'Seeking connection': video game where players stopped shooting, started talking

When playing EvE online many years ago, I was surprised by one enemy militia player.

Context: we were living partially in low sec systems where PvP was allowed. That's where PvP players from big alliances came when there were no 5k ppl fights for system control.

I've noticed one enemy player consitently being very chivalry about fights. He returned loot to less experienced people he won a fight with and was always humble in both defeat and victory. He even once returned a very expensive module that dropped from my ship after he won a fight with me. And that showed clearly I wasn't a new player that needed taking care off.

That taught me a lot about playing and general behavior in life. That it's not always about your results, but it's always about your style.

I'd love to mention the Endless Forest, an artistic game from nearly twenty years ago where you were a deer and there were no real goals and communication was entirely with deer gestures and sounds. The idea was great and it was fun finding random other people (as deer) and exploring the fantasy world together.

The game smartly sorts players into lobbies based on their aggressiveness towards others. And this is where it diverges from real life scenarios.

It has always puzzled me a little bit that shooting is a core mechanic in a majority of video games.

Does this serve any purpose?

Maybe it makes joining the military not too unappealing for teenagers.

A while ago when I got Resident Evil on the Wii. I found myself really fed up and depressed with the pee and poo coloured levels and relentless misery (maybe I should have known better than to rent Resident Evil!)

I had the idea of taking classic 3d videogame levels and landscaping them with flowers and benches. Executive function got the better of me, I but I still muse about it from time to time.

Hopefully we come full circle back to game lobbies. Game lobbies and fixed servers were the micro communities this article is dancing around. It worked remarkably well in the early days. I know I certainly miss it

I remember a lot of online servers from the Jedi Knight series where people would spend a lot of time talking (well.. writing in chat), messing around, making friendly duels or exploring weird custom mmaps.

It was kinda weird considering the game type.

Mordhau is a bit like this. We also need Team Fortress 3 now.