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SuperstitionsOver-Enchanting An interesting case study of a high-risk event is something known as over-enchanting, a crafting mechanic present in games such as Ragnarok Online, Ultima Online, and Lineage 2. In Lineage II you are able to enchant items to get special effects and better stats. Enchanting to +3 is risk-free. However, at +4 and above the item has a chance of breaking, causing you to loose a lot of money. Many people have gone so far as to quit the game or reroll after blowing up their ultra-expensive gear. A very prevalent superstition is for people to take the item into a church when attempting to over-enchant it. Many people, if they were successful over-enchanting an item at a certain spot, will return to that spot every time they need to over-enchant. [Lineage 2, F, 24]
They also believe that doing the risky act (overenchanting) in a church improves their odds. [Lineage 2, M, 52] In addition to standing in specific places, players described a wide variety of other superstitions related to over-enchanting. Some of these involve eating before enchanting. In UO it has been stated many times by the Devs that 'eating' does nothing to enhance the characters abilities. Many players still choose to eat before they try to do some specific crafting where the risk of destroying an item for example is high. [UO, F, 45]
Others have developed a more elaborate set of rituals. Some go to only a particular NPC - some will not only upgrade at only a certain NPC, but also upgrade ONLY within a certain time period - some do it ONLY while standing on a 'lucky' spot yet others believe that the secret is to wait there patiently till someone comes in... then wait for him to fail... they believe that their attempt will be 100% successful if it follows on the heels of someone succeeding. I personally am guilty of a fairly weird ritual myself - I tend to strip off all equipment I am carrying and log off in between EVERY attempt to refine my gear. :) [Ragnarok Online, M, 29]
Many people I know have done many funny things to 'influence the Random Number Generator god', including but not limited to: 'Ritual dancing' (using a string of emotes prior to the act), crafting/upgrading during a predetermined magic-hour where a lot of successes occurred, or even saying some ritual phrase out loud (in real life). [RF Online, M, 21]
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Current Issue: Vol. 7-1 (03/09/2009) |
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Tribal design by snoopydoo.
Crusader graphic by Gravity.
All other materials available at The Daedalus Project are copyright 2003-2006
by Nick
Yee.