EvE – Thump Thump Thump

Went the beat, thump, thump, thump and thump. No other game affects the body quite like EvE’s PvP experience. That is a fact you and I have to deal with. Your heart just can’t take the excitment and the impending danger that comes from an encounter with another player and so rightfully it beats harder and faster. Adrenalin kicks in and it what might have been 2 minutes was over in mere moments. PvP junkies beware, this shit is addictive.

It happened to me twice today and I hadn’t even killed anything, infact I hadn’t even got a shot off but my heart still went at it. THUMP THUMP THUMP. During the massive downtime we had today (database problems after 6 years lol) I thought about the affect EvE has on me, has on us infact. Is it shortening our lives perhaps? It wasn’t the first thought that popped into my head but it is something to think about. Having a heart attack while playing EvE BECAUSE of EvE would be a bit shit. While thinking about that, I thought about if any other game had similar effects on me and instantly I thought of these.

Battlefield 2. When the demo came out I spent all the time I had playing this. When the full game came out I spent so much time playing that when I went to bed at night I heard gunfire, explosions, the rotating of helicopter blades and even more acutely I felt, heard and could not escape the bolt action of my M24 sniper rifle. The sniper is my preffered choice of soldier type, much like Recons and stealthy shit in EvE are my preffered choice. Hiding and sniping far away are cowardly but I pick my fights and I don’t like to fuck about. Being affected by a game because of too much playing is common but they normally result in lack of sleep, lack of patience, lack of a proper diet and excercise. Going to bed and seeing images, hearing noises when you are trying to sleep is worrying however. It is not exciting nor is it funny.

Not my screenshot but it did the job. Ooh exciting isn't it?

Final Fantasy. It should be noted that Final Fantasy 7 has been out for 13 years so if you haven’t played it by now then tough because the image below is a MASSIVE spoiler but it is the core of my part for this post. I’m just saying that it’s your fault for not playing it by now. These games follow a similar if not exactly identical theme and unless you are not interested in these games then you allready know the formula they follow. Specifically 7,8,9 and 10 in the series have moments in the story where one of the characters die, are put in mortal peril so could die, presumed to die but come back, are not real in the first place but didn’t know it. And what happens is the main character who this happens to (i.e. you) or the romantic interest to which is the heart of the crisis of each game suddenly makes the player get a bit “aww”. I know big men-men type of guys, the sort that talk engines, war and think the color pink should be outlawed that openly admit that they cried in “that scene” in Final Fantasy 7. I to was choking the tears back and in the other games I’ve had similar moments but to a lesser degree and to date I can recall no REAL emotions from any other game I ever played that came close to this.

Yes it's that scene, of course it was going to be this scene. And what a gaming moment /sniff

F.E.A.R. / Doom / Bioshock / Stalker. Like all FPS games that have the linear path that takes you through a level, puts you through some hoops and then gives you some story whilst you shoot hordes of baddies, horror games such as these scare the living piss out of me. And I love playing them. I can’t watch scary movies, I can’t sit there and happily watch some Nightmare on elm street or whatever. Alien and that series are amongst my favourites but because they are sci-fi in my head I don’t have the same problems as horror movies. I saw the exorcist once and I can’t ever watch it again for example. So anyway, horror games I can happily go through becuase I know I am going to jump out of my skin and scare others in the room when I do so. I will laugh like an idiot with nerves and excitement but still I will open that door or go in that room to see what is in there, there is a measure of control in playing this so I don’t HAVE to be so terrified as with a movie. One night while playing F.E.A.R. I was alone in my apartment and the door to the hallway was open, even though the lights were on I had to get up and shut the door because I was certain Alma would be there. And in Doom 3…the babies, oh god the babies are crying. And Stalker is probably the worst of them all, Lab x18 rings a VERY clear bell on the scare-o-meter.

I could have picked scary girl in a red dress Alma, or half cyborg half corpse baby but instead you get Snorks in an underground lab.

If I try to think of other games that affect me but it is just excitement or feelings of pure awe as in “holy shit that was awesome”. If a game is truly epic and you felt like you really were in the story and everything you did resluted in more story and adventure than you thought would happen then that too gives me warm fuzzy feelings in the belly but raw emotions and games that bring them out are more profound and leave marks you can’t forget easily.

Now if I take this back to EvE online and despite the games affecting me in other ways I can honestly admit and be 100% clear on this that, no other game has made my heart beat like it was almost bursting out of my chest. I think if I was playing barechested it would be quite clear to see the heart beating. THUMP THUMP THUMP…I mean wtf is that? how does a game do that? In the real world i’ve done risky and stupid things, often dangerous things, my job is high adrenaline high stress at times and in all of these cases my heart doesn’t respond with THUMP THUMP THUMP. My bum might respond with a little “let’s take a shit first then jump of the cliff” but my heart doesn’t do a techno-viking. An internet spaceship game, that isn’t real, that has no real meaning to a life kicks your bodies ass like a workout making sounds only a rave in a field can match.

Heart thumping in your chest? see a doctor OR PvP more and get used to it.