For Part Deux (my girlfriend likes Charlie Sheen, so I couldn’t resist a minor reference) of my little MMO Debate Class, our topic of the day will be heroism.
Many games, RPG or otherwise, set up the character we play as a “hero” or at least give us the option of filling that role.
In Fallout 3, I am on my first play-through, so I chose the “Good Karma” route. I saved Megaton rather than detonating the nuke sitting in town. There’s not many people to be found in the post-apocalypse Washington D.C. area so I have only the well-scripted NPCs to interact with and care about, or not.
In the Halo series, Master Chief is the penultimate Spartan warrior who is cast as the heroic protagonist the player sees the game through to save humanity from the Covenant and Flood. Your actions as Master Chief affect the fate of Earth and through cinematics and in-game scripted interactions with NPCs and virtual AI companion Cortana, gratitude is expressed for your deeds.
In the examples given of Fallout 3 and Halo, neither is a “hero” simply due to being a badass and being the victor in each battle. They are heroes because they put themselves on the line to have a positive affect on others they’re fighting for. In other words, I never blast a Covenant Elite then say to myself “Ha! I’m such a hero!”
Looking at the definitions of “hero” (courtesy of dictionary.com) we have:
- a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
- a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal.
Those coincide with my personal interpretation of the word and reflects how I use it.
I recently made a comment over at Tesh’s blog alluding that those situations while in a group where things go downhill but you somehow pull off a creative ability and save one (or all) of your group members is really the only time we can truly be a hero in an MMO.
Another commenter disagreed, saying he also feels heroic even while soloing because “really it just comes down to a combination of overcoming a very difficult challenge while achieving a state of flow.”
From my standpoint — in an MMO — my character is more often than not cast as a mere mercenary to do some odd job for an NPC in exchange for XP, cash, gear, or some other reward. Everyone gets the same chance to do that same mercenary task and have the NPC give them the same thanks as they give me. That applies also to the more rare occasions when a quest may actually put us in the position of being a hero to that NPC.
The difference is even soloing in an MMO, it is not single-player games. In Fallout 3, no one else can ever enter my game session; those NPCs are talking to me and me alone and my actions have lasting meaning. In an MMO a barrier has been broken and we all know we’re not really doing anything unique. Those evil goblin mobs will respawn in five minutes. That princess will be captured all over again and need saving. Anything I can do with an NPC, so can anyone else. Therefore its meaning is drastically reduced, if it was ever there to begin with, depending on the individual player. (This could be one of many factors of why we tend to skip quest text.)
If I’m solo in an MMO sometimes I might have a difficult encounter, or perhaps pull one (or a few) more mobs than I intended to. I might use a few techniques, combined with crossing my fingers, and live through it. I can pat myself on the back for a job well done, perhaps even file away a new technique or combo to be used later. I might even get cocky and feel like a badass. But I don’t feel like I’m a hero, because I only saved myself.
Can one be a hero if there’s no one around who needs help? I say no.
Who do we refer to as heroes in life? The fireman who ran back into a burning building to save an infant. Getting a cat out of a tree for a distressed elderly woman. Giving of yourself to help neighbors in worse shape in these rough economic times. People who sacrifice of themselves in some way for a cause: helping someone else and making a real difference in their lives.
It’s only when I am grouped with other actual players (PvE or PvP, it’s all the same for this topic) and I “save the day” for someone or perhaps even prevent a total party wipe, be it through creative and/or superior knowledge of my character, class, and abilities, pure luck, or a combination thereof that I ever feel heroic, because I have put myself in the line of fire, or even sacrificed myself, to help the other players, and the group as a whole, succeed. The gratitude expressed is heartfelt and meaningful, and doesn’t happen for every single player every single time. My actions briefly mattered and made the difference between success and failure.
I can’t just leave it there, however. Some additional definitions of “hero” are:
- the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.
