For as long as Mordhau‘s had lutes, its had people willing to play them in the midst of war. Bards are a common site on battlefields, uniting friend and foe through instruments that can play proper notes and everything. It’s taboo to touch them.
With a lute equipped, you can mangle out a tune by waggling your mouse up and down – but you can also use a mod called LuteBot to automatically play actual songs. A new version called LuteMod is in the works, which will let aspiring minstrels whack other aspiring minstrels with their lutes in order to form bands. It’s all appropriately medieval.
I’ve always been drawn to competitive videogames. It’s not hard to see why. They’re the best kind. Competition can be exciting, rich, varied. It gets you interacting with people, pitting your abilities against thinking, improvising, engaged and pivotally human opponents. A competitive context can be both a wonderful generator of interesting decisions, and a platform for genuine connection. I believe in and value these things wholeheartedly, because I’ve extensive experience with both.
I also believe competition has a dark side. It can be the kindling to incendiary ego, stoking a way of looking at the world that leads to, or is at least bound up with, insecurity and distress. I’ve experienced this, too.
Let’s start with me thrashing my Dad at Need For Speed 2.
