Altruistic behaviour in competitive videogames

[Deathwatch050]

Hey all,

I just spent a good 2 hours playing Battlefield 3. I was playing with a buddy so I was communicating with him the whole time, but I wasn't actually killing anyone.

"What?!" I hear you cry. "Not killing anyone in a competitive multiplayer game?! Madness!"

Actually, I was hiding in the bushes using the MAV. For those of you who haven't played Battlefield 3 yet, the MAV is a small, remote controlled helicopter. It has a very high altitude ceiling so it can fly extremely high and not only does it have a 3x zoom IRNV (Infra-Red Night-Vision) camera which can spot enemy infantry and vehicles from kilometres up in the air so teammates can more comprehensively engage, it also has a motion sensor built-in, so regardless of how high up it is, there is a fixed area always below it in which enemies' movements are tracked every 2 seconds which, along with the spotted enemies always show up on the minimap. It is, however, unarmed.

It is the ultimate teamplay device. By sacrificing my combat effectiveness I can act as "eyes in the sky" for my team, giving them extremely important information on enemy movements and allowing them to engage targets with the element of surprise nine times out of ten.

To give you some idea of the rewards of this, every enemy I spot with the MAV who is killed while the MAV tracks his movements earns me 10 points. For an enemy also in the motion-detection radius, I receive 30 points for a friend's kill. A kill with a normal weapon, by comparison, is worth 100 points.

So, having read all that, what do you escapists think of those of us who give up a better personal score in order to help our team win? I realize it isn't totally altruistic because we are still rewarded for using the MAV rather than going out and shooting people, and also, it's a lot of fun, but even so... your thoughts?

 

[Deathwatch050]

I guess the discussion value lies in the fact that it's 'competitive' multiplayer, which generally means you yourself have to be competitive and get kills/capture points. But is helping your team in this way the same thing? It's the same sort of argument as in Call of Duty as to which killstreaks you select; to use Black Ops as an example, do you want to get a UAV which helps your entire team, or an RCXD which is pretty much a guaranteed kill for yourself and no-one else?

I'm sure there are parallels in other games too. We'll see what examples people come up with.

 

[Gmans uncle]

I play TF2 quite a bit, and I'm almost always a medic, maybe I just feel empowered knowing that everyone's lives are sort of in my hands, and there's really nothing more satisfying in that game than deploying an Ubercharge on a pyro about to turn a mass of the other team into crispy bacon.
I've on more than one occasion gotten to the top of the scoreboard as a medic without firing a shot.

 

[IndianaJonny]

I always thought the TF2 Medic/Engineer roles were excellent takes on the 'support' role in competitive FPS; particularly the Ubercharge - now there is a non-leathal combat advantage that can be a game-changer.

Most of the FPS guides for 'How best to play the [insert role]' on the web suggest teaming up with complementary roles to produce results greater than the sum of its parts.

Edit:

...

Blast those mind-reading ninjas!

 

[Johann610]

The not-so-good now-that-I-think-about-it Disney Pirates-of-the-Caribbean online MMORPG had a mechanic for healers to earn XP based on the damage their "tanks" dealt. It was a paltry sum, and one reason that healing wasn't any kind of fun. Lately, Three Rings allows players to "heal" fallen players and take their Heat Energy--allowing them to raise level up their gear faster--even if they did no extra work beyond that. It makes it worthwhile to raise your own teammates, instead of leaving them.

 

[Valanthe]

First off, double kudos to you, I had a similar match where one of my teammates did the same thing and I'm fairly confident in the belief that he alone won us the match.

The idea of 'look out for number one' in team play is an incredibly odd and downright bad mindset to have in any game/activity that isn't online multiplayer shooters. Someone trying to 'lone wolf' in any organized team sport like football or hockey, is going to quickly find himself outmatched and taken down a peg or six. If the whole team doesn't work together, they fail, pure and simple, and yet the idea of personal score over team score has pervaded online shooters, my question is, where did this mindset come from?

 

[Rumpsteak]

I'm finding it hard to really say anything on this without writing what is effectively an essay. In competitive multiplayer information can quite often be the big deciding factor in the outcome of a game so performing the role you describe is being competitive. Outside of an organised environment however its hit or miss whether it contributes more than say just going in rambo style. Short answer; playing support can be just as competitive as playing in a directly offensive manner.

 

[Kahunaburger]

TF2 is really good for this kind of thing, even outside of Medic/Engie. I always make sure to toss people sandviches as the heavy, put burning people out with milk/jarate/airblast, etc.

