Going to experiment

I'm going to be experimenting more and more. I've found it helpful to think of some decisions as experiments. It helps me to avoid waiting so long before I'm satisfied with a decision. Instead, I choose to take quicker action with the idea that this is a temporary experiment to see how things go. If things work out, then great, I can choose to continue. Otherwise, if things don't work out, then the experiment still succeeds because it helped me learn regardless.

This blog started as an experiment. Now I've decided that it actually helps me a lot with getting my thoughts sorted. And I like the aspect of knowing that my decisions might be seen by others (well definitely now by at least one person 😀), so I have a bit of an accountability partner.

One new experiment will be playing Arknights. My friends Scruffy and Archer play, and I've heard others mention playing. I had been gradually developing the opinion that PvE games aren't really worth getting into. I was thinking that multiplayer games with PvP elements are the best and most exciting. But perhaps I'm wrong. I've become disenchanted with PvP that becomes spoiled by P2W.

And multiplayer games that focus on being part of a clan or guild also require much investment. You basically have to commit to playing daily and attending group events. This can be fine for a period, but once something comes up in life, it becomes troublesome. I've found this a problem in Age of Magic, Guns of Glory, War of Genesis, and Dragon Raja.

I've started thinking that Mobile Legends and probably MOBAs in general are likely my ideal PvP game. The PvP actually requires skill. And as long as the elements that you buy are mostly cosmetic, the gameplay isn't affected by people spending money. You can take breaks away from the game without really falling behind. I realize this isn't perfect since the people who play more often do also get better from more practice. And yes, you can find yourself on teams with poor players. Still, these don't necessarily discourage me. I still have fun.

The main problem I've had with ML is the length of the games. You pretty much have to devote 30 minutes of uninterrupted time for a rank game. That's hard to accomplish sometimes. They do have brawl mode, which is convenient for quicker games. Or classic mode so that interruptions don't matter as much.

Getting back to Arknights, I think this game might provide a nice alternative to ML when I don't have the time or focus for a rank game. I am interested in the puzzle aspect of the game. So I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes.