Teams in gaming

There is one topic that has always confused some people in gaming. Whether Role Playing (D&D), Cards (Yugioh, VS System, Magic: The Gathering, etc.) or video games, and that is the concept of a 'team.' With this little bit of gamer talk, I plan to address why teams are both unnecessary or pointless and a good thing. At the same time.

In a game like football or basketball, it is self evident that you need a team. 1 V. 5 doesn't sound all that fair, does it? Nor does 10 random people running around on a court sound very fun. You've got to organize the game to make clear objectives. In other games, this is completely unnecessary due to the difference in both rules and objective, yet we see teams all the time. Why? I've heard several reasons for a player to join a 'team.'

In D&D, a team would be a group of people who play together, and work together in the game. They often build their characters as a group in order to complement each others choices and create a cohesive and successful party. In this game, it makes sense. Now, I'm not saying that every member of a D&D group is necessarily part of the team, as there is usually an odd man out, who just doesn't fit in with the others on a social basis. Sometimes this is due to an age difference or just a difference in other interests. Look at your D&D group next time you have a chance. You should be able to identify who is on a team. They will usually spend much more time with each other than other members of the group, and will often be 'friends' in character.

In video games, the sensible nature of teams gets a little more blurry. For example, a group of people who travel together to a tournament (or other gaming event) relatively regularly will often also be considered a team. Does the victory of one member usually benefit the rest of the team? Not really. They will keep their prizes, and they are the only ones that get the 'prestige' of the victory, but for some reason, team members get some kind of satisfaction out of one member winning a tournament. I suppose it comes down to pride. It is more of a 'hey look, my team mate won!' kind of thing, although it really does nothing to boost the position of a losing player among their peers. Sure, it's fun to travel with friends, and you can be happy for your friend if they win and Vice Verse, but teams are fairly pointless here. It nets you nothing.

Now, in card games, it is fairly strange. You can see from the video games section that it really wouldn't be all that beneficial to be on a team, but there are some things that a team can do in card games that they can't do in video games. Often in card games, your success rate is dependent upon your personal investment into an individual game. For example, a player who only spent $30 building a deck for a large tournament is far less likely to do well than a player of equal skill who spent well over $300. That isn't meant to say that money is everything, but it is a sizable chunk. This is where being on a team can help you successfully play a card game. Let's say Steve wants to play X-Sabers (Magic players should think Jund), but he doesn't have very much to invest into the game, much less the ability to just out and out buy the deck as singles. That can get expensive. Now, that isn't to say Steve isn't putting money into his game of choice, it is just that he cannot afford to spend ridiculous amounts on it, so he has a limited card pool. He has managed to build up most of his deck, but is missing the five or six most expensive cards he needs to finish it, but the tournament is this weekend! He doesn't have the $200 it would take to finish it off, but he has a teammate named George who happens to have those cards, but doesn't use them! All Steve has to do is ask George, and the deck is done, and both players can go on and play in the tournament without worrying about how an incomplete deck will ruin their day. Now, often George will also want to borrow a few cards from Steve, but hey, Steve isn't using them either, so why not? Part of being on a team involves a massive amount of trust. Some teams even combine their collections, pooling all resources in order to keep a few very strong decks constantly built. Card games can get extremely expensive, as anyone who plays them regularly very well knows. The combining of collections should not be done lightly. All people involved should trust each other implicitly, or there will end up being fighting and arguing over who puts the most in, and eventually someone will want to quit the team, and take 'their share' with them. Due to human nature, what one person sees as 'their share' is often quite a bit larger than what they have actually put in, and in a fair split, will walk away with. When this happens, accusations of theft tend to pop-up and perfectly good friendships can go to the way side, all over a silly, albeit expensive, card game. I've seen this happen time and again.

Another aspect of teams in card games involves multiplayer. A team is exactly that. A team on one side of a game in multiplayer. It can be a great deal of fun, even more so when you build your decks to complement and feed off of each other. Not only will this kind of team synergy be more fun, but it will also lead to far more victories in the long run.

If you are considering joining a team, stop and think about it. Is it really what you want? Is it something you are willing to devote yourself to? Do you know and trust those people in the team enough to essentially be handing over everything you've invested into your game to them? Are these people you are going to spend a lot of time around anyway, so it makes sense? Just a few things to consider when joining a gaming team. Well, I suppose that counts toward non-yugioh gaming, although it did cover it a bit. Later!