One thing that has gamers divided the most in MMO’s (and games in general) is Player Vs Player combat (PvP). You generally love it or you hate it. However, I think that even the haters of the world of PvP will dabble a bit to see if the game they love and invested time in somehow has managed to become fun since the last time they tried. Games are constantly trying to balance and make PvP more fun to the casual player to keep them interested so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that it all of a sudden might appeal to you.

In real life I play Ice Hockey 2x a week and in the spring/summer I play baseball. So it would stand to say that I am a PvPer so to speak. The sports are more man vs man (PvP) rather then say, golf or bowling which could be more-so described as PvE (Player vs Environment). Which really surprises me as to how much I hate PvP (for the most part) in games. To me, the difference is there are no loopholes and no ways for people to get what I perceive to be extreme advantages in these sports like there are in games. I won’t count the people in this category that PvP exclusively for hours on end and have the best in slot PvP gear, b/c well they deserve to be better then the avg Joe PvPer. I am talking about the 12 year olds who camp or cheese you using loop hole tactics to take advantage of things that the developers have not fixed or have not thought of happening, that they just read about on how to gank newbs.com.  Even these people I can’t completely fault b/c hey if you don’t want to get killed, then get better and be able to take them out. Me? I just don’t have the desire or care to take the time to grind up the gear or put in the practice to get that good. Usually once a new battleground in WoW comes out there are some great fun times to be had by all. People are just there to have fun and fight. Everyone is on the same playing field, until, that is, the short cuts to win get found and then everyone just wants to do that. Or the primo hiding spots are found where people can jump to to range attack you and you are a sitting duck. Cataclysm has 2 new battlegrounds next week when it comes out and I think it’s highly unlikely that I will even touch either one of them beyond the first week when I will try em to see if they are any fun. Sure PvP is a completely different game then PvE and a 7-8K DPSer in PvE could end up just being road kill in most PvP matches, it’s just the nature of the beast.

Other PvP areas not in traditional MMO’s are the console games arenas like XBox live. To me there are 2 huge differences in the 2 example games I want to mention. First you have the leveling type like Call of Duty types. The good is they have a huge variety of weapons etc to use and the maps and game types are great. The bad is the levelling system. On paper and if matchmaking EVER was done correctly this is fun as can be. But it’s NEVER done right. When you are first coming into the game at level 1-4 or whatever in these type games going against level 30+ is just no fun at all. This is when you can be standing in front of a guy and hit him 10 times with bullets and he pulls out his gun and one shots you. Nope not fun at all. So much so that it outweighs any fun you might even get in the match.

The better way to do it is the Halo way.  Halo has leveling and unlocking/ buying items, but they are purely cosmetic. A General ranked player is at no more of an advantage then a Sargent player. The maps are great, the varying types of game types are amazing, and the game just matches so quick to keep you involved and excited. Of course using Halo:reach as an example is hard b/c many maps do have those hot spots where guys who should not be able to get to certain places are somehow able to jump up and hide out away from any attacks (even without jet packs). Yet, I will admit this is pretty rare in games and even if you quit out of those matches where you find this happening it won’t happen enough for you to get the 10 min “time-out” the game makes you sit out. With Halo you seem to get a somewhat happy medium between frustration of being killed a ton by people who know the maps amazingly well and those times on slayer where you finish 2nd in kills and it keeps you coming back for more. But, it’s just not the same as PvE/the campaign. Playing in the story mode solo or co-op is just a much better game. If they could find a way to get massive story type battles all in co-op vs AI (this is kinda close to the fire fight mode tho) and advance the story along after this then that will be an amazing achievement in game making.

Even in other games like board games, the game has to be right for me to enjoy PvP. Most of the board games with this type of interaction I shy away a bit and try to find the alternate ways to ensure victory. I don’t know what it is but I guess my Type A personality just takes a back seat in PvP situations for the most part. Unless of course a game is as well made as “Small World” (by Days of Wonder). I will try and review this game at a later date (hopefully next week maybe), but the game is just simply amazingly good fun for the whole family. The PvP aspect is fun and exciting, probably mostly due to no one being completely able to be eliminated from the game, which is a huge plus when you want some player battles and PvP in your game.

For many games coming out now or on the horizon, among the first things asked or mentioned is what type of PvP will be in the game. Too much and you alienate the casual player who hates PvP, or too little and the same amount of PvP will say “why bother”. It’s a thing that I am not sure just having PvP and PvE realms fixes 100%. You get that segregated population but sometimes you get friends and family, whom in order to play with a friend or loved one, you must go on that realm and be subject to possible “ganking” all the time. This is both frustrating and discouraging to some players out there.

Is there a happy medium? Possibly in some games like WoW, but to me, I will still be avoiding it other then the occasional match here and there but I am usually quickly reminded of why I hate PvP in the 1st place. How about you? Do you play PvP 1st or is it something have to warm up to in your games?

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