Well, sure.There's healthy competition and there's unhealthy competition just like there is healthy trash talking and bantering and there is toxic bullying and verbal abuse. It really depends on your group where the line between everyone scrambling to open containers and grab loot ends and where everyone being absolute jerks about it begins. It is usually all about communication. In our group we have decided that whoever owns the quest we are all doing gets to open the loot room containers while everything else in the POI is up for grabs as you come to it. Zombie bags after horde night are a free for all but we pool our ammo and money and resources anyway and if we get a mod or a weapon or tool we usually check in to see if anyone has been hoping for that item and give it over.
In my opinion unhealthy competition rears its ugly head when players are being selfish: "I must be highest level in the group" "I must have the best gear before anyone else"
or if they care more about min/maxing than friendship: "I should open everything because I have the best looting stats!" "You shouldn't waste ammo using that unperked weapon!"
Should the game institute rules that prevent players from behaving poorly and force them to coordinate better as a team and treat their friends like friends? I say no. Keep it a social sandbox and let what happens as a result happen. Wait until A21 magazines change the whole social dynamic again...haha
The biggest problem I have with trying to play with friends is that we competing over the loot.
But 7d2d as garbage for co-op play or even as multiplayer. This loot competition kills the social game play. Most people for most time play multiplayer games just to hang out with friends. 7d2d as it is just do not serve that need. If you play with friend you friend needs to set up their base far enough of you that they have places to loot.
But I was more commenting on the fact that anytime someone says there is loot competition everyone assumes it is of the latter type rather than the former.
If you feel that looting POIs is loot competition, then you are not truly playing Co-Op. At most, you are just a group of people in the same area.
That (whole comment) threw me way back; a wow guild, a boss drop and a friendly dkp-but-still-random-roll competition between me and a younger guild mate. He won the roll, and I went "grats" in chat. That prompted him to throw a hissy fit over me "not being honest as you can't be honestly happy about losing".In my opinion unhealthy competition rears its ugly head when players are being selfish: "I must be highest level in the group" "I must have the best gear before anyone else"
haha..well, yes, there is also general immaturity as another reason. Winning and losing gracefully is something not everyone grows into.That (whole comment) threw me way back; a wow guild, a boss drop and a friendly dkp-but-still-random-roll competition between me and a younger guild mate. He won the roll, and I went "grats" in chat. That prompted him to throw a hissy fit over me "not being honest as you can't be honestly happy about losing".
We talked about it for a while, and he just couldn't see past "you lost, so you must be unhappy". Eh, the piece of gear is fighting for me just as much on him as it would've been on me. He was quite sane otherwise, and I assume he's grown out of it by now - but it seems to take quite some effort to figure out what's good for a group vs just the simple terms of winning and losing.
Fair enough.I don't think there is any assuming in this case. He spells it out that the biggest problem of the game is loot competition and that loot competition kills the social game play and even goes so far to say that 7 Days is garbage for co-op play...lol. That is not a description of healthy competition among friends. I do think that you are correct that most loot competition is healthy which is why the vast majority of players describe the game as one of the best co-op experiences there is in video gaming. In the OP's case, his friends aren't treating him well to the point that he wants all loot containers to be individualized. In my opinion, group dynamics and cooperation are a skill the game requires and adding a "fix" that removes any need for the struggle to cooperate well is not better. I also agree that we should be careful not to assume that all reports of loot issues in MP is due to bad player behavior as there absolutely could be a balance issue.