Sparring

[crymerci]

Just sort of curious...

I was having a conversation awhile back with another player, and mentioned the fact that I absolutely hate sparring.  It bores me to tears.  It's the reason I've never been able to make a true combat-oriented PC.  I like hunting, and PC combat is cool when it's real and not just for practice.  It's just sparring that I hate,

My friend said (this is all paraphrased from what I remember of the conversation) that he loves sparring, that it really gets his blood pumping and makes him feel like he's really doing something, and he really gets into it, picturing things, etc.  He said that for him, sparring wasn't really about skill gain at all, but about RP.

So, just wanted to see how everyone else feels about it.

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

I love sparring. I feel it's almost neccasary for a fighter character who plants to fight other humanoids in any form of serious combat. It really helps flesh out your character... Fighting is a proffession, an art to some. They're going to need to practice it, fine-tune it, and yes, flaunt it. For me, it's always been about the RP... It's like training. It's like a sport. It's not 'OMFG, I branched archery, yo!!!@! 1m sew l33t!'

If you don't like sparring, trying EMOTEing more. I've seen some wicked cool battle EMOTEs appear during sparring that really make the fight interesting. Another good idea is to add verbal instruction to the fight. If you just kicked the newbie warrior's ass, tell him why, and what he can do to improve. Or if your character is a meany-pants, then just laugh at him and call him a weak little kank-humper.

I've always found sparring to be neccasary for a warrior, and not from a skills point of view, but from an RP point of view.

[Socko]

I enjoy RPing out a spar every once in a while.

The thing is, it's a necessary evil to me-- I just have a problem getting into it regularly, and if I'm in a setting where I -do- have to spar regularly, I'll force myself to do it, but end up recycling some emotes, or rewording them.

Something about it's weird, you know? It's like the battle won't matter in the end, as it's just one in a series of many. But then, later on.. I've found that a spar's something you can emote the -most- in. You don't emote as much in a real fight-- it's either too quick, or too jarring for me to react fast enough.

So it's a necessary evil that I do enjoy from time to time, even respect, but still have problems getting into hardcore. I just hate training anything skill-based.

Because of this, I had a 70 day warrior that only branched once.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I love sparring, and generally only make combative characters. However, I tend to get caught up in roleplay so deeply that I forego combat at times. Thusly, the amount of sparring I engage in varies. For some characters, it rules the day. I have had an assassin who could go toe to toe with 50+ day warriors. One the other hand, I had a warrior who, at 10+ days, still lost to rangers.

It greatly depends upon what sort of role the fighter is entrenched in. Still, sparring is certianly a part of the game that I've no problem with, and something that is essential to the role of warrior in the purest sense. When carried out with proper RP, it becomes a beautiful thing.

[Bushranger]

Personally I think sparring has its uses but is often over-used. I would love to see more training in the game and less sparring, utilising the 'teach' command. For example, instead of pairing of every morning have weapon drills where the master shows how to hold and swing a sword properly, how to parry that incoming blow and where a shield should be at all times then using teach to impart their knowledge.

Yes, sparring should be all about RP and if you have a dedicated combat character then sparring is a valid RP choice. Just don't overdo your sparring and be open to other forms of training. I even like to just emote sparring sometimes without actually using combat code.

[crymerci]

I'm sort of curious as to how (or whether) this splits along gender lines. Are there any female players who want to speak out about how much they like sparring, or male players who want to speak out about how much they hate it?

[Anarchy]

As a female....

Sparring for me can go both ways, somtimes i enjoy it, somtimes i hate it.

It also for me depends on the class, and those around me. I cannot stand the Warrior class, i hate it i think its boring, but i love the Assassin and Ranger classes, i enjoy sparring if the person im sparring with isn't only intrested in maxxing out skills so they can do out and kill gith, or want to beat you to a bloody mass in 2 rounds of training. I do enjoy it if someone tries to teach you what your doing wrong, etc etc.

[Xanous]

I view sparring as a nessissary evil.  If you are a warrior type and want to do warrior things you really need to spend a good chunk of your life sparring.

