I got a tweet yesterday from fausto412 mentioning that Modern Warfare 2 has become stale due to cheaters, glitches and repetitive gameplay. And he's absolutely right. The exact thing happened in Call of Duty 4 and Call of Duty: World at War. Once the multi-player maps were well known, repetitive patterns of offense and defense developed out of their layouts. And the cheating douchebags, pals of the enemy team slouching their way through matches and team-killing "accidentally", are as big a drag as ever. So why am I still playing?
It comes down to three things, basically: team-work, the joy of winning, and personal achievement. I really love the give and take of good teamwork. I love it when I can give a call out to a team member, and he or she gets a kill from it. I like being able to cover for my sector buddy and having him or her cover for me in turn. I get a charge out of tossing my team-mates a care package canister. It's an unusual thing, perhaps, but I value harmony in the team, what the Japanese refer to as chouwa, more than winning outright or any individual achievement.
I really like winning, like most people do. (Is it politically correct any more to admit that? It sucks to lose.) If you have a good, solid team, you can win most games you go into against random players. A side-effect of good co-operative team-work is a zen-like thing that happens when you hit a nice groove. I like that feeling when I game, when I'm focused without being conscious of it. That's when I have my best games. It only takes one random douchebag, tho, to have your game blow up right in your face. Poor losers who whine in the lobby about camping, ungracious winners who gloat in the lobby about camping, my own team-mates when they shit-talk (which I can't stand), and the fore-said cheating douchebags all ruin that little flash of satori for me.
Finally, I get a charge out of personal achievements in the game, having good stats for someone as old and slow as me. I enjoy unlocking different weapon attachments, and it's cool to discover the strengths and weaknesses of the in-game weapons, making them work for my own strengths and compensate for my weaknesses as a gamer. I like developing a respectable win/loss ratio for that number reflects the success of the team I play with as well as my efforts to support that team.
If any of those things falls short, gaming becomes a chore, rather than recreation, for me.The feeling of teamwork is the most important for me, tho. If I don't have at least that, it's not worth playing any more, at all.
Can I get that from another game? I'm not sure. I'm going to give Bad Company 2 a shot to see what happens. On to the links:

• Kotaku: There's [sic] two sides to every Xbox Live banning. I don't think so. From what I can see on the Xbox Live Account Suspension and Console Ban forum, the process works a lot better than the courts in real life. Suck it, cheaters.
• Damnlag via digg: Modern Warfare 2 and the Art of Manipulation.
• Escapist: Jack Thompson Calls Kotick Out on Modern Warfare Comment. Jack Thompson emerges from well deserved obscurity and ignominy long enough to spout another unnecessary, unheeded, and unwanted opinion. There. I'm fresh out of adjectives beginning with "u". Unfortunately.

More Gaming Links:

Today's beaut from the Xbox Live Account Suspension forum:
Good points that The Pro should here [sic]. "good luck keeping your jobs". I didn't know Bill Gates played MW2 and Halo 3.

• VG247: Bungie regrets lack of match-making in ODST firefight mode. No kidding. While they're at it, they can regret cheesy, mistimed music, some truly regrettable voice acting, and Terran weapons which do less damage to Covenant baddies than harsh language does. Silenced SMG, my ass. Douchebags.
• Previously overlooked: Bad Company 2 goes gold.
• NeoSeeker: Ubisoft responds to DRM issue.
• 1Up: Backstage Ep.2: How 2K Made Bioshock 2.
• GameTrailers: Pach-Attack (Natal price point?)
• Edge Online: Epic Game's President, Mike Capp, talks about staying independent in a depressed games industry.
• GamesRadar: Video Game Weapons and their real-life equivalents.
• GameTrailers: Penny Arcade: The Series.
• Destructoid: Win a custom Left 4 Dead health pack.
• Joystiq: Weekly web comic wrap-up.
• Examiner: Woman uses video games to stalk children.

Because she's certainly not going to achieve that based on her looks:

Last year, I waxed eloquent about the multiplayer of the old PC game Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Here's a YouTube vid of what the menus and one of the maps looked like:

Return To Castle Wolfenstein Multiplayer Map, Menus

Non-Gaming Links:

• MaximumPC: Apple's new app store rules revealed: No shoes, no shirt, no service.
• MaximumPC: Microsoft rickrolls torrent users.
• IGN: Top 10 Worst Comic Book Movies of the Decade.