How do you 'view' Genesis?

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nils
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How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by nils » 28 Feb 2020 20:11

A while back my girlfriend actually bothered to sit next to me and tried as hard as she could muster to be interested in Genesis. Now she's only played mario games on the old NES before, so she's completely clueless about any form of game mechanics. Explaining the core mechanics of any game using stats as a base for character growth etc is a real bore to her, so kudos to her for listenining as I rant on and on about strength, dexterity, constitution etc.

However, as we got into combat it got interesting. At the time I was grinding trolls in Mithas and I scrolled up to slow down the combat-"feed" for her and explain each hit as best as I could. "There I hit it with my sledgehammer", "there Cassius' dragon swoops down from the sky", "there dragonfear sets in", "there my special attack hits on a kill - look, the troll is a pulp! lol!"

As I explained that it is my view that we "old" players play this game out of habit, a novelty game from a past where there were no MMO's and internet was a scarce commodity, and that people who start out playing muds today (well, from the ones I've talked to anyway) see themselves as part of some litterary work, and totally dream themselves away while simply walking along the east road.

Anyway, being an artist by nature, she immediately got hooked on the trolls. How they looked, and then she explained she started picturing trolls in her head. This made me reflect on how I view Genesis. I'm what you could say totally unimaginative. When I play I see areas as maps, rooms as a means to an end, weapons and other gear as the sum of their words, not what the words actually mean.

For example a "bloody skull club" is to me the words "bloody, skull and club" in a sequence that I attribute certain qualities. Other people might vividly picture a baseball-bat like object with a skull covered in blood set atop of it. To me, a troll is simply the word "troll", where the desciption of said troll is unimportant. So, when I think of Mithas, there is the map with the three camps south, I know that the word "troll" in each room has a certain difficulty slaying, and I will have to gear according to my role as tank or dps. They will only drop gems, killing them won't affect my align significantly, the fact that they are many means a that if all are spawned I'm set for the next 20-30 mins and probably more arbitrary 'facts' that come as naturally as walking.

Never once did I picture/imagine the fictious area Mithas, its fauna and flora, its trolls in their ugliness, how stupid they are or how they're afraid of fire, what the combat might look like.. hell, what I look like with a bucket on my head because it has a faint haste imbuement.

So, certain people might take offense to this. "HOW DARE YOU PLAY A GAME FOR IT'S WORDS, NOT THEIR IMPLICIT MEANING AND USE YOUR IMAGINATION TO 'VIEW' THEM IN YOUR HEAD?!?!?" - but it's how my mind works.

When people see me grinding, they see a massive amount of text scrolling very quickly. They ask if I read it all, and I usually say I know what it says. As the text is green and the background is black, "The Matrix" comes to mind, and I've often said playing Genesis is like watching the matrix, in code - and that grinding is like going to the gym; it sure as shit aint' fun, but after 6 months it's damn nice to see your progress in the mirror/meditation. :)

How does your mind work? Asking for a (girl)friend.
Last edited by nils on 28 Feb 2020 21:15, edited 1 time in total.
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Okotok
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Re: How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by Okotok » 28 Feb 2020 20:21

I almost constantly daydream about the things I do in Genesis and the things I could do in Genesis with vivid detail. ESPECIALLY with combat. That's why I love the blademasters so much: there's just so much detail included in their sword forms that my imagination feeds off of (for the lack of a better word). I see the battlefield, I see the throne room at the top of the Tall Tower in the Faeric orc camp, sometimes I create an environment in my mind when I think one is lacking.

Drazson
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Re: How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by Drazson » 28 Feb 2020 23:47

Same as Nils, much less experienced. The only area which was ever *really* different was the Tutorial, and it was the case not just the first time but for every single character I've played.

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cotillion
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Re: How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by cotillion » 29 Feb 2020 00:13

Yay! She gets it! Send her to Avenir! Or to visit one of Sarrs horrors in Raumdor.

In the end Genesis is many things. We draw them in with the stories and when they're hooked we get them hunting progress.

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Taro
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Re: How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by Taro » 29 Feb 2020 00:25

I have a mixed view of it. I kinda picture a lot of the other players' characters in my head, and the way they fight. Some of the more unique enemies and places as well. But normally enemies, rooms, etc. are just words and I don't really think much about them.
“There was this about vampires : they could never look scruffy. Instead, they were... what was the word... deshabille. It meant untidy, but with bags and bags of style.”

Thalric
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Re: How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by Thalric » 29 Feb 2020 09:43

Every new experience, new area, new enemy... I see it all before me, immerse myself in the words and the views they describe.

As time goes and I get there more and more, grinding or herbing, the details fade away and routine kicks in to make it much more pure words.

When I RP with others, it is the mind of whatever character I am playing that is there... I take everything in. I am in that place, I see it, I feel it, I smell and taste it.

The odd combination is when I go grinding with RP friends along.
All the combat is just a wall of blurring background while the RP talk and emotes takes my attention.

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Mersereau
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Re: How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by Mersereau » 29 Feb 2020 21:21

1920 x 1080
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Amberlee
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Re: How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by Amberlee » 29 Feb 2020 23:45

You pose an interesting question here Nils.

When I grind, like you I see only "The Matrix" thing as you describe.
Speed read through and instantly know what it says just by the pattern of the words.
Though when I don't grind, my imagination paints the pictures as I read through the descriptors.
Which also loops back to RP.
I love interacting with expressive individuals, especially those who manage to portray a certain mannerism.
An art mostly lost in Genesis today, which honestly not many mastered in the first place.
The views posted by me on this forum is not the views of the character Amberlee in-game.
If you ask for my opinion here, you will get MY opinion, not that of my character.

sylphan
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Re: How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by sylphan » 02 Mar 2020 08:28

I flip back and forth between a very "immersive" experience - by which I mean I read carefully and slowly, imagining my character and how she responds to these things - and something more outcome-based as Nils described.

My game life is oddly inverse to my actual life. IRL I love time alone, and need that time to charge up for time with others (this is a big generalization but in broad strokes, true). In Genesis, it's flipped.

I really do love wandering the realms on my own, soaking up the varying atmospheres, but what makes it all matter is how my character responds to all that. Without any other players present, those responses kind of don't "count" (in the way they do IRL), and so interactions with other player characters charge me up, and then I can for a while soak up the environments of the Donut "immersively" again, even if my character's on her own.

I don't really understand the players who view it all mechanically - like, what's the point? Not faulting anyone, just admitting that I don't really get it. Player-player interaction is what makes the Donut spin, for me.

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gold bezie
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Re: How do you 'view' Genesis?

Post by gold bezie » 02 Mar 2020 14:57

Great question Nils. I am more like your girlfriend, i make of everything i read in the realms a picture in my head and start imagining things around it as well(background character etc). That is why i hate just mindless hunting for xp and am very bad at pvp /grin.
Ofcourse when you play for a few years you dont (need to) read everything always, you know what it says. And people see me running around sparkle as well, just to do some things fast. But the reason why i fel in love with the game because i look at it this way.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.

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