 2010 2:57 am

Afterpost EDIT: Once upon a time I was known around here for making ridiculously long posts. This one is characteristically long. Sorry, and thanks for reading :)

Perhaps one of the reasons I mostly put Halo 3 down is that I became content with my accomplishments. I had a great Halo 3 career. I was satisfied and could think of no more goals that were important to me. I was so comfortable with things that everything made sense and seemed correct, whether I won or lost. Eventually I took enough breaks from the game that returning and being out of practice was just too upsetting (It's VERY hard work coming back to the game after a long break, and eventually there aren't enough new things to discover to motivate that hard work). I still love playing with friends, but I only want to play with friends. Since online friends are hard to predict (And I'm not very consistent either) I ended up playing mostly with RL friends (Rare due to how my RL friends are arranged geographically)

Most of the things that were important to me I got to have as I wanted. I'll list them below.

For a long time I played as much as possible with my two best friends sitting right next to me. Having a friend you trust sitting right next to you improves the game so much you can't imagine it if you've only ever played alone. The only issue was that I improved faster and farther than them as the game became a bit more important to me than it should have.

I never got to 50 or even 45, but I didn't care. When I compared myself to other players via HaloCharts, most of the players that came up were 1-3 levels higher than me. I was in the top 15% of Halo players (According to myself, and according to HaloCharts), and I never cared about being the best ever. I got every achievement, some of which require serious amounts of skill to get legitimately (And on purpose), which I did (Except for the original skulls, all my stuff is legit. The mythic skulls are also legit.). I got every medal except for Mmm Brains, and I don't consider that one doable legitimately without unhealthy amounts of effort (Playing waaaay too much Infection) or unrealistic amounts of luck. All the medals were also acquired legitimately. As long as I played I maintained a positive K/D ratio.

Eventually I found a community of people who welcomed me and improved me (You guys). I was at once appreciated and educated, respected but put in my place; eventually Halo 3 became synonymous with playing with my Wheelmen. Previously I played mostly like a bloodthirsty marauder, roving around the map hungry for challengers and more-often-than-not throwing them down. I may have fought alongside people, but I didn't fight with them. I never knew the power of team-play and tactics before coming here (Teamwork to me was an irritating tendency of weaker players to band together in order to cock-block me). I also found in this community people who were as good as and better than me, which changed my definition of victory and a game well-played. You evolved my idea of a 'good game', although I was always sportsmanlike before, I didn't always comprehend everyone's contribution.

I also played a few competitive matches with this group. These matches, while few in number, were extremely informative for me. 15 minutes of an absolutely new experience can teach you more than fifteen thousand pages of information on the same subject. When I pay attention I learn a lot, and in reflection I can learn more and more.

In addition to the fact that things do not remain new and interesting forever, I also put down Halo 3 because for the most part I was satisfied. I've done well, and even though I'm not the best player I was good enough for me. I had good, full experiences with this game. I met my goals, I got my money's worth, and it was a big enough part of my life that it changed who I was. Countless hours of fighting intelligent, human opponents has changed how I look at situations. I play other games better, and I move better in real life.

I'm looking forward to taking another dip with Reach, and more than anything I'm looking forward to playing with friends again (That's you guys again). It would be nice if that "dip" became a "dive" and I could immerse myself in it like I did with Halo 3, but I'm standing on the edge of the rest of my life now. I can't know whether I'll be able to devote to it as I did before.

I'm also stoked about Fable 3, but that's just because my life sucks right now and the idea of a personal fantasy escape is appealing to an unhealthy degree.
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