A tale of teamwork or lack thereof in Everquest
Kevin Jenkins
the powerful nobles of the gnoll race, we knew there was yet more to come.
Moreover, Tanin spoke of the foul shamans and commanders, whose victims'
corpses carpeted the floor. As the leader of our four man group, I knew
teamwork was the only thing that would keep us alive, and so constantly
extolled my fellow adventurers to work together. True to the tales, we
found a powerful Splitpaw commander lolling at the top of a nearby
staircase. While no match for our party, he could provide a challenge in
single combat even to me. With trepidation, I opened a nearby door and
spied yet more foul beasts: two gnoll's shamans, with spells of fire, pain,
and disease to rend opponents from afar. I already knew the other
adventures with me were of a low caliber, untrustworthy cowards, so checked
my rear for the necessary assistance. Perhaps I should not have challenged
fate in such a way. My eyes immediately beheld our weakest member, Darkelk,
aggravating the first commander. This alone would not be our doom, but like
dominoes the commander alerted my shamans who alerted the high shaman leader
of the gnolls. Doom was now upon us.
Had my party fought with valor, skill, and teamwork we may have come out
victorious. Such was not to be. Darkelk, instead of holding his attackers
for assistance, ran like a dog in a hopeless attempt to find sanctuary. He
was quickly cut down, turning a difficult four man battle into an almost
hopeless three man battle. Did I say three man? Nay, for our second
coward, Laceth, was nowhere to be found. Did he run? Was he was standing
around like the town idiot with glazed eyes? I know not. Tanin and myself
attacked the shaman leader, but with little hope and we knew it. Having
shredded Darkelk the monster horde came back for us. To my shame and good
fortune the beasts, who normally attack me on sight, this time chose to slay
Tanin first. "This is hopeless" I thought yet still valiantly fought on in
an attempt to save my teammates. Now Tanin too broke and ran, giving up his
life to no avail. In the few seconds of peace left me, I made a decision.
I ran, hid behind a pillar, and fled the zone. What galled me was this
escape was bought with the life of Tanin, and seconds later Laceth. As I
write this from safety I am ashamed of my cowardice, yet know logically I
had no other option than a pointless death. What appalls me far more is my
teammates. Had they worked as an team we may have come out victorious.
Instead, hopeless panic and self-centeredness ruled the day. Were the cost
only their own lives I would not begrudge that decision. However, they cost
the rest of the team their lives as well. Now I venture back into Splitpaw,
but this time alone and burdened with a valuable lesson: Choose your
teammates well, for weak ones will not only get themselves slaughtered, but
you as well.
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Kevin Jenkins
leads to a lack of teamwork and socializing. From what I've seen 75% of
players prefer to go solo instead of grouping, given the choice. And even
when they do group most people play in a self centered fashion. Such as:
running off anytime they please, constantly lagging behind, attacking
everything in sight, blindly concentrating on only their own targets,
ignoring teammates in distress, greedily looting everything not nailed down,
abandoning the team as soon as things look bad, ignoring team
communications, not healing teammates, and lots more. Sometimes I feel like
giving these guys a piece of my mind, but I'd alienate almost everyone :)
-----Original Message-----
From: Steen.Amming/Copen...@manbw.dk <Steen.Amming/Copen...@manbw.dk>
To: rak...@IX.NETCOM.COM <rak...@IX.NETCOM.COM>
Cc: GAM...@BROWNVM.BROWN.EDU <GAM...@BROWNVM.BROWN.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, May 05, 1999 10:58 PM
Subject: Re: A tale of teamwork or lack thereof in Everquest
>Fearfully we ventured into the bowels of Splitpaw. <Snip>
>
>Hi Rakkar
>Great story. It's just such vivid tales which inspire people
>to good roleplaying instead of just powerplaying for stats.
>
>Never stop being inspired
>Steen A.