I've spent crazy amounts of time sparring over the years.  I have maybe 300 days total playing time with all my characters and perhaps 10% of that time was in sparring.  That's maybe 30 days of playing time which could have been better used elsewhere.

On the other hand I've had fighter type characters who didn't bother with much sparring and the lack of even moderate skill %s usually got in the way of them doing a decent job.  All because I didn't spend 5 days or so of my time in boring, repetative sparring.

It'd be nice if sparring was not needed as much.

[Callisto]

I enjoy sparring if I have a good partner.

For example, when Venomz and I were in the same clan, I looked forward to sparring because he's a five star role-player. When you spar with a player like that it makes the situation feel more alive, where as sparring with a command spammer or someone who doesn't emote much (or at all) can drain the enjoyment out of it and make it more of a chore then a form of entertainment.

[Delirium]

Bah, go get your own opinions, Callisto. Quit stealing mine.

[creeper386]

I acctually kind of enjoy sparring because I've had some fun RPing out sparring and lessons around the sparring rings. Most the time myself I'll try to force out RP instead of just letting someone sit there doing no emotes. Acctually plan to do it even more in the future because people not emoting in sparring is absolutely annoying.

Myself, I've seen some great RP going on in the sparring ring. Although I haven't been in many different orginizations that spar, abit in the militia, alot in the Byn and some in Tor. Most the time the sparring was pretty good. Although in the Byn ussually have one person that just does the kill-wait-flee sort of thing, or just kill and seem to leave their computer if they know they can beat up the other person sort of thing. If all else fails, I'll ignore these sort of players.

I'm not saying I'm great or entertaining or anything myself, but I try to give something and expect at least alittle in return. Especially in something like sparring, instead of just letting the code do it's thing and then go on my way.

Creeper probably would consider sparring with a partner that does nothing about as satisfying as having sex with someone that just lays there.

[Lazloth]

I despise sparring in the traditional arm sense (although I'll concede that it's periodically entertaining).  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

[Angela Christine]

I am uninterested in sparring, or any kind of combat.  Blame the media: I'm not just desensitized to violence, I'm actually bored by it.    Not just in MUDs either.  When reading a book if the description of a fight scene goes on for more than half a page I start skimming the text, looking for the next set of quotation marks that indicates dialog has resumed.  Likewise in movies or TV shows, extended fight scenes send my attention wandering.  Well, except some shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer that have witty dialog throughout the fight, that gives me something to pay attention to.  But purely physical action bores me to tears.

I remember my first time in the Byn I was eager to spar, but after a couple weeks it got really old.  Old to the point where sometimes I'd log out before dawn just to avoid the sparring, do something in my RL for  20 minutes, and then maybe log back in catch the last few minutes of sparring time.  Half an hour of sparring or watching other people spar is painful.  Needless to say I'm completely baffled by the people who log in to spar, then log out to avoid afternoon "chores" or evening and weekend free time.

It might not be so bad if there was a way to gag all the lines of misses.  As it is the interesting things like says, emotes, and the actions of bystanders are all but lost in the scroll.  With Zmud you can change the colour of misses so that they are invisible or at least less noticable than the "important"  lines, but I'm not willing to pay $25US just to gag combat spam.  I'm cheap that way.

AC

[Rindan]

I hate training skills.  This goes for everything.  I hate training everything from pick pocketing, to weapons skills, to crafting skills, to magik.  If I could snap my fingers and make that entire training thing something that happens when I am logged off like sleeping, I wouldn't think twice.  Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I don't mind the occasional RP of it, I just can't stand to do it day in and day out.  After a while I stop becoming original with my emotes and it just looses any flavor for me.  

My fondest memories of the Byn was the character interaction.  I had a character that was in when Byn numbers were extremely high and I loved the little clicks that formed.  I like how one group of people would pick on an haze other groups.  I like sitting around getting drunk.  I liked going on missions.  I loved personal conflicted.  Hell, I just loved RPing a rough, mean, vulgar bastard.  What I never really liked was sparring.  It was a needed evil and certainly something that a mercenary would do, but it was always something I found minimal joy in.

