Saturday, December 8, 2007

The K Game

There is a very fun little game that my friends play when I'm in a group with them. It's called the K game for some reason. I don't know why. Maybe you can figure it out.

The rules are very simple but do vary a smidge depending on what version of the K game you're playing.

You pick one person. Let's just call them 'K'. Just for simplicity's sake. Then, depending on that person's class/role, the rest of the game rules will follow.

The K Tank Game: This is the most popular (most fun, and easiest!) version of the K game.

K is a tank. The game is how frequently you can pull aggro off of the tank. (no cheating, such as taunting (from feral druids), taking off salvation, breaking crowd control, attacking 'second kill' mobs, etc.) This means that in a "normal" situation, with normal buffs, etc, on, you do your damndest to pull aggro off of the tank. Bonus points are given if the tank curses, sweats, cries or otherwise indicates distress. Additional bonus points are awarded if you do this without trying. Even more points awarded if you die.

(On a side note, this is a GREAT way to help tanks learn that they need to draw more aggro, how quickly, what works best, etc. In a "normal" situation, high DPS would hold back to not pull aggro off of a tank. In the game, the tank quickly learns how to generate that aggro, or s/he loses the game, pretty dang quick.)

There are variations given if K is a healer or not. (Making the healer cry, scream, rant and rave gives you points.)

In general, the K game is usually applied with the group versus the tank. The healer USUALLY stays out of it, since the healer getting whacked by something usually isn't so grand. But the K game has versions for the healer too -- generally involving the tank doing something outrageous, like tanking four or five mobs at once. This obviously requires a GOOD tank and GOOD DPS otherwise that quickly turns into a wipe. Bonus points awarded for the healer cursing, crying, shouting, weeping or having a heart attack.

(The bonus... your healer learns how to handle large groups, how to gauge the heals required based on how much projected damage the tank is getting, and probably even learns how to multi-heal multiple people taking large amounts of damage, all at the same time. Quick shifting between targets and mana conservation...)

Personally, I play my own K DPS version as well, this one just isn't advertised. Now, every DPS is trying to get to the top of the charts. Every DPS is trying to not pull aggro. My own version is to walk that very fine line. If I die, then I lose the game. If I'm not holding my own on DPS (given similarly geared individuals), I lose. If I'm not holding my own against a warlock from Risen, well, that I can understand. If I'm not holding my own against a green-geared whoknowswhat, that... well, that makes K cry.

The official version of the game doesn't actually HAVE points, but you can keep track if you want. Arbitrarily assign a certain number of points for each cuss word, for each time the healer shouts in desperation, "OOM!", for each time the tank has to burn challenging shout, for each time a DPS dies from pulling aggro off of the tank appropriately.

Obviously, for the DPS involved, this CAN be pretty pricey, if the tank isn't good at the game.

The tank wins, regardless of cuss-points garnered, if no one dies. :)

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