Why Do You Play?

[Glaumring the Fox]

When I wake up before work I sit and eat a bit of breakfast browse the latest game news. I work outside a lot on the Athabasca tar sands and it can be quite boring out there, large refineries and little to do. I look forward to the latest drama to show up , I enjoy the different stories, I enjoy seeing what people have planned. I enjoy being a part of this disparate group of people in a large elaborate game of never ending risk. I enjoy playing this game very much and look forward to every message that comes through.

BM is needed, its like coffee in the morning.

[Psyche]

As stagnant as certain times can get in certain realms and even islands of the game there is ALWAYS something new, cool, and interesting going on.  Whether it's a new feature being tested or a new social/diplomatic climate, the fact that we have a diverse multitude of players and a dev team that donates a lot of their free time into making it exciting takes the cake.  Even the best software games out there get stale, but there's simply too much of a human element to this game to ever allow it to stay in a rut; hands down the most fun game I've ever played with  perpetually changing parts.

These people are great.  Even if you had unlimited characters and time you'd still find something new with each of them because your experience is so heavily driven by social interactions.  It's the game that you can never "win," or get bored of.


I've played for 9 years, and unfortunately multied more than once, and certainly pushed a lot of boundaries with people and mechanics.  Even with that experience and the negative opinions from others- still the best game out there.

[Kwanstein]

Interest is determined by the elaboration of primordial human drives by chimp social behaviours. This game provides a way to quickly sedate my animal instincts amidst sessions of monotonous reading. I have quit and returned twice so far, over the course of seven or eight years. This game is more of a tool than a hobby, to me.

[Ironsides]

I agree with all of our answers. I want to figure it out so to put it together in a way to attract new nobles. Too many times I've seen a new noble pop up only to hear silence of the few welcomes and then look around and leave. They don't understand the intricacies of the game at first glance, and we can't blame them. So how do we express why we play (and for some of us, why we play for so long) to new people? How do we pack in all of the wild moments we had in the game and tell a newbie, "trust me, it's worth it." Why should they trust us?

For me, Battlemaster is a huge laboratory. I experiment with tons of stuff in this game, socially, creatively, economically and militarily (trading and war) and politically especially. I like to create and play my characters as they see fit. Often, they developed their own personalities based on what they've experienced. One of my characters has a strong, almost blind dislike, toward another realm because that realm destroyed his region several times. They earned his hatred. Cool! Stuff like that I love. No other game allows the freedom like this game. But, I am extremely impatient with people who don't get it and just play to click buttons. Not impatient to the point of kicking them out of armies or fining them or whatever, that breaks the spirit, but I don't like silent drones. In my opinion, even if you abstain or have no opinion on something - say that! At least show your face to say that you're not going to show your face in this issue. Otherwise, why do you play? Do they really enjoy doing absolutely nothing? Ever? At all?

Why do those people play? What do they get out of the game and what do they put into it?

[Vellos]

I play just to troll ya'll.

[Kwanstein]

I agree with all of our answers. I want to figure it out so to put it together in a way to attract new nobles. Too many times I've seen a new noble pop up only to hear silence of the few welcomes and then look around and leave. They don't understand the intricacies of the game at first glance, and we can't blame them. So how do we express why we play (and for some of us, why we play for so long) to new people? How do we pack in all of the wild moments we had in the game and tell a newbie, "trust me, it's worth it." Why should they trust us?

For me, Battlemaster is a huge laboratory. I experiment with tons of stuff in this game, socially, creatively, economically and militarily (trading and war) and politically especially. I like to create and play my characters as they see fit. Often, they developed their own personalities based on what they've experienced. One of my characters has a strong, almost blind dislike, toward another realm because that realm destroyed his region several times. They earned his hatred. Cool! Stuff like that I love. No other game allows the freedom like this game. But, I am extremely impatient with people who don't get it and just play to click buttons. Not impatient to the point of kicking them out of armies or fining them or whatever, that breaks the spirit, but I don't like silent drones. In my opinion, even if you abstain or have no opinion on something - say that! At least show your face to say that you're not going to show your face in this issue. Otherwise, why do you play? Do they really enjoy doing absolutely nothing? Ever? At all?

Why do those people play? What do they get out of the game and what do they put into it?

I'm not clear on what the silent people get out of this game. The rare instances in which I have interacted with them, they've almost always proven to be insane, or at least disturbed. So perhaps they play because they are arbitrary, or because they're schizophrenic and prefer to imagine their interactions with other players, rather than experience them in reality. Whatever the case, they are necessary for filling the game world, for without them the player shortage would be an order of magnitudes more dire than it is currently.

