Playing Quake Live on my 2060
This is one of the essays where I reveal one of my severe social inadequacies
My favorite thing in the whole world is when somebody finds out you like something and they try to link or do it with you, and you get anxious and blow them off. I get anxious, I mean. And blow them off. It's funny, and a thing for which I go to therapy. Solving it, I mean.
I could do all sorts of things with my friends. I could skate with people I don't know super well. I could get a job and keep it. I do not do these things and then complain about them.
A game I play, rather than boot up Team Fortress 2 or Apex Legends or Warzone or PUBG or Fortnite or Rocket League or Smash Ultimate, is Quake Live. I have been playing it since the 6th grade. Quake Live is a 2010 remake of 1999's Quake 3. The story is simple: immortal god-like creatures have captured a cavalry of storied warriors from across the universe to fight endless battles in a variety of locales. The gameplay is similarly straightforward. In most modes, one gathers weapons, armor, and powerups that respawn at intervals of a few seconds to a minute and a half, creating a 'stack' with which they can pulverize and gore other players. Free For All is the only mode people play anymore, so it is fitting it is a game mode that is difficult to find in a more recent game with a higher player base. FFA requires one to kill more of the other players than they can.
I play as Visor. He has a flat top and a glass panel surgically attached to his face. When I was in middle school I figured he was black, but having since seen his rendition more closely, it seems that iD Software sees him differently. Your avatar does not matter, really, as any skilled player has enemy models set to one of the big clunking robot characters. I do this. I have them set to an eye-scorching green, as well. Joining an FFA match where 20 green robots bounce about making identical noises when they jump or get hurt induces a meditative state for me.
Movement matters a bunch in this game. Unlike a contemporary COD game or like, Apex, one has to learn actual techniques to go fast. You can press the movement keys and move the mouse in a certain way to accelerate as you jump successively. Or something. You can shoot a rocket at the ground and use it to reach high places. Mostly, you alternate directions as you approach an enemy so that they can't hit you.
My favorite weapon is the railgun. It is one of the few hitscan weapons in the game - when you click your mouse, it hits whatever's in your crosshair immediately, rather than shooting an energy ball or a missile. I hit a lot of shots with this weapon. My second favorite is the shotgun. It can do intense damage with a well-placed shot. I also like the rocket launcher, obviously. It is good for making guys bounce around so you know where they're gonna land and you can hit them better.
I spend 3-5% of my week playing this game, I estimate. It’s on Steam.