Victim of Culture

Everything I need to know about Halo I learned at summer camp

I’ve recently gotten back into playing Halo 3 after a brief absence.  What immediately struck me most upon my return (other than the cool factor of the new maps), was how little strategy most players play with.  This may sound like the start of a hardcore gamer rant, but bear with me—it’s not.

See, I’m far from the best Halo player.  In general, I’d rate my skills at FPS games as moderate at best.  Personally, I still have trouble with the dual analog controls versus a traditional mouse and keyboard setup.  But that’s just me, and I understand my limitations.

That all being said, I can still usually compete against most players.  Why?  Because they lack any and all strategy.  I’m not even talking about advanced strategies worked out by gaming clans through message forums.  No, I’m talking about basic understanding of how team based games work.  Team based games, as it so happens, that tend to be variations of the games many of us played at summer camp.

Halo’s capture the flag is very similar to the capture the flag I recall playing as a kid.  Usually you used socks or something else versus a real flag, and sometimes would even have players wear socks out of their pants’ waist so opponents could take them out of the game.  Essentially it was flag football with the addition of a team flag to capture.  So, if at eight years old the concept of how to play this game didn’t seem lost on many, why is it in Halo?

Even assuming many of the people playing are under 12, this is the same general age many kids are going away to summer camp and playing these games, right?  Am I just lucky in getting paired with these types round after round?  Some basic strategy tips, for those who seem confused.

Capture the flag only has two goals

Those being capture the enemy flag, and protect your own flag.  With that understanding, why do I constantly find teammates wandering off through caves and camping behind rocks where no enemy is likely to ever venture?  Why when the match starts do so many rush the opponents to engage in combat, but not to retrieve the flag?  Enemies respawn, so there is little advantage in getting embrawled in a  bloodbath, or even an attempted war of attrition.  It is rare that I have ever seen a point scored this way, and usually only when the other team is down a man or two.

Guard your flag with a man or two, and spend the rest of your finite resources going after the other team’s flag.

Bombs belong in the other base

I had never seen this until recently, and then I’ve seen it twice within days.  Someone on my team grabs the bomb, appears headed to the other team’s base to plant it, and then swirls around and heads back to our base.  I watched as one teammate ran the bomb back and stood inches from the waypoint to plant the bomb.  Why?

The only strategy possible here is the guy thinks we’re all going to regroup and go out as a force, but he should see the fallacy of this idea as he watches his teammates gunned down around him as they try to protect him on his way back to the base.  These guys are not some elite SWAT team that’s going to deliver you in a cushy manner to the other team’s base.  They’re cannon fodder.  Use them as such.

Vehicles are for people with licenses

If you cannot drive a vehicle, then generally you need to stay out of them.  Warthogs and tanks require players with special skills to use appropriately.  Basically those special skills are being able to quickly asses the danger level of different incoming targets and fire at the one most appropriate.  If you have trouble with this, or perhaps in real life with determining which is of graver concern—your cat or the badger chasing it—perhaps you should avoid driving.

Again, I’m not the most skilled player, but tanks are not meant as general transportation across levels.  Yet, some people use them this way.  If you can’t hit a barn with the thing that’s probably understandable;e as a lack of skill;, but if you drive it off only to abandon it in front of the enemy base so you can grab a Needler gun, well, that just means you’re not thinking.

Share and share alike

One thing everyone should learn as a child is how to share, and once learned it should be locked down into the firmware of your mind.  Some people seem to store it only temporarily in their RAM, instead.  These people melee attack someone for getting in the Ghost ahead of them, or declare loudly they must be the gunner in the warthog while wildly firing in an enclosed space.  As adults we call these people delusional, though at summer camp we simply called them crybabies.

Halo multiplayer for the most part is a team game.  If you can’t play well with others, there’s a very nice cabin the Unabomber isn’t using anymore.

No related posts.