best paragraph ever
 

Recently I was thinking why our community is so divided on what’s acceptable game play. A majority of the crowd loves to play football. The rest of the crowd loves to win. Why is it then, that our video game series, Madden, separate from other video games? When I was debating this I thought, “why isn’t Halo a divided community?” “Why aren’t there guys out there saying certain tactics are cheap, and dirty?” “How come there’s such a massive following of Halo, and our community is essentially split in half?” To find my answer, I started comparing the games.

In short, the reason why our community is split and a game franchise like Halo’s isn’t, is because there isn’t anything to compare a video game like Halo to. In our game of choice, Madden simulates football. When we put Madden in the console, for most gamers, we want to play football the way we see it on TV — or in our heads — better than the way we see it on TV. We want to be the coach calling the plays, and running in the touchdowns. The catch is, that we want to do it in a fashion similar to what’s on TV.

So how do the Halo guys get a break? We can’t compare Halo to anything else. How can you compare shooter games to anything short of war? Even with that comparison, is there any such thing as ‘dirty tactics’ in war? These guys are playing a video game that’s like nothing else we know. There can’t be ethics, or morality in shooting the opponent dead. That’s what you play the game for.

Our controversy stems from just that. What do you play the game for? The Madden community is divided between gamers who are playing football, and gamers that are playing a video game. In Halo, T Squared is the poster boy. Does he double shoot, and jump onto things he shouldn’t for an advantage? Of course he does — and the masses love him for doing it so well. Would he abuse curl routes, or HB off tackles in Madden? Absolutely, and the masses would hate him for it. The division, although clear, is often over looked. He’s playing a video game, despite what disk is in the tray. He’s playing to win, and the only difference is that we compare Madden to the NFL when we should be considering it a video game. Madden is our version of war. We’re playing a video game to win, not to simulate the NFL much in the same way that T Squared is playing to win in Halo — only we can’t compare Halo to anything else. For this reason alone the Halo community is enormous, and ours is split.

Once you stop looking at Madden as football and start looking at it as a video game, you’re going to find yourself in a much better situation to win tournaments and challenges. Once you do that, everyone considers you a ‘cheezer.’

Re: best paragraph ever
 

ummm.....the madden community is pretty big man. Madden has pretty big sales. And we don't care too much for Madden tournaments here. We just like to play 'sim' football, and play it and have fun. I'd rather have a blowout loss that was 'sim' then to beat a player who used exploits by a few in a ranked game.

Re: best paragraph ever
 

:y6:Uh Okay,Sure. I think we all know it is a Video Game. However some people(myself included) would rather play with mature,reliable,gamers,that play the game for fun and not the win at all cost mentality.I never do anything that I consider cheap/weak/cheese/lame... in Any video game when playing with people I know and like/trust.

Re: best paragraph ever
 

though i agree with you 99.9% of that entire paragraph there is one thing that bugs the F... out of me. The word, cheezer. You made valid points all the way til the end where you pretty much admitted that cheese is cheese and should be considered ok because its a "video game." sorry bud, that dont fly with me. And just so you are aware, I dont applaud T squared. I dont envy him. I think he is a chump since he cant play the game for how its meant to be played. if we were comparing real life to video games. cheesers wouldnt exist... period. war games or sports games.

Re: best paragraph ever
 

Best paragraph ever rephrased - "In order to win tournaments and challenges you need to take advantage of exploits found in the game."

I think this is pretty much already well known.

Re: best paragraph ever
 

I'm gonna have to disagree with the topic poster. There are ethics invloved in war just like in video games. There are certain things you don't do such as killing someone who is surrendering. Same with video games, you don't use a certain play everytime. You mix up your playcalling in the spirit of the game. Anyone who cheezes has zero respect for the actual real life game IMO.

On another note war isn't all about killing. Its about trying to prove a point or set an end goal to achieve. If it involves killing then thats what you do. But there are things you just flat out don't do on the battlefield. I have a friend in the army and that is exactly what he has told me.

Re: best paragraph ever
 

Integrity is everything to me.

If that makes me a purist or stiff wad, so be it.

I just played a guy who was playing straight right up until the last drive, when he needed a score, to win.

Out came the 12 yard turbo-sprint drop back and chuck on his last gasp of the game..with Peyton Manning.

Sure, he "won"; but he knows why he did what he did, and so did I.

What you do, and how you do it, says something about you.

In all walks of life.

Re: best paragraph ever
 

Well said! I was in the Army and I can definitely relate.You follow Lawful Orders and ethics are a Must in any walk of life.