Taboos

There's no wrong way to play a game. That is one of the more firm beliefs I have about gaming, and I've always found the idea of people being shoehorned into certain ways of experiencing something is a pretty boring idea and giving someone hell for playing the way they think is fun is despicable, in most cases.

But not everyone believes that. I imagine a fair few of you don't. Be it playing on easy mode or save scumming, are there any particular gaming practices that you would consider blasphemous?

Playing like POLYGON

Using invulnerability cheats in a 1st playthrough just because the game is getting "too hard" and "I don't want to die". Its okay to die m8. We all tasted death and taxes before.



In Loot based Action RPGs ala Diablo, I think that Quit-scumming is a valid tactic, especially those who play in "Hardcore", there are certain games that allow players to immediately exit their game should they get into a potentially fatal encounter (ALT QQ), for example facing a certain pack with VERY VERY deadly mods that could spell instant death upon contact (How about a pack of Tentacle Miscreations with Extra Strong, Extra Fast, Cold Enchanted, Extra Crits, Lightning enchanted, Stone Skin, WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AURAS FROM A RARE MONSTER. oh and having played them, I've seen worse boss mods). Path of Exile is something that I like to talk about when it comes to Quit scumming since that game can get VERY VERY DANGEROUS with boss mob encounters, especially with how random the game gets with its magic monster mods. Path of Exile is rather famous for many many, and I MEAN MANY unpredictable encounters that make the game so fun, but also quite scary especially when playing Hardcore, where obviously, you die, you lose your character. Because of quick quit-scumming tactics, a lot of people can save their characters from potentially fatal encounters in order to reload their game, hoping that the instance they reset (thus resetting everything) will be far less dangerous.

Using a guide on what (dialog) choices you have to make for best ending, and using that during your first playthrought.

Dont know about you guys, But I like to invest my time in that ending, and not knowing how the story will end, and what impact my choices have. Good example is The witcher 3. Got the worst ending on my first try, so I looked at a guide after finishing the game. Much more rewarding for me :)
So thats a bit of a Taboo for me.

jappo said:

Using a guide on what (dialog) choices you have to make for best ending, and using that during your first playthrought.

Dont know about you guys, But I like to invest my time in that ending, and not knowing how the story will end, and what impact my choices have. Good example is The witcher 3. Got the worst ending on my first try, so I looked at a guide after finishing the game. Much more rewarding for me :)
So thats a bit of a Taboo for me.

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Personally I'd disagree with this...if the game is a timesink JRPG you're going to pack 50+ hours into, I think it's worth using a guide to get the ending you want, rather than flailing about blindly. Good example of this is the PSP remakes of the Star Ocean titles: you have to make very specific choices to recruit characters and get their affinity up. With Atelier titles it's very easy to miss events for required endings, too. Maybe not in the more linear titles, but in the longer ones you won't be replaying for a while...yeah.


Anyways, for me there is only one taboo: ragequitting in online multiplayer. It's one of the many reasons I won't play PvP - some people are just sore losers and, whilst there isn't much fun in losing a game, that's just it: it's just a game. It isn't a matter of life and death, and you shouldn't expect to win every single battle you go into. Sometimes it can even be a learning experience. Quitting because you're losing is just poor sportsmanship and bad manners. Take the loss, learn from it, and move on. Nobody wins every time.

Cheating 1st playthrough without genuinely trying first. Like seriously, before you reach for that cheat device; do try. Otherwise you're ripping yourself off big time, as cheats tend to drastically reduce the time you end up playing the game usually and should be saved for after the first playthrough; or in very rare cases, so long as you don't abuse it, to blow you through an encounter you've been struggling with a very long time even with the guide(book/faq/document) behind you. If you use cheats very sparingly like that after much effort on your part first to bust a stumbling block you can't get over then there's no dishonor in that, so long as you're not turning it into a cheat-for-all after that. XD

Once you break the first playthrough though; have a field day! Not all of us are '31337 g4m3r5'; and sometimes, most infuriatingly, they hide really important or useful content behind ridiculous grind-walls to pad out play time for the more "completionist" or "skilled" players. I personally dislike seeing that in most games. But I'm not someone who will grind out a platinum trophy or collect all the achievements for the sake of doing so, even if I may check out the achievements or requirements and choose to aim for some of them for fun.

Another thing I think is taboo is cheating at all in any multiplayer environment..

If you do that; you deserve to be banned forever from playing games with anyone else ever again.

This, obviously, excludes styles of multiplayer gameplay where everyone participating has agreed beforehand through some communication mechanism to all use the same exact set of cheats so that all are on a level playing field. For example in Doom Multiplayer, I encountered cases where the use of IDKFA (MAX AMMO/ALL WEAPONS) was performed once at the beginning of the match, or players were given a certain period at the beginning of a match in God Mode before PVP/PVE was enabled to allow collection of ammunition and other resources.

Of course those are just small examples; many variations of cooperative cheating in a competitive manner exist. Just as long as everyone has the same playing field.

I myself hate people who buy guides (or wait for online ones) for their first play-through. This is doubled for open world games. It kills the magic! If I had known everything when I started Skyrim I would not have been in such a trance wondering around it's mystic world my first time!

Melody said:

cheating at all in any multiplayer environment..

If you do that; you deserve to be banned forever from playing games with anyone else ever again.

Of course those are just small examples; many variations of cooperative cheating in a competitive manner exist. Just as long as everyone has the same playing field.

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Oh my god, I remember playing against a bunch of Scripters in League just a few months back. For the unaware, Scripters are those players who are essentially using H4x software to make their champion/hero do complicated actions or even worse with just a single click or something. I swear to me mum, I played against a DIAMOND 5 mid lane Ziggs who was obviously using scripts. It got me so pissed that after our team won, i couldn't help but talk smack to the enemy mid laner.

"Diamond 5 and losing despite scripts? You deserve to lose. Stay free GGEZ, and please uninstall"

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I was not in the mood after that game.

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Then we have ELO Boosting. Basically, you let a much better player play your account in order to help it rank up. This is the cancer that plagues Multiplayer F2P since the past year and even before. And the sad part is that ELO Boosting is actually a lucrative business to these shady players and users.

Great thing that in something like Overwatch where its basically Pay 2 play, ELO boosting shenanigas are essentially non-existent, unless someone actually is that willing to share their B.net account to a certain player.. i mean dear god. If you cant' climb then you don't have to! Sure getting to Plat, Diamond, or Master, or even Challenjour is going to win you b**ches and fangirls but for the love of all things, please do so in your own accord. Besides, ELO boosted accounts have been getting banned in League which is great. RIP Boosters.

The funny part was that at the height of my League power, in 2013 (Season 3), i had a couple of people asking me to boost for them, and they were willing to pay me cold hard cash. I simply told them that they can be better players if they just play the damn game. They are stuck in bronze or silver and complaining about being unable to climb? GIT GUUD son.