How I'm a Dick and Why

It was brought to my attention while playing Castle Crashers cooperatively that I'm a greedy dick who takes all of the weapons and gold. Once I was accused of this behavior, I realized that it was true. When playing co-op games, I am generally aware of all of my teammates health, and I try to help them out if they look like they're in trouble. I point out food or health powerups when someone is in need of them. Whenever loot of some kinds hits the group, I instinctively snap it up without thinking. I share my in-game possessions selflessly, but I do try to take every single thing that appears.


Where did I go wrong? Was it my parents' fault? Were violent video games to blame? And it turns out that, like most murders, robberies, rapes and acts of terrorism, violent videos games are responsible. This loot-whoring behavior can be traced back to the seedy, smoky arcades I frequented growing up. The game responsible for me becoming a greedy, loot-snatching bastard would have to be Gauntlet. A 4-player co-op dungeon crawl littered with keys, treasure and food. Don't even get me started on the bonus treasure stages. And yes, I always chose the speedy little green elf character.


The next, and worst, offender is the 2 diablo games. Grabbing up all the equipment in original Playstation Diablo with my buddy was no big deal, but Diablo 2 on Battlenet is where the greed bug really took hold. When you're runnng through Diablo 2 with seven strangers, the quickest mouse pointer gets the loot, so it quickly became second nature to jump on anything that dropped. The focus was on the gameplay and grabbing up the loot simply became second nature, automatically handled by the reflexes in my brain.

I'm making an effort to change, but basically the stuff that drops in Castle Crashers? Mine.