Analog Toughness in a Digital World
I'm not going to recommend players do as I do, but perhaps understand what I'm doing. Put your mind the place of a blue-collar guy who played football on weekends, drank hard and played pencil & paper RPGs for nearly 40 years. I know that last part seems odd, but pencil & paper RPGs have brought me together with everything from marines to ex-cons, common thugs to doctors, drifters, computer scientists to successful businessmen.
In RPGs and many strategy based pencil & paper games we most often faced enemies of equal or higher strength than our own. It was high adventure that drove our mutual interest. When we learned of dragons, demons, devils and giants we sought to battle them. In Starfleet Battles we'd match ships and slug it out, pushing the limits of our strategic knowledge.
When I started playing Utopia there were more players and a variety of dispositions. It was easy for me to find kingdoms with like minded players who'd face any enemy of any strength any time. The fight was everything. I'm accustomed to trying to beat the odds and no part of me felt comfortable attacking smaller kingdoms or inexperienced players.
Since roughly age 60-61 my practice has been to implement a set of simple challenge idioms. No longer would I random or partake in actions against poorly matched opponents. Because I don't attack unprovoked my army gets hit at home quite a bit and my province suffers losses much higher than the time I was a predator. I will attack on behalf of my kingdom and retaliate in the interest of t/ms that can't defend themselves.
What I'm saying is there's no fear of superior opponents because my investment is personal honor, not digital resources. When my province is struck by renown badass kingdoms I feel an exhilaration to match blades with great players. And this at the disadvantage of having my army hit at home. There is only the fight. It's not to prove something to the opponent, it's to see if I'm capable of going over the top despite being at the disadvantage. - When I was a teenager playing football I remember the toughness of the adults; hitting them was like hitting a piece of wood and their strength was overwhelming. Learning the difference between being a man and being a boy was frightening but compelling.
In Utopia we can learn when we push our limits;when the scary part is facing a bigger and better, well organized kingdom. Sometimes we have to give more than we take to reach an objective. Sometimes it's not enough. We should strive to be eternally insightful and aware of our environment. We should be respectful of our enemies and humble in victory. I'm too old to get excited about winning, but I do experience satisfaction.
After wins or losses I'm prone to offer respect to our opponents as soon as the conflict ends. Always remember not to feed the trolls.
Originally Posted by Bishop
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