I have not participated in the weekly theme in months, the last one I wrote was at the end of September 2014. I know, shame on me, but I got busy with school, life, gaming, blah blah the usual stuff. This week's blog hosted by Lost_In_Translation is all about sacrifice! I have a nice personal gaming story about sacrifice, but first;
The Challenge:
"What I'd like people to do this week, is write a blog about sacrifice! The sacrificial trope is a common one in media, but when done properly it can be one of the most effective uses of ethos in existence. People build up relationships, you invest time in characters, only to see one of them make a noble gesture of selflessness, all for the sake of others. This could mean something small, or it could mean something big, even life changing. This week, I want to read your thoughts about sacrifices in gaming, tv, and other media. What are some particularly effective sacrifices you've played, watched, or sat through over the years?"
Sacrifices done for the greater good can be brutal. Sometimes they can be selfish, completely unnecessary, preventable, etc. but sacrifices are needed because it provides motivation and usually a benefits the "greater good". I have watched so many TV sacrifices where I'm just like "that was totally not even needed" and then I've seen some where I just shed tears because it was so touching. Either way, depending on the situation, sacrifices will happen and there will be a chain effect.
My sacrifice story is a gaming one that happened during a session of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. I love this game, I have three level 70 core characters and am at paragon level 250, non-cheated, because cheating is lame. However, this event revolves around my hardcore character which only has one life to live.
I am typically not a selfish Diablo player and really believe in sharing is caring, but there is some backstory to how this turn of events went down. Back in March 2014 I wrote a blog called "Most Memorable Online Gaming Experiences" where I had one terrible mishap with the game Civilization. My first time playing and my friend dropped a nuke right onto my city of Beijing. I swore I would get revenge someday.
Finally, that day came in the event of Diablo. We were playing with our hardcore characters and accidentally entered the "Crumbling Vault" which is a timed dungeon. Not really sure why we walked in there because we really should not have. Any who I was using a Monk and my friend was using a ... wizard maybe, I forget. We entered the dungeon together and immediately saw impending death, yet we did not retreat. So, we tried to push forward, but unlike me, my friend could not teleport through the enemies. I heard him scream out "Missy help me", so I looked back, evaluated the situation, saw that I would not be able to do anything, and decided that he would be sacrificed in order for me to live. Perhaps this was my conscience getting my revenge on the Civilization moment because he swore I could have helped him. He did not die in vain though, for he distracted many of the enemies, allowing for me to find the exit and move along. Now, obviously that was not a willing sacrifice, nor did he even see it as a sacrifice, but for me it was. I honestly used that man as a sacrificial lamb in order to save myself. I do not deny this and it was selfish of me, but YOLO!
This incident resulted in my friend selling his copy of Diablo III.
Now back to the topic of sacrifices. Nobody wants to be a sacrificial lamb because that would me the choice to die is not willingly. (A sacrificial lamb is a metaphorical reference to a person or animal sacrificed for the common good.) Most of the time the person sacrificed is discredited or not even remembered, which is a shame, because their death is what brought good. A prime example of that would be in [SPOILER -- SEASON 2 THE WALKING DEAD -- SPOILER] when Shane shoots Otis in the leg to use as a distraction to get the medical supplies back to town. He later lied about how Otis died. This act of cruelty was done so Shane could get the supplies to a dying Carl, but also because Shane was selfish. The sacrifice benefited the group at the cost of another. [END SPOILER] If you're going to be sacrificed you most likely want to do because you want to be the savior. You want to be the one who helps everyone else out. Its not for the glory, its just because you're a good hearted person.
Unlike me in that Diablo case, I wanted to live, I also know that if the roles were reversed I would have been left for dead as well. Probably one of my most cold hearted moments, but what's done is done.
So tell me,
In gaming, have you ever been used as a sacrificial lamb?
In gaming, have you ever sacrificed someone against their will?
In real life, what situation would you even consider using someone else as a sacrificial lamb?
For me, I probably couldn't bring myself to willingly kill or incapacitate someone for the "greater good" because what is the "greater good"? Plus, I'd have a guilty conscience for the rest of my life and it would just be morally wrong. Even in a zombie apocalypse...well I'd probably be the lamb if that was the case 'cause I'd be pretty damn useless haha!