This gamerblogger is not at all a rank hound. In my mind, the numeric system that sorts the elites from the noobs in Halo 3 on Xbox Live is in place to better-insure a good game. It’s not a measure of a gamer’s worth as a human being. From my perspective, a gamer that plays a game to earn a symbol next to their name may be depriving themselves of the fun they are supposed to have in the playing of said game. Previously, I have gone so far as to mock the gamers who quest endlessly for an imaginary promotion.
However…
Sooner or later, the seduction of rank grips us all. Bungie Studios has created a compelling system to spice the roleplay. You can only resist it for so long before it seeps into the crevices of your ego and starts to crack your resolve in ignoring that insignificant little icon next to your gamertag.
For me, it is the Gold Standard that lights a fire under my gaming chair. You know what I am talking about… Those gold bars that appear under the insignia of a gamer that has been lurking below their true potential for too long. Try as I might, I cannot stand to see those damn things! After toiling in the trenches to get rid of those gold chevrons that we all had at the outset of Halo 3, what do they do? They give you more gold. But you don’t want gold. You want silver!
I earned my second set of gold bars this weekend. Bastards! My fellow Gunslingers saw them coming. They counted down the games I had remaining before my mark of shame was issued, like the final hours before it was time to report to jail.
It’s almost as if the developers at Bungie are whispering in my ear…
Hey DeeJ… those gold bars are back! Remember when you had those as a Lieutenant? Everyone knows that you have been goofing off again in Big Team Social after those prolonged visits to the pub. They are pointing and laughing. You look like a real jerk! What’s the matter? Can’t you win a game without your trusty Warthog at the ready? Do you really need to hide behind 7 Gunslingers to enjoy yourself? Enough of this Sunday stroll. Let’s hurt a little bit, SPARTAN!
When you are sporting the Gold Standard, you become that cliché from all of those war movies that you have seen. You start to resemble the disgruntled officer who is hurting his career by staying in one place for too long. You are the fighter pilot who has been marginalized for buzzing the tower – and one Admiral’s daughter. You are the Army Base Desk Jockey who wishes every day that he never took a swing at the MP that night when he was being hauled out of the bar.
So what do you do? The second you enter a game with the intention to “rank up”, you are dooming yourself. The best way to insure that you will make a mistake to cost your team a game is to promise yourself that you won’t. In the MidWorld Forum, where the Gunslingers hold court and conspire, it is not unusual to see the formation of ranking parties. Our Halo War Room reads like a literal menu of carnage du jour…
“Team Slayer, Ranks 25 – 30, Monday Night, 8PM”
“Ranked Big Team, Ranks 5 – 15, Let’s try this again!”
“Help Lansdown reach 40! Tonight! No Brokeass”
It gives me no pleasure to admit it, but one of those posts in my near future. Time to trade in this gold for some stars – or, rather, one star. Of course, I could have done this tonight; but I decided to write this article instead. A gamerblogger, after all, must have their priorities in line.
I feel your pain, Deej, I really do. This previous weekend’s Grifball double EXP handed me about 100 EXP and pushed me into First Lieutenant territory. I’ll get past it with Ranked Big Team, but for so long we did not have that option, and my thriving friends list was a ball-and-chain to my rank (and I didn’t care.) A few times after this weekend’s “upgrade,” I would hear some mocking in the pregame lobby, which then led to a quick mute. Strangely enough though, we beat every team that felt the need to mock my rank… I was satisfied.