I Play to Kill

I love shooters. From Doom, to Quake, to Counter-Strike and Battlefield, I love FPS games. I love them for one single reason: I can shoot stuff without consequence. Shooting an endless wave of enemies in the face with various weapons of destruction fulfills urges in me that would otherwise get me sent to jail or killed. So what do I do when I play Planetside? I kill people. I spend whatever time I have to devote to the game into focusing all my efforts into killing as many other players as possible.

Why am I bringing this up? Because there is quite bit of talk about KDR and people who think that there isn't enough incentive for a good game or whatever the hell it is they really want (which IMO seems to be less players with skill to murder them) and I am here to say that no amount of "incentiving" would change my mode of play from "kill all mother****ers."

You probably think that I don't bother with objectives right about now. You'd be wrong, then. As I said, I play to kill. Where is the best place to find a lot of enemies to kill? AROUND THE OBJECTIVE. I've played shooters for so long, that this isn't even a sudden realization; this is something I've just come to know after years of experience and watching the genre evolve.

The objectives are not there simply to give players an arbitrary goal. The objectives are there to draw fights into a central area. Take a look at a game like Quake; even it has "objectives" to a certain degree, and these "objectives" are there to focus the fight around. Now, they aren't true objectives like in the sense of PS2 or Battlefield; they are weapons. You don't select your guns when you spawn, you need to run around and pick them up. Mostly, the fights in a large arena battle in Quake will be centered around the strongest weapon avaliable on the map (typically either the rocket launcher or rail gun; or both).

Now take a game like Counter-Strike. Since you choose your weapons when you first start and you don't need to procure them on the map, if you didn't have any objectives and it was just team/ffa deathmatch, you would see 2 types of rounds: the one where everyone just keeps running in a circuit around the map until 1 man is left alive, or the one where everyone sits in one spot until time runs out. Add in the objectives. Now you all have a central area to fight around; be it a bomb site or a group of hostages.

Planetside 2 is no different. The objectives are nothing more than focal points for killing each other. Hell, they are even more of a focal point for killing in PS2, a game your team can never, ever win, than a game that actually ends when the objectives have been completed.

I'd rather fight around the quad damage than the rail.

Not every map has Quad Damage, but every map does have at least a rocket launcher.

Personally, I stay away from the QD on maps that have it because I am the unlucky SOB that will be 1 pixel away when someone else grabs it and I get gibbed from their double-shotty.

I use the objectives as hunting grounds. I do not care who controls it. I am there to kill.

great that you got your name from tribes(i guess) and that you played all those games. but what exactly are you trying to say. you didnt make a point there

TL;DR what are you trying to convey to us

Judging from the fact you added a TL;DR to your own post that was literally 1 sentence, I'm going to assume you didn't read my post beyond the first sentence.

But what about the “meta-game”?

Honestly, I am just responding to point that the thread title made me think of a Slayer jam!

i did, sorry i just wanted to get you to summarize your post in what you think

Typically, the term "metagame" simply implies thinking about what your enemies are thinking about, and doing something to confuse them. Every good game with great meta gameplay comes not from developers building on the meta; it comes from the developers focusing on the rest of the game, and the players dedicated to the game eventually make new tactics, exploiting peculiarities about the game, as well as knowing what the typical player is thinking about at different situations.

This would include things like taking a shortcut around a building to cut someone off that you suspect is trying to flank you, or stacking multiple team mates to have 1 or 2 reach an area you normally couldn't reach on your own (like in Counter-Strike). This is why I really hate anyone who demands SOE do something about the metagame. The metagame should be developed by the players over time, not the developer at launch.

I completely agree, come from the same gaming roots, and play the same way. When I'm in the game I'm there to murder some ****. I'll hit up objectives, try to take them, or preferably defend them. But I'm not there for the objective. I'm there to see how many bodies I can make.

Wow you don't play to throw ammo packs on the ground? How selfish

Problem is that you are not dooing anything usefull for you faction by simply killing people, those killed just respawn seconds after the kill, you would be more usefull if you would let your enemys stay alive and harass them so they can't do something usefull.
As it is right now, playing to kill in this game isn't rewarded and it won't be untill continent locks come into place, you are just damaging your faction with that playstyle in this PS2 build.

If I am solo I live to kill and kill to live.

If I am in a squad, I stay with the squad.

It isn't a game break but I at least try to keep about a 2/1 kd.

same. though i really have no squad to play with. Tried it randomly a few times. Would be nice i suppose

tell the truth your usually in a aircraft or a land vehicle.

I am in my AP VG if it is a ground vehicle, sometimes in my Reaver but normally I am infantry.

I'd like to see you cap a base without killing anyone.

Disagree. Every bad guy you kill is one less guy capturing your territory or repelling your assault, if only for a few seconds.

The only time you're hurting you're empire is if you farm a biolab or the crown at the expense of the rest of your land. On the other hand, if only a few individuals do this, it's no big deal. If, on the other hand, the leader of a large outfit takes on this attitude, well ... then you're empire gets the bone.

Filthy Sandraker, send more engineers to your gen room, I NEED THEM!

Finally, someone who shares my view on video games preventing real world violence.

After some time you do realise that objectives are something to flashbang rather than sit on.

The game is obviously about getting kills but the real debate is how important your deaths are. Especially when you play in a way that is bad for your team to minimise deaths.