Deciding What To Do #WURMOnline
stargrace There’s something calming about the sounds in game, right now my character is mining, I queue up the skill 3x (you can always queue 3 steps at a time) and the gentle dig dig sound is some what comforting. I’m trying to raise my body strength high enough to take down a few fences that are causing me issues on my property. I would like to move my forge down to my mine (where it will be put to the best use) but to do that I have to pass a fence gate – and the forge considers this a ‘wall’ so it refuses to budge. It would also be nice to break down some of the road at the top of my property, there is cobblestone from the previous owner that I’d like to remove part way. So in the mean time I’m sitting in my mine, harvesting iron, working on skills and writing this blog post.
One of the ‘turn offs’ of a sandbox game (not just this one, but ANY sandbox game) is deciding WHAT you want to do. Some players can get incredibly frustrated and decide to give up because they have no idea what they want to do or how to go about it. This is something you see in EVE a lot, and Wurm is similar. In both games I naturally turned to crafting because this is something that I know I enjoy a huge amount. In Wurm I have small goals for myself. First was setting up and obtaining a deed. Then setting up my house, and a bed. Finding a few animals and planting a few crops. Re-populating the forest. Making some smaller tools for myself including a sickle so I can harvest sprouts, a loom, a spindle. Some long-term goals I have include moving the forge to the mine, moving the stove and the food storage bin down the slope on the property towards Squid’s house. Creating a dock area along the coast. Expanding my animal pen and eventually breeding a few <insert random animals here>. There are loads of other goals I can come up with for myself, just as I did in EVE. That’s why these type of games appeal to me so much, the decision on what to do is left completely in my hands.
I don’t always enjoy gaming this way, but most of the time, I do. As long as the game appeals to me. Combat is something that I have relatively little interest in, be it in EVE or in Wurm. I partake when I have to (I’ve killed a few mountain lions now) but I have no interest in leveling my skills up any further than is required in order for me to survive.
Speaking of survival, tonight I managed to get myself surrounded by a handful of mountain lions and a spider or two. I dove off the side of a cliff and promptly died (by a grape bush, I later found out by Arkenor who found my mangled corpse). Wurm is dangerous, and at night time when the fog is blowing in and there are gales it’s difficult to see two feet in front of you. Always be aware of your surroundings, so that you can go back and retrieve your corpse. I know everyone learns differently but for myself I use my deed as my ‘home base’ and have started learning the areas outwards from my deed. I use landmarks like other deeds and patches of trees in order to recall where I’m headed. There are forests of olive trees and apple orchards that I can remember walking past, and if I’m ever in a situation where I end up being unable to out run the creatures who are chasing me, I know that I at least have a pretty good chance of finding my body and not losing everything I was carrying on me.
Those 25 sprouts I came home with were completely worth the death.
As always, happy gaming! No matter where you find yourself.