- the central figure in an event, period, or movement
Disregarding the sexism in the first (hero, heroine… same thing, different genitalia) both of these definitions could apply to soloing. If we manage to disregard that everyone’s doing the same content, we all want to have “our own story” in these MMOs. A single fight with a mob could be considered an “event” and our solo character would certainly fit the role of the central figure. These can give credence to feeling heroic even while solo, even though I reject that notion in my own personal definitions. It’s just two ways of viewing something. It doesn’t make me “right” or the other commenter “wrong.”
Even though I’m right… 
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If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?
If, by definition, heroic deeds require the recognition of others, then perhaps the deed itself may not be “heroic” if soloed, at least not in the moment. More than once, however, I’ve seen people on forums lauded for soloing dungeons designed for parties. Depending on the circumstances, that may be trivial or significant, but even there, to a large degree, it’s defined by the community, which would seem to at least intersect with heroism.
Does it count as heroism if it’s determined to be so after the fact?
Perhaps the terminology is getting in the way. Heroism and success aren’t the same thing, after all. One may feel powerful (or successful by the skin of one’s teeth) simply for overcoming a personal challenge. They need not have another confirm their success. (That’s the core of a solo playstyle, not conicidentally; self-defined success without regard for the definition of others.) Similarly, heroism need not be successful; many are the stories where one is considered heroic precisely because they sacrificed themselves for others.
When most game design is more about success (killing stuff while not being killed), and true heroism (working for others, even if it requires a sacrifice) isn’t often a metric for in-game success, is it any surprise that games that try to frame the player as a Hero are confusing the issue?
…and I can’t spell coincidentally, apparently.
I also wanted to work in a tangential comment about self-improvement in real life, and how relying on others to define your self-worth is dangerous, but I got distracted. Also, that’s perhaps a philosophical tangent too far; do we really want to be heroes in real life, or just modestly and honestly go about doing good, whether or not it’s recognized as heroism?
Chalk one up for power fantasies, perhaps, but there’s definitely something to be said for how shallow they ultimately tend to be.
This makes me think of my group in AoC yesterday…
As we enter the Halls of Eternal Frost, we are accosted by “Living Statues”…
As we near the end of the creatures life, I take the first fatality, as my foot stomps him to the ground, and my sword drives him deep.
Everyone was there as I took this first death with glory..
Heroic? Nobody said anything as I wooted!!
Basically the way I see heroism is defeating the odds thrown against us, or my own person as well, and overcoming those odds. But, I do not need others to recognize that.
Think of real life heroes. Do you think Martin Luther King wanted to die? Yet he is thought of as a hero due to his actions, and he did not need others to believe he was hero due to something specific,,,he did not even want the title.
He did a pretty good job solo!
I guess this is why I feel AoC (and also Guild Wars) makes me feel “heroic” when I play…against so many odds, I have that chance to survive. I do not need the recognition of others, even if they are more enticing..
Overall, somehow these games show me in that limelight, whether through the Fatality or a Cut Scene.
I feel heroic whether someone is there or not.
But, like you said…this is how I feel.
Idle tangent: It could be argued that the game designers are playing the “other” role that makes one a hero, even if playing solo. If the game explicitly or implicitly puts the player in a place of celebration, lauding their actions, can that suffice for the “opinion of others” when it comes time to defining a hero? And what constitutes that opinion? A bushel of XP or loot drop? In a game designed around rewarding players for their every action, could they not be seen as the hero every time they earn some sort of reward? What about Achievements, that are visible later by anyone?
Are actions only heroic if someone writes about or otherwise witnesses them? Are heroes lost to time (say, quiet heroes who saved lives in war or the like, with nobody left to speak of their actions) still heroes?
Is the guy who conquers his supremely challenging smoking habit a hero for his own health?
Does magnitude of potentially heroic actions matter? Say, a guy in the park who saves a child’s afternoon by subtly angling his path so the child doesn’t drop their ice cream? Or would he have to scramble and dive to save the child from a runaway car? What about just yelling at a rabid dog until it runs off? What if the child, the guy, and the dog are the only ones there, and the child is just afraid of the guy yelling, and winds up running home in tears, afraid of strange guys *and* big loud dogs? The mother, knowing what *really* happened, might consider him a hero, but if she only hears the child’s story, she might think quite otherwise.