For better or for worse though, I like roles that demand some amount of training.  I really like mercenaries and I have started to develop a taste for magikers.  Both require a lot of training if you ever wish to RP anything other then a wuss.  It is something of a necessary evil.  I tend to do it, get it out of my way, then move on to more interesting things, like character interaction, looting, pillaging, and the works.

The way I find to make it more enjoyable is to really sit down and think about exactly what you are doing.  Try and come up with some emotes that really describe what you are going to do in an original way.  To me, that is when I tend to have the most fun.   Of course, there are certainly those days when I am simply going through the motions because my imagination is shot and I just can't seem to make it fun.  I find that this is worse with magik training, especially as a gemmed locked in his temple.  At least sparring is a little more lively because you are doing it with other humans.  Sitting in a temple and casting all day on the other hand is a solitary thing 99% of the time and after a while it because very hard to be creative casting that same damned spell for the millionth time.

[Jacques]

I view sparring much the same way as I do crafting. If you roleplay it out, and find new ways to do things so that you don't let yourself get bored, then it can be a lot of fun, even after doing it 1000+ times. If you don't roleplay, but just enter the commands you need to make whatever item it is, or to kick your opponent in his virtual n00tz, then it gets very dull.

My advice to people who get bored with sparring but who have situations that require it - find ways to make it different. Invent games! "OK, today we're going to play Beat the Corporal - everyone against Corporal KickAss!" Take the occasional sparring session and teach a class on something - disarms, proper shield technique, the importance of footwork and balance during combat, or the like. If you feel generous, make the class on something related to a skill you're good at and, after a few IC hours of RP, use the teach command. THEN spar them, and see if it made any difference. Focus less on the code and more on the roleplay. Cheer on the others who are sparring. Grimace as someone gets in a particularly hard shot. Taunt your opponent. ("Hello... my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father... prepare to die....")

Otherwise, just make an alias for "craft fruit into a miraculous fruit-like thing" and sit around for a while using it. You'll be JUST as bored, only with less spam. And you'll have lots of miraculous, fruit-like things.  :wink:

[Stroker]

I view sparring just like anything else in the game, a part of the char's routine, a part of its/his/her/monkey's job. Also, it helps you gain experience in fighting. I can't possibly imagine why it's a necessary evil? No that's a lie, I can see why it's necessary(part of a job), but why is it evil? ARE YOU PEOPLE INSANE? Maybe I am insane? However, I wager it's the former.

[Tmp]

Sparring is a neccesary evil for those of us who seriously want to consider a long and fruitful career as a warrior-type PC who actually goes into combat.

Sides, you'll get left behind when you don't spar when the others do.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Sparring is just another flavor of rp, as far as I'm concerned, with all the potential good, bad, and in-between.  I get a kick out of it.  Pun possibly intended.

[spawnloser]

Okay, I said it was kinda necessary...and here is why:

In this game, to get good at anything, you need to actually get off your butt and do it...practice.  If you need to get better at combat, spar.  That's the way it works.  It's not inherantly good or bad...it just is.  If you like playing combat characters...expect it.  If you hate it so bad, don't have a combat character.  It's that simple.

[Stroker]

Still no explanation as to why it is EVIL? It's a part of rping, if you think that's evil ..... right ....

[Carnage]

If you like playing combat characters...expect it. If you hate it so bad, don't have a combat character. It's that simple.

Because the only thing that combat characters do is spar.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Carnage, that is only true if that is the only portion of your character's life that you take the time to play out. There are absolutely millions of other activities that combat-orientated characters can engage in.

[Callisto]

If you like playing combat characters...expect it.  If you hate it so bad, don't have a combat character.  It's that simple.

I love newbies.

[Sanvean]

SPARRING                                                     (General)

  Generally, one of the safer ways to finetune your character's
fighting ability is through sparring.  This is quite acceptable,
as long as you remember to keep such sessions in-character.  For
example, sparring sessions generally should not last for game-time
days, nor should the character who just got severely wounded rise
to his or her feet and blithely leap back into the fray.  Abuse of
sparring may lead to reductions in karma or, if continued, banning.
The use of emotes for atmosphere during sparring is highly
encouraged.

See also:
  armageddon, roleplaying

[spawnloser]

I love newbies.

Newbies?