I'm new to Hive and started by playing the Rising Star game about 10 days ago. I have to say its a great game. If you havent played it, its a trading card game based around music, musicians and bands. Its well thought out, it does not take constant effort or constant attention to make progress - you can simply start a mission and go off and do something else.
Oh - and you can make cash from it ! Whats not to like if you are a gamer - getting paid to play games - ok then !
So I was quite happily playing a long for these last few days and then hit the dreaded level 15 where the musicians ego effect kicks in. Basically ego reduces your awards from missions and you have to undertake music lessons within the game, to increase your skill - which combats the negative effects of ego.
From a game point of view it took me by surprise as my earnings just plummeted - I then searched around and figured it out - and should be able to get things back on an even keel within a day or two, and then I guess its something I'll need to watch going forward and balance out missions with music lessons - games cant always be all plain sailing !
What I really found funny about this is that I'm a musician in real life and have played in cover bands, etc (I'm not professional or anything - just a hobbyist who can get paid to play). As a guitarist I hate to admit it, but guitarists are probably the worst for getting ego problems - and the parallels with the game on this are quite incredible. The more you play (in real life) the better you think you are getting - and things do begin to go to your head, and that is exactly what happens in the game - the more missions (gigs) you do, and fans you get, the bigger your ego gets and then it begins to get in the way of game play - exactly the same in real life ! And I just love the fact that you have to take music lessons in the game to reduce your ego - in other words take them down a peg by actually getting them to learn something ! I think there is real life learning here for all musicians with egos.
Anyway, it just tickled me and I thought I'd share that. Now I've got to get back to the game and start another music lesson mission !