How I Play Computer Games

This week I'm beginning a new series on how I play computer games so that you will be able to understand the After Action Reports/Fan Fiction I'm going to start posting. Here's the kick off.

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

Benjamin Franklin

I do not simply play a game and then forget about it and go on to the next game. I like there to be something tangible left behind from the time I’ve spent playing games. I like having something left behind that will remind me of the key moments and developments that have occurred in my games. I like to celebrate my games.

Further, am I not one of those "I hate to lose," John McEnroe/Ty Cobb-type, "Win anyway at any cost," exploit-using, pwning, gloating, power junkies. My gaming is competitive, but not in an egotistical way.

I also have an interest in military history, military fiction and military science-fiction. I’m fascinated by how conflicts develop and how they are resolved. And I’m fascinated by the careers that various people have had in various militaries. The whole process of “rising through the ranks” draws my attention.

As someone once told me, military rank is like having your career progress visible for all to see on either your collar or your shoulders. It is personal progress made visible and tangible in a way that’s generally not possible in civilian life. Fiction about military careers are often metaphors for progress in any career.

So there is a way that I play computer war games and economic games that allows me to see social-economic development processes at work, and see how military careers unfold at the same time. The way I do this is by playing my games as a Role Playing Character, a la Dungeons and Dragons, Tunnels and Trolls, and Traveller. I create a computer file in which I give a character a name, an initial rank, but no serial number. And then I pretend that I am this character as I play a particular scenario or skirmish level of a game.

Before I play the scenario or skirmish, I note the characters participation in the battle and give some particulars. Then after the scenario or skirmish is over, I give the character a reward or punishment depending on the performance.

If there is a win, I give either a promotion in rank or a medal, or a better assignment next time.

If there is a loss, I hold a “court-martial” and the character faces either a demotion, a reassignment to oblivion, or even a firing squad if the performance is particularly bad.

I have some set rules for determining if the character was killed or wounded in action and I keep a cemetery folder for the files of characters who have lost their lives in battle. (And it appears that I am not unique in doing this.)

And the characters can have subordinates and superiors, which allows the characters to interact in interesting ways.

And that last is the whole point. After doing this for awhile, I’ve come to find that while the majority of the characters spend their time in the middle ranks between victories and defeats (like the rest of us), there are characters that become fascinating because they do turn out to be real heroes who rise through the ranks in rapid succession going from strength to strength.

The other end of the extreme is also interesting because complete failures turn out to be comic reliefs that lighten things up from time to time. I have Col. Klinks in my files as well as Admiral Nelsons.

The degree to which my game-playing style causes my characters to having interesting lives, worth writing about, often makes me keenly aware of what kept J.R.R. Tolkien going all those years before he got his Middle Earth sagas into print. For Tolkien, I believe, the main deal was the interaction of his characters. The writing was a means to this end and not the end itself. Tolkien was the original D&D geek.

For me, it’s the same thing, only in a different milieu. For me, its Sherman tanks rolling down the hill, and not Ents. And the question that keeps coming up again and again is “What happens to the character next?”

Each of the characters I play as brings a wonderful degree of back story to every game I use them for. A given game I play is therefore never solely about the game, but also about the games I've played before. As a character progresses in rank and experience, this cumulative effect increases.

Next time: My character files.