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I can't possibly understand why I would want this. It doesn't reward me for playing, it just makes it impossible for new players to jump in and play on level ground.

I'm feeling the same way about a lot of online multiplayers and MMO's recently, whether the leveling is in-game or just experience of playing. I feel like I can't jump into a new game like TF2, because instead of being helped out and coached on how to be better, everyone with a hat is going to be telling me how much I suck and should gtfo.

Lol, essentially it seems everything has degraded into an MMO leveling experience unfortunately. The simple principle of having the greatest number simply works.

Yeah.

Well, it makes money.

Me and my million words agree.

The leveling up mechanic plays into our deep-seated desire for progression and mastery. We love it when things build up and we're good at doing what we do. The RPG-like leveling up is a thin veneer though; starting over from scratch is so depressing because you used to be able to do awesome things in other FPS games, but you can't because you haven't spent enough time buffing up this imaginary number inside of your save file?

It's why I've taken a bit of a shine to sh'mup games (and difficult games in general). Time also translates to power, but that's because you've practiced and are actually better at the game, not because of an XP meter inside of the game. The sort of skill which survives deletion of the saved game and is transferable to other games. Now that I'm pretty good at some sh'mup games means that I can pick up another and leverage my skills.

I also play games for other reasons (every now and then, I love steamrolling an easy AI), but I shy away from games which intentionally try to waste my time with a leveling mechanic.