The joys of social gaming

I joined Facebook recently, primarily to play games. I have always loved the idea of working collaboratively when playing games, and a friend of mine who knows my tastes suggested that I signed up and had a look at a game called War Metal. It is a multiplayer Facebook game that allows the player to work their way through levels of missions collecting rewards as they go. There is a particularly strong community around this game, and that is primarily why it was recommended to me. I noticed quite quickly that the developers are regularly on the game forums, and respond to players posts, and also that players who acted in the spirit of the game actually developed a sort of status within the community. It was interesting to see this interaction in what is, after all, just a game. It even extends to a couple of respected players being immortalised within the game after they passed on in real life. I like that.

There is an aspect within the game that highlights this particularly well. There are battles which are described as co-operative battles and generally require multiple players to co-ordinate their attacks against a much more powerful opponent. In one case this can be up to 1000 players. An etiquette has developed within the game, as I understand it, at the instigation of the players themselves whereby the initiator of the battle, called the host sets a cap, or limit to the amount of damage each player in the fight is allowed to do. This is not a hard cap in the sense that the host can physically limit the players, but is a soft cap more in the style of a gentlemans agreement. It is a question of respect for the host to keep to the cap, and players who break cap are considered valid targets for player versus player attacks. Some players even refer to this practice as farming and keep lists of consistent cap breakers for the purpose of having people to attack.

It is, by and large, a self policing system that seems to work. There are periodic spats and squabbles and some internecine warfare, but it is quite a fun little game and I am enjoying it at present. That is all that one can ask for really.