Can we be heroes?

[Skullmaker]

~~I've been thinking about this for several months. I hope you, the reader, will find it interesting and discusion-worthy.

~~Maybe it's just inherent to MMO's in general, but at least for me, the feeling of being a true hero in the game is missing. Certainly there are cut-scenes where you are thanked for your effort and told you've become strong. Also there is gear that can be hard to aquire and looks and functions above the norm. However, after a while, many people have the exact items and they all stand around in Ul'dah looking like an army of copy-pasted characters.

~~In single player rpgs, you are aware at all times that you are the hero. The one who fights the battles, learns the strategies, finds or doesn't finds the best gear, and ultimately defeats whatever evil has decended to vex the world. I certainly don't expect a parade everytime I complete some content, but I wonder if that single-player feeling is something that can be achieved in a MMO at all.

~~Maybe it isn't really the point of an MMO in the first place. These games are meant to be played by social units that hopefully lead to friendships and a sense of comaradery.
When I bought FF11, I had the mistaken idea I'd be standing on some tall hill, with my cape flapping in the wind and all (capes, hah!), and rush down to the aid of any overwhelmed players I saw. Of course the game simply wasn't made like that and I had to face the reality of what the game really was. It bummed me out for a while, and I ended up playing jobs that were unpopular just to stand out a little, but it still wasn't heroic, just stubborn.

~~Watching Lou selflessly sacrifice himself in the "end of an era" video, I saw a hero. I just wonder if any of us can ever aspire to such greatness when we all end up looking the same in the end.

~~The only thing I can think of at the moment that might be equivilant, would be a "Hall of Heroes". It would be a large building with plaques, trophies etc. listing special content and the first people to beat that content. People would be able to walk it's halls and see the names of the first alliance to beat the cyrstal tower for instance. While it's unlikely I myself would ever grace those halls, it might add that extra bit that feels like it's missing.

At any rate, thanks so very much for reading through all of the above, and I hope that some of you will understand what I mean and add your thoughts to the discussion.

[auritribe]

No, sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5QGkOGZubQ

[Wyyote]

~~I've been thinking about this for several months.

Really? Kind of unsettling...

[DubstepNinja]

just for one day

[Ingolf]

It would be nice, but it's ultimately impossible I think.

I actually prefer it when they reference you as a group of heroes, rather than one guy/gal who did something significant. So many other people have done it by that point.

In XIV I actually liked how you weren't solo in CS's you were with your group. I also liked that they said a few adventurers have the gift of the echo or joined the Grand companies.

[RudyFails]

The reason you can't be a hero in an MMO doesn't have much to do with anything you listed.
You can't become a hero because people outside friends and LS won't congratulate you for killing big bosses and saving the world. Instead they'll just hate you for getting that sweet loot that they don't have and come up with every excuse in the book to make you look like a dungeon dwelling useless waste of nerd life (how wonderful!).

Sucks.

[IloveYouPumpkin]

Hall of Heroes.

Yes please.

[Wyyote]

Hall of Heroes.

Yes please.

Just pointing out that we're kind of all zeroes right now. I mean the big nasty dragon did spank us pretty hard. I felt big after beating Ifrit extreme but now hellfire doesn't really seem that scary.

[Ingolf]

Just pointing out that we're kind of all zeroes right now. I mean the big nasty dragon did spank us pretty hard. I felt big after beating Ifrit extreme but now hellfire doesn't really seem that scary.

I don't think we really fought Bahamut. We were pretty far away from where he emerged after all.

[NinjaPanda]

Did you not feel like a hero when you killed Nael?

I felt like a rock star, a hero, even a king. I also didn't feel like it was my efforts alone. I felt like my team were the heroes we should be.