 

[Sozac]

In BF3 I usually play medic class for the points and its fun, but their was this one time I deserved a medal of honor for the non-medic thing I did. We had two bombs that needed to be planted and there was some vehicle with a turret in a good position wrecking everyone. At the time I was a medic so I couldn't really fight it, but there was one of those big metal shipping crates nearby. I shot at it with my grande launcher to get its attention, then ran into the crate and kept popping out to hit it. It REALLY wanted to kill me. So it kept driving in a position to shoot at the inside of the crate. I told my squadmates to go plant cuz I had it distracted. We double plant and go on to win the round and I suicided before the vehicle killed me.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Medics and Engineers are good for this in Team Fortress 2. As Medic I normally run around healing anyone who's below half health instead of just clinging onto one Heavy to get assists, and as Engineer I build dispensers to heal and resupply teammates and teleporters to mobilise them. Of course, TF2 doesn't have an XP system like most multiplayer games these days so I'm not really sacrificing much, but I still get a better feeling from helping my team than just running around amassing kills.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Awesome story

I applaud you. That is smart and awesome. Good on you for looking out for the team.

I don't often play competitive games, but I like to take on support roles often enough. Or at the very least, help my team. I almost never go out on my own. Except for Halo. But then I'm usually flanking or assisting my splitscreen buddy.

Back when I played War for Cybertron, I only ever played as scout or leader. Only reason I never played the healer class was because they were so damn fragile.

As a scout, I disrupted the enemies by taking out any stragglers (invisibility FTW), as well as EMP-grenading groups to allow my team to get easier kills. And whenever I got the "stun ALL the enemies and increase damage to them" I saved it for when a large battle came up so that the tougher guys could have an easier time turning it around.

Whenever I came across an enemy team that was well co-ordinated and I could not disrupt as a scout, I switched to Leader. War cries to buff allies in fights, and slowdown bombs to make enemies easier for the group to take out. Although playing as a leader DID have some big payoffs. One of the killstreaks allows you to SPRINT and kill enemies in one melee hit.

And in TF2, I alternate between Pyro and Medic.

 

[sifffffff]

I always think it's cool when people play that way. Unfortunately people who have such an altruistic attitude are rare amongst the gaming community. Don't believe me? Open any other thread on the front page of this forum and try to get to the bottom before you see an Escapist being a dick to another one for no reason. I sincerely doubt you'll be able to do it.

So OP good on you for playing the role of a support player. I wish there were more out there like you. Stay cool.

 

[Zantos]

That's pretty cool, though not exactly what I'd enjoy, and I always put my enjoyment over points. Though that said I'm not so bad.

In MW3 I've noticed that it turns out people are in fact willing to work as a team if you even bother trying, and it hikes up your team score something chronic. Just announcing over the mic where people who hid out or snuck up on you are, and someone nearby can catch them off guard. People will join in, and often organise themselves to take the target out. It also solves any problems with camping. Pretty nifty.

 

[steevee]

I love playing as support classes. Being that guy that turns the tide of a battle without having to be able to do a 360 headshot every time feels good. I know I'm not the best at these games so I play to my strengths, and a lot of the time I'm a damn good medic.

Although I'm also one of those people that trys to plug any gap in the team make up, especially on TF2. Although I'm an awful Pyro.

 

[Swyftstar]

I think more players will play like this when more developers add these roles to games. That and when the last hangers on to playing selfish get tired of getting their butts whupped by team players. So kudos to you and kudos to Battlefield for making a game in which I was once on a team full of medics that kept rezzing each other and giving the other team fits.

 

[johnzaku]

I do that all the time =3

I love helpin out my teammates. I'm ok with leveling slower. Though I admit, sometimes I just gotta wade into the destruction.

 

[AngleWyrm]

It is the ultimate teamplay device. By sacrificing my combat effectiveness I can act as "eyes in the sky" for my team, giving them extremely important information on enemy movements and allowing them to engage targets with the element of surprise nine times out of ten.

To give you some idea of the rewards of this, every enemy I spot with the MAV who is killed while the MAV tracks his movements earns me 10 points. For an enemy also in the motion-detection radius, I receive 30 points for a friend's kill. A kill with a normal weapon, by comparison, is worth 100 points.

Tank, Ranged, Healer, and Finally at long last someone has invented a new freakin role! Scout!

 

[Metal_Head]

I love helping my fellow team mates on BF3. spotting and making a distraction of myself so others can get kills. and my rank reflects this. im somewhere between 15 and 20. but i dont play alot.

on the plus, when im in a squad with my friends, i do enjoy rezzing them as medic right in the middle of a fire fight, so they died again. but i only do it to friends.

MW3, love the support class, cuz i suck at COD. therefore support class doesnt reset my kill streak! yay

 

[SilentCom]

That is actually pretty cool and definitely promotes teamwork and communication. Nothing like a remote controlled UAV to be the eyes in the sky for your team right? Information and communication on the battlefield are key to victory after all.

 

[Jasper Jeffs]

I really enjoy playing as support, what I hate is how people react though. For example in MOBA games I play as support a lot and people sometimes yell at me for being useless and not killing people despite me having 20+ assists. The upside somewhat is that I can chose to not support them, leaving them with their dick between their legs when they realise they need my buffs.

As much as I love supporting, and appreciate people who chose to play supporting roles, I dislike how games are becoming more primarily kill based and how scoreboards and leaderboards may as well just fucking track the kills you get, because that's all that anyone pays attention to.