Winning (and Losing) through Cooperation

Last weekend, we got together to play table games. I don’t play a lot of table games, and I don’t know why because they are fun, but I think I sometimes get intimidated by all of the rules. Tabletop games seem to require the player to remember a lot while also trying to strategize. We played Last Night on Earth, which allowed us to cooperate and, we had to either stick together to fight the zombies or split up. We stuck together. But, this is not a story about how cooperation or sticking together saved the day. It didn’t. We were literally crushed by the zombies.

However, the cooperation aspects of the game made me think about how I play games and why I tend to stay away from cooperative play. I hardly ever play any type of game that requires cooperation. It’s not because I’m antisocial. (I don’t think.) More, it’s because the type of cooperation I’m used to playing in video games often requires playing online with strangers who sometimes (often) make game play unpleasant for me with their commentary. One time, I remember playing Dead Island with online play inadvertently turned on. This other player was ruining the game for me with his ongoing nasty commentary about how I wasn’t playing it the way he wanted. The game wouldn’t let me shift back to offline play without starting over, so eventually I just gave up and went on to play something else. Now I shy away from the whole thing. 

But, I had a blast playing Last Night on Earth cooperatively. I often feel I stay away from table games because they seem complicated, and I’m often constantly asking what the rules are again, and what my best move is, even when doing so gives away about my strategy and position in the game. But, playing cooperatively allowed us to talk and strategize together (admittedly to the detriment of our collective imaginary health).  And, playing cooperatively made the game more fun because I’m not always terribly competitive. I like to win, of course, but I also just like to enjoy time with friends. Playing cooperatively allowed us to play together (and, well, die together). But, let’s face it, in the apocalypse, I probably wouldn’t want to live all by myself. I always felt sorry for Robert Neville in I am Legend. I would be too lonely.

Many of my friends play cooperative games, like WoW and Destiny. And, from what I understand, they are often playing with each other or other friends, which seems like it would be more fun. (Lots of trash talking, I’m sure, but trash talking among friends is a whole other ball game than strangers harassing me online.) My best friend and I used to play Dead Rising 2 online. We would dress Chuck up in silly costumes and run around and kill zombies. That was fun. I will probably never get to the point where I enjoy playing online with strangers. But, I would like to play more with friends. Of course, it’s tough to find games that would allow me to do that. Most of the games I love are single player by design. I hope that doesn’t make me antisocial!