Might Makes Right: In Video Games

I’ve been playing Age of Conan: Hyborean Adventures for the past week or so, and have fallen into a rather enjoyable role. I am an assassin, a brigand, a liar, and generally not a nice guy. The reason for this is primarily because I play the “Good Guy” in any other game and it was time to just do something else.

The way I do this? I have an ability to hide (and hide very well). Doing that I can do a “Sneak Attack” to ‘try’ (Assassins are very weird when it comes to damage) to hurt a lot on a single person, and keep them just at the brink of dying. Doing that, I usually demand some sort of money, whether it is 50 copper (about 80 silver in World of Warcraft) or seventy-five copper (about 1.3 gold in World of Warcraft) in order to let them live and go on their way.

Granted, I’m not a complete jerk either, I usually let them know that if they have any problems with someone else trying to kill them, to let me know and I’ll pop up. (It’s one service I render to people who pay me.) However, increasingly people just respond with massive length of whining about how “It’s unfair!” “You ganker!” “Ur KOS [Kill on Sight] to evy1 in my guild1!”. I would like to take this time to say:

“MIGHT MAKES RIGHT”

Player versus Player fighting is what makes the game so fun, especially as an assassin or rogue. You have the ability to stalk a target, render him to the point of wishing he didn’t make the choice to travel alone. On top of that, the assassin class is relatively underpowered when exposed, they mainly do their damage in the first hit, which makes it even more easy to deal with an assassin/thief.

How about a few tips regarding what to do if you are held up:

1. If you are approached, or you receive a sneak attack from an assassin that identifies himself as a thief, do not run away.
2. If you have the money the thief demands, and you aren’t willing to walk back (or go elsewhere, since he will likely try and charge you if you didn’t pay before), open a trade window with a “Shift-Click” and select trade.
3. Enter the money he demands and accept the trade. Don’t take too long, since it will seem as a delay to try and get help from passersby or from a guild member.
4. Don’t smacktalk even if you don’t pay him. This will only make the thief angry with you, and you may end up not even getting the choice.

There are many ways to avoid getting caught by a thief in the first place, or to draw him out.

1. Travel in packs of two or more.
2. Bring guildmates.
3. Listen for shouts, or other people talking about an active thief on a given road.
4. Let others know.
5. Select another instance.
6. Go to another zone.

It isn’t hard to do any of those, and it certainly is fair if you happen to get caught by a thief. In Age of Conan, might makes right, and to make yourself right, you have to get more than the thief.

Hope you don’t find me on Cimmeria (RP-PvP)