[Solari]

Some people like to collect gold, follow orders, and fight battles. Others may not speak English as a first language, or at all. The game offers many levels of interaction and immersion, and it is that flexibility which has allowed it to survive for a decade. Frankly—and this is merely my opinion as a player—I'd prefer more players who spend less time in the game in the aggregate, for fewer players who are maybe a little too serious. That said, what matters most is that different styles of play and levels of engagement  be welcomed. Every player wants to feel like they're included/accepted as part of a team.

[Psyche]

One of the things that was attractive when I started playing was the concept of the war islands.   Even if my other characters had realms that were in a lull, my SEI character could run around and battle literally as fast as he could move to a region.

Family wealth was also a bit stronger.  You could work your way to better paying positions and either train or befriend an infiltrator before questing off for whatever city you thought you could get away with- especially if you wanted to make your own realm.
The game was easy to be ambitious.
Now, it's cool and has kept up for us long termers, but it's gotten much more complex for the beginners.

We almost need a world that has jumped back to the basics.

[Pike]

Some people like to collect gold, follow orders, and fight battles. Others may not speak English as a first language, or at all. The game offers many levels of interaction and immersion, and it is that flexibility which has allowed it to survive for a decade. Frankly—and this is merely my opinion as a player—I'd prefer more players who spend less time in the game in the aggregate, for fewer players who are maybe a little too serious. That said, what matters most is that different styles of play and levels of engagement  be welcomed. Every player wants to feel like they're included/accepted as part of a team.

I think there is a difference between people who spend less time and those who you never hear from.  I agree that those who spend less from and you only hear from once a day or once every few days are just fine.  Though I think what Iornsides is talking about  those who are in the realm and you never hear anything from.

Though this varies from realm to realm.  For example character on the East continent does little but train and answer when her marshal ask questions.  Not very involved and nothing much is really happening realm wide either.   Where on Dwilight my character is verry much busy send letters and stuff is being said over realm by at least 4 -5 different players a day.  So there enviorment is different.   

The only thing we can do to entice new players when the come in welcome them.  The possible follow up in a few days.  Beyond that we can not force them to like the game.

[Ender]

I think the core of my enjoyment out of the whole thing is the chance to tell a story and create a history with a bunch of other people who have the same thing in mind, but radically different goals. That sort of free form story is utter chaos, because you have no real guarantee that anything you set out to see done will succeed, but that's what makes it so fun.

My characters have never been real movers and shakers, in my opinion, but I like the contributions I have made and I like seeing the contributions others make to the ongoing Battlemaster story.

[Valast]

2003-05-21 Valen Began his career in Perdan... That is the day I found this game.  I do not recall a single week that I have not logged in.  I turn 38 next month, but every time I get online I am just a nerdy kid ready to destroy the enemy.

At first it was about the moment...The actions that would take place next...excitement of the next turn.  Over the months (as crazy things took place http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Perdan_%28Realm%29/Crisis_2003-10 ) I realized it really is all about the story line/history.  Everything always moves forward but everything has its past.  The Hendrix family has been destroyer of nations, father of nations, bane of the Colonies, the Far East's shinning light against evil, Savior of Perdan, Avenger of Sartania... We have stared in the eye of the Lich King, spit in his sizzling pit, and said how do ya do...

http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Hendrix_Family/Valen
http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Hendrix_Family/Valast
http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Hendrix_Family/Valius
http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/Hall_of_Blood_and_Battle

During my time playing Battlemaster I have been a Soldier, Husband, Father, Widower, husband and father again... This game is part of who I am now.  If the game were to go to hell in a hand basket...I would be here playing.  I do turn a little red in the face when my friends and Wife introduce me as Wilson, the King of Lukon...but I am used to it now.

I need to write more of the Hendrix family history down before it is lost...I hope everyone writes your own histories down too.

[Tom]

Wow. I'd like to use parts of that in the marketing for Might & Fealty - would you mind?

[Gloria]

I play because I feel great playing here.  I've left the game for a while, but it's the community and the friends I've made here that pull me back.

[Fleugs]

2003-05-21 Valen Began his career in Perdan... That is the day I found this game.  I do not recall a single week that I have not logged in.  I turn 38 next month, but every time I get online I am just a nerdy kid ready to destroy the enemy.

2003-05-25      simon      Began his career in Ibladesh.

Seems like we have 10 years of Battlemaster to celebrate, almost at the same date. Amazing. Although I'm still 22 at the moment and will only be 23 at the decennial anniversary. I too never really quit the game. I had some down moments, surely, but pausing all my characters? Blasphemy! Anyway we should throw a virtual birthday party, with cake.

[Tom]

Wow. You started playing at 12 and have been playing for 10 years. That means BM has been part of most of the life you remember.