Chp 332. The Enigma of Role Playing.

I used to be an MMORPG addict. And believe me, that’s bad. For the uninitiated, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game are games where people all over the world come together at the same platform and you fight them or become allies etc.

Even after I started working here, I was a slave to browser-based MMORPGs such as TribalWars, Travians, 3Kingdoms, Ikariam etc. You would have seen me dedicate many posts to such games here on my blog too.

Many of you play MafiaWars, Farmville etc. on Facebook. I have never joined the bandwagon because of one reason – I know I’m going to get sucked way deep inside if I ever join.

So I just watched my friends play the whole day, forgetting their work, life and wife. As for me, I promised never to touch the forbidden fruit again... until a few days ago.

Well, it was like this – having such a great phone as mine I told myself the other day, what the heck, lemme download one of the Storm8 games I always see whenever I visit the Android Market.

And the ball never stopped rolling since then.

To begin with, I think we all know what Zynga is - developer of popular social network games like MafiaWars, FarmVille, CityVille etc. Well, I don’t think it will be wrong to say what Zynga is to Facebook and MySpace, Storm8 is to iPhone and Android phones.

Most of Storm8 games are on the top 10 downloads of iPhone and Android app stores – Ninjas Live, iMobster, Pets Live, World War, Kingdom, Vampires, Zombies, Rock Battle and Racing Live.

I eventually downloaded Ninjas Live. Within 2 days, I am now a level 15 assassin with 4 clan members and max defense. FTW! Ok stop grinning if you are a level 300 Ninja with 1500 clan members reading this post. I just started playing ok I love this game because I can play it right from my phone, wherever I am. The connectivity is amazing, whether I am using wifi (from office) or gprs (from home or while travelling) to play this game.

I am now equipped with all the top defensive points weapons, techniques and spells from my dojo that a level 15 Ninja can have, with 600+ Yakuza gang members as extra defense. Nobody can attack me because nobody in my level can penetrate my formidable defense. People with higher levels cannot attack me because I don’t appear on their attack list. The only way I can be attacked by a higher level person is if somebody puts a bounty on me, and nobody would do that because I am not attacking anybody to piss them off. Lolz

Had I been playing the other MMORPGs I usually play, I would have already been raped by other players had I taken any break to build up my resource instead of defense/offense. Sometimes I would stay up the entire night when we had one of those all out world wars between top tribes and clans, defending our kingdoms, sending reinforcements, counterattacking, sending fake nukes etc etc.

Though such games are way different in terms of game-play from games like MafiaWars and Ninjas Live, the main similarity between such games is – it is pointless. So you just keep expanding and expanding and expanding. And then what? Ah the proverbial question. So you have reached a level 250 mobster or you now reign over 200 Kingdoms with a billion Heavy Cavalry at your disposal. How does that exactly help you with your career or make this World a better place to live in? No answer.

And yet, we still play knowing that sooner or later it is going to become pointless. I guess that is the psychology of role playing. What attracts us to these games is the fact that we can be somebody we are not in real life. An IIM-A grad working at India's premiere Share Market & Financial News and Services Portal, is suddenly a level 300 mob boss. An HR manager working at a marketing firm is a fearless vampire warrior by night. A call centre executive who is extremely shy in real life with hardly any friends, is also known as the Dark Lord with over 1000 other warriors around the world under his command, each of them respecting him deeply and ready to go to war on his command.

Role playing makes us somebody we fantasize about so that we can be that person even if it’s not the real world. For me, it’s a ninja. Oh yeah! And the fact that we are interacting with real people around the world makes it even more exciting.

If you take a look at all Storm8 games, you will see that they are extremely similar in terms of game play. Take away the names and you will not know which game is which. But the fact that each game has an extremely high number of players means that there ARE people who love the respective characters. A vampire freak will play the Vampire game, a zombie fanatic will play the Zombie game, a person who loves reading about wars and weapons will play the World War game, a rock music fan will play Rock Battle Live and so on.

That my friend, is the power of role playing. And here you are, thinking role playing is just about sex. Games like these sometimes deliver more satisfaction than sex, some people say. Cheers!


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Here are a few screenshots of Ninjas Live. If any of you play this game on your iPhone/Android, do lemme know (though I am not looking forward to expanding my clan right now as that would make me visible to players with bigger clans. lolz).

[Screenshot source]