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Blackmoor VituperativeCity Of Heroes, Forum Of Villains
Well, the bloom is off the rose. After a month, I am tired of City Of Heroes. You know, the box says it’s a “role-playing game”, but calling a computer a game a “role-playing game” is like calling soy juice “milk”. It just isn’t. As a computer game, it’s okay, but I can’t see playing this month after month like some people do. I’d rather play Knights Of The Old Republic over and over again (and KOTOR is a great game, but it’s not a role-playing game, either).
I am still impressed by the character creator, despite its deficiencies.[1] [2] [3] I will hold off cancelling the account for a while so I can crank out a few dozen character illustrations. I wish I could access the character design screen without having to actually log into a server. Or, even better, I wish I had access to a brilliant 3D artist who’d do all of my character designs for free. 🙂
On a side note, I have to say that the City Of Heroes official message forum is the most aggressively hostile online community I have ever seen, and I have seen some real doozies in my time. I have a theory about that. The same people who publish City Of Heroes also publish a game called City Of Villains, and the same message forum is used for both games (yes, it’s confusing and stupid to do that, but that’s how it is). In City Of Villains, the player (through her onscreen avatar) robs, kidnaps, and murders people, and is rewarded in the game for being successful at these crimes. There is no pretense of using evil against evil, as you find in games like Bloodrayne — you’re simply evil.
I have to wonder: does a game like City Of Villains attract hostile, obnoxious people, or does it create them? Many of the hostile, obnoxious people on the City Of Heroes forum have been there since long before City Of Villains was released. Were they always like that, or did they get worse once they started playing a game where they spend all day robbing, kidnapping, and killing innocent civilians? There’s a psychology paper in there, for the person willing to do the research.