Ultimately, I’m just not comfortable using the term “hero” as something purely defined by the opinion of others. It’s way to relative to be useful if that’s the case. Not to get too blunt about it, but certain political figures can be hailed as a hero by some, and a villain by others. With a description that vague and malleable, it loses all objective meaning.
As such, maybe there really is no objectivity about what constitutes “heroism”… and arguing about definitions really is pointless.
Well, speaking on behalf of the “other commenter”, because, well, I am he… I still don’t agree.
The definitions of hero you used are a bit difficult to extract meaning from, especially as the second is entirely circular (a hero is one who does heroic things or has heroic qualities – and presumably heroic things are what a hero does, while heroic qualities are what a hero has).
But let’s look at classical examples of heroism, shall we? Beowulf is one of the oldest and is a suitable place to begin. Beowulf fought Grendel in the meadhall Heorot, slaying the monster while Beowulf’s men surrounded it. Though Beowulf’s men tried to help, the monster was impervious to their weapons, and wouldn’t fall until Beowulf ripped its arm out. This was heroic, most would agree. Later, Beowulf and his men went to the cave where Grendel’s mother lived, and Beowulf was dragged to the bottom of an icy lake to fight the monster alone. Was Beowulf heroic when he fought Grendel’s mother (Angelina Jolie references aside of course)? One might argue that he was heroic, even though he was alone at the time… but then he was working on behalf of others, risking his life for their welfare. Well, so too are most PCs when we solo bandit chieftains, liches, and what-have-you; we mostly pursue these tasks as part of a quest that we’re given on behalf of NPCs who, the fiction would have us believe, require our help.
Perseus wished to attend the betrothal of his mother, Danae, in return for which the scheming king Polydectes demanded that Perseus bring him the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Perseus braved many dangers and acquired three divine instruments in the course of his quest, which culminated in his *solo* defeat of the only mortal Gorgon. Was Perseus less than heroic because nobody was there with him? Was he less heroic because he killed the monster for a fairly trivial reason (Polydectes was hoping Perseus would die in the attempt) and not because, say, the life of everyone on the island was at stake?
Was Heracles heroic or not when he slew the Nemean lion? When he slew the Lernaen hydra?
As the above examples indicate, we often consider “heroic” those efforts which overcome extreme challenges, often at the risk of one’s own life. Heroism, classically speaking and in common parlance, has absolutely nothing to do with the presence of other people at the time. It is perfectly possible and even common for people to be heroic by themselves; what counts is the extremity of the challenge and generally of the risk involved. The risk to one’s virtual life is no less when solo; arguably it’s greater since nobody else is there to res you.
No one was around, but I squished a spider the other day. Later on in the evening, I squished a spider that my wife was scared of. Guess which one felt more heroic?
I think there is a point to both sides of the argument, I don’t think either of you are completely right so you’re both wrong.
Didn’t Beowulf lie and cheat to be famous, by not defeating a certain creature only claiming to – freeing the old king (who was finally free to go kill himself?) It was really late and I had a few adult beverages at the time. Some hero though.
We can get all stickly and start discussing hero motivation (which leans to the “public” aspect – are heroes doing good for the sake of good, or for the sake of looking good?
The split between SP and MMO is so clear here. There is no heroism in MMO, only grind exceptionalism. in MLB 2K9 I can make myself a great pitcher, lead the league in strike outs, and take my team to the World Series – all with the click of the button (and of course, the underlying skill). In MMO, I can create a guy who will die to 2 or more rats at the same time, but hey, keep trucking little man! Practice! Some day you can slay a 40 ft dragon solo!
MMO is “deferred success”, which is the new term in the puplic education system instead of “failing”. Not doable in current MMO land, but perhaps someone is working on it. =)
bah, forget end stuff on my href – can you clean that up? =)