I don’t like shooters or MMOs, and I love Destiny

By Brenna Hillier

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Destiny sounds exactly like the sort of nonsense Brenna will loathe and yet we can’t make her get off the PS4 and do some real work.

Destiny! You’ll forgive me if this article is a bit rushed. You see, I really want to stop working and go play Destiny again.

Activision’s local representatives sent over a Destiny alpha code earlier today and for a few minutes I just stared at it listlessly. I have not been aboard the Destiny hype train, friends. I admit it sounds cool – sort of like a Borderlands MMO – but there were several significant strikes against its name for me, namely:

1. It’s a shooter. I don’t, as a general rule, think much of vanilla shooters.
2. It’s an MMO. Activision can waffle all it likes; that’s what it is. I’m one of nature’s solos, so.
3. It’s not coming to PC. Playing a shooter with a control pad? Preposterous! Primitive!
4. It’s from the developer of Halo. I don’t think much of Halo. I’m sorry.
5. It’s from the publisher of Call of Duty. I don’t think much of Call of Duty. I’m sorry.

So when the code came I wasn’t even sure I could be bothered hauling my PS4 over to the desk, getting the cables hooked up, messing about remembering my PSN password, entering the code in, waiting for the download… all the barriers to modern gaming one encounters when one has been away or maniacally busy for a few weeks, as I have.

But I did it anyway, because Destiny is just sexy enough that I was pretty sure Pat wouldn’t mind me spending an hour or two with it today (after all, you lot all seem very keen on it despite the limited amount of exposure its had so far) and let me tell you, friends: I will take any opportunity to skive off. I am an Australian.

So picture this: a person who dislikes shooters, MMