So I tried out the new Tanknite (aka Steel Hunter) mode of World of Tanks yesterday, and it turned out that I absolutely hate it. And when I was pondering why I don't like it, I realized it is because it is a form of free-for-all PvP. Which is somewhat curious. How can somebody be opposed to PvP in a game that is exclusively PvP? But not all PvP is created equal, and for me there is an important distinction between organized team vs. team PvP and chaotic free-for-all PvP. I can live with the former, but I hate the latter. I never even considered playing Fortnite (although I watched my nephew play it and have a pretty good idea how it works), so I shouldn't be surprised that I don't like Tanknite.

Come to think of it, society makes a similar distinction in real life. If you are a soldier and kill a lot of people in war, you get a medal. If you kill a lot of people just randomly, you are a serial killer, and society will revile you. In games too there must be lots of other players with a preference for organized PvP. In many PvP MMORPG games both developers and players have tried to make PvP about more than just randomly killing strangers. But in the end organized PvP is easier to set up if you have a gameplay of time-limited battles than in open worlds that are running 24/7. Even a game like Fortnite would be a lot less popular if it didn't have the time limit of the shrinking map, if the island was just there all the time and up to 100 players could continually respawn or log off and log on.

Fortunately for me in World of Tanks it turns out that the Steel Hunter game mode doesn't really give any rewards that I would consider must-have. There was a bunch of nice stuff easily attainable at rank 2. But besides bonds the rewards for higher ranks are mostly badges and decals, and there is only one camo that I might have wanted to have. I'll be missing out on tickets for dog tags, but as those go away at the end of the tank festival, I don't mind.