Helpfulness seems to be a trait that some (especially the more hysterical tabloids) would have you believe is careening out of sight of civilisation and plummeting straight to the depths of Hades before the proverbial handcart even picks up speed. To be honest, in many ways, they are not far wrong, but oddly enough, for an oft-vilified slice of society, gamers can be surprisingly helpful people.
We often hear the more negative sides of the people that share our hobby, but the good do walk among us, lost among the ‘shouty teen’ and ‘pervy bloke’ shadows. From forum threads, to reams of patiently typed walkthroughs and collectible guides, to YouTube videos and trick tips, whatever game, level, or map you are stuck on, there will always be a kindly soul who has trod the thorny lined path before you.
I’ve had plenty of moments where I’ve scoured forums and sites after advice or tips, from the special rating achievement on Hitman to solving the errand glitch in Bully, to pouring red eyed over speedrun guides on YouTube for Mirror’s Edge, or even finding the last collectibles on Lego Batman. I’ve been helped by kind souls on the Xbox forums who have placed their trust in a stranger enough to loan me their uber rare Famous Pinata for an achievement, or who gave up their time to sell and re-buy a Hero Doll in Fable 2 to help me pop the Dollcatcher achievement, or simply offered tips and advice which I’ve gleaned from both old and current threads.
Now, I’m not naive enough to think that everyone who steps up to the plate to help others is doing so with purely altruistic intent. There is always the god complex element who do it to crow or show their superiority and the fact that they have already chewed that meat and spat it out. There are others who do it out of a need to be seen to be the ‘good one’, for some element of praise that they seem to feed upon, feasting on the gratitude of others. Is that so much of a bad thing though if it has a good result? After all, don’t most of us like to help… to get that fuzzy feeling when we can actually impart advice that makes someone go ‘wow, thanks’, or helps them? I do – it isn’t a need for me, but once in a while, it is a damn good feeling to soak up. It’s easy to relax back and not give a shit about anyone else, but I always try and remember that I’ve been in the position of the seeker… I’ve been the one searching for answers… I’ve walked the mile in their shoes and perhaps, therefore I owe something.
As gamers, where luck is as much a part of life as skill, patience, and practice, perhaps we have a duty to pay. Every once in a while, we can turn back and give someone else a leg up. For those that don’t… well, I don’t want to say that the gaming gods will send the Red-Ring demons after your favourite box of tricks, but I won’t say they won’t either.
‘Fuck-you mentality’ as my old Performing Arts tutor once said, is often rife and is certainly corrosive to any ‘community’ which is becoming an oft-used word in gaming now. For those that helped me, I say ‘thank you’ and for that, I remember my responsibility to others and return to forums of games I have completed to offer help – to help others get achievements they need, or to give advice (that they could find further down if they bothered to search harder which admittedly gets under my skin), but I do it anyway. I pay it forward, because I think I should.
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April 13th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
If you’re SO much into paying it forward… sign over your Mirror’s Edge achievements to me, because I can’t be arsed going through all that mental and physical torture, thank you very much!
All your achievement are belong to us!
April 13th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Over my very dead body!!
April 13th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I read quite an amusing piece on why people write walkthroughs, entitled “Why Do They FAQing Bother?”:
http://www.gameshark.com/gamecube/features/514/Why-do-they-FAQing-bother-.htm
Too true though, Lorna. Good way to bring about some game karma, too!
April 13th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
That’s an interesting article Celeste! Some FAQs are mind boggling and you have to wonder about the sheer time and effort that some folk pour into them…
April 16th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I’ve always wondered about the people who buy the strategy guide with the game….
April 21st, 2009 at 9:29 am
I would love to help people but for the most part I am so poor at games compared to my peers that it would be pointless. I have been known to dish out the odd tip or 2 for Bad Company on the GTM forums tho, and occasionally I can come up with some vaguely useful guidance on Gears 2.
April 21st, 2009 at 9:31 am
Also, regards the whole strategy guide thing, MrsG does that! She barely plays any games but when she does its always with the strategy guide percehd on her lap as she goes. I have tried telling her about the sense of discovery etc that she is denying herself by doing it but she remains unimpressed with my arguments