Why Descent?

[Lee]

Hi,

I'm interested in hearing from other people why they play Descent? Why is it that they came back or continued playing? What it is that keeps them coming back for more? Why they play Descent in particular and not any other game? What it is they are looking to achieve by playing Descent?

I'm sure you get the idea so if its something you'd like to share then cool, do it. Don't feel bound to those questions though, share as you see fit.


Thanks

[Morfod]

Because I can dodge.

[melvin]

By that you mean you can't dodge a bullet in BF/CoD/whatever but you can dodge fusion etc?

[sdfgeoff]

Many reasons:
- Because it doesn't involve shooting at other human-like things. Shooting spaceships is way better
- Because it uses a combination of strategy and reflexes
- Because it runs on any computer
- Because it works at high pings (I live in some far-away peice of world where my ping is a mostly stable 220)
- Because it's a spaceship
- Because the community is great
- Because there is a nice combination between competition and helpfulness
- Because I have a bright red ethernet cable that connects my laptop to PPSKI's
- Because it takes skill, it's something you have to keep on learning

Because it's fun.

[LotharBot]

https://descendentstudios.com/community ... nt-combat/

it's the only shooter-game I know of that plays on all four timescales.

[Sirius]

I think, for me, it's a combination of two things. The first is that there is a great deal of tactical breadth - there are many different ways to fight. Some of them are better than others in certain situations, but most of them are viable in many situations. There are plenty of things to learn and practice, and it doesn't just get dominated by "my aim is perfect".

The second is that high skill actually matters. A lot of games (MMOs, console FPSs) artificially clamp down the skill curve so that everyone can feel like they're doing something. Descent doesn't do that.

This comes from a combination of things: the 6dof is one component, but the fact that the weapons are almost all travel-time and can all be evaded - even the homing ones - is just as important. Trichording and the turn-speed mechanics are an often subtle but potentially significant factor that makes even just flying your ship an important skill.

So, I guess, in short - Descent is about the only game I've played where I still felt like I had important things to learn after playing it for 10 years.

[Lady Silver]

Why do I play Descent?
What keeps me coming back again and again? and again?

To be honest, I don't think it's really the 6 degrees of freedom aspect; for I never really cared for single player, and never really looked into many other 6dof games.

It's multifaceted:

I love this community. We have a lot of great people here, and I have made a lot of friends. You guys make it fun to keep coming back and trying again when I fail; and you make it enjoyable when I accomplish something that I've worked hard and trained for.

I guess I'm kind of a competitive person, and this ladder really caters to that. It's challenging. It's rewarding when you can see yourself getting better over time. It's the training to improve. It's the thrill of the fight. The adrenaline rush. The high you get from winning by the skin of your teeth over a tough opponent.

I like the fact that this game is so complicated; you can't just master it over night. So many different things you have think about as you fly: Where am I? Where is my opponent? What are my shields at? What are my opponents shields at? What weapon do I have? Is it what I need? What missiles do I have? Do I need to go find more? Was that a door I just heard open? Did he fly through it or did he just want to bluff me? Should I camp here or pursue? Where does he like to go/hide? I could shoot a smart here and see if it tracks? I could shoot a smart there and hope it smashes through his windshield unawares? Wait, there he is! And then a fight commences where you have to make several split-second decisions at once adn continue to make them until you either duck into a tunnel to take cover or end your opponent.

I love that I am flying against another human being who, a lot of the time, has been training just as hard as I have to become skilled in the art of piloting a Pyro. Skill against skill. Wit against wit. Can I do something unexpectedly clever and outplay him this round? He might expect this, but will he expect...THIS?! I could double back. Or I could double - double back. I could taunt him and try to throw him off his game...

And the over-time - Oh, the over-time! Who can hold out longer? Do I have what it takes? Are his nerves wearing as thin as mine? I'm shaking from the adrenaline! I can't do this much longer! But I WANT THIS!


"I would stand in line for this. There's always room in life for this." - Extreme Ways

[Drakona]

The moves. I've played and enjoyed other shooters, but never for very long. The groundpounders have added layer after layer of meta over the years, flags and control points and teams and bombs and powers and shops, just to build some strategic depth onto a game which is fundamentally limited. Descent remains deep at its simplest, such that interesting innovations in its gameplay look more like Ugh than like Counterstrike.

In Descent alone, as far as I know, does the master stand like the kung fu master in the movies, like the legendary ninja, untouchable, immovable, sometimes undetectable, seeming to defeat you with skill that seems supernatural in nature. Why does even a skilled player lose a fusion fight to one who has mastered the genre? How does Jediluke kill you when you never SEE him?

The attraction to me is mastery that borders on the mystical. There are amazing performances in esports of all types, but I think the skill in Descent is just... satisfying. It's inspiring and stunning to see, and satisfying to achieve at many levels. To be able to sit in the same space as you sat a decade ago, bearing weapons that haven't changed, facing the same range of adversaries as ever, and to HAVE felt frightened and vulnerable, and to NOW feel confidently invincible, when all thay changed was you... well.

Not acquired levels. Not dominance after 20 minutes of gathering and building better than you used to. Not a few special skills that you practiced to death and now you have this one unbeatable move. Just what's in your mind and hands, against all the creativity of the world. There's something very immediate, very innate, very interesting happening here, and I love it.

Secondarily, for me, it's the culture. The legacy of Sirian and Karash and Glock21 - share the knowledge, make the game great, show courage, respect improvement, cultivate skill, treasure true awesomeness and spurn mere statistics. The legacy of Kali and IDL and the peer-to-peer nature of the game itself - decentralized, build what you want to see, solve our own problems, respect what we think is worthy. Pilots in general are independent, self-reliant people, and Descent pilots have this personal characteristic in spades. And now the legacy of DCL - respect guts, fly with honor, become great together, train hard together, and see how deep this crazy art goes. I don't think we've mastered it yet, but it sure has been a privilege trying with you all.

There's a lot of other stuff I love, too. I love the struggle. I love the challenges. I love the pressure and the indomitable opponents. I love the thrill of do or die at the start of a match. I love the crazy wins that you train for for a year and finally GET. I love the exhausting workout of the great games. The fun and the adrenaline and the camaraderie. The awesome people I've met and the remarkable friendships.

Some of what keeps me coming back right now is the sense of an amazing opportunity, and the knowledge that nothing lasts. When I left the Descent world around 2002, I thought I'd been a part of something very special, something I'd never again see in my lifetime. And then lightning struck twice and here we are. And what a second chance! I have felt for a while that THIS is the golden age of the game, and even if the community is smaller, some of the coolest stuff that has ever happened is happening these days, and I don't want to miss out! I know epic pilots retire, and I want to play them as much as I can before they do.

Truth might be, though, that I'd love it if it weren't for any of that. I found that all out after I'd been in it for years, and I was already hooked. First time I spawned, in single player, on trainee, 13 years old... I flew in a circle. Flew back around the other way. Fell in love hard and I can't say that feeling has ever diminished. I might've gotten bored if it hadn't been deep enough to spend a good chunk of a lifetime studying, but I think my attitude has always been something close to, I'm a musician and this is my instrument. I'm an artist and this is my medium. I fly because I HAVE to fly. Another 6DoF could conceivably surpass it, though none I've seen have, but I think I will always feel a deep need to fly and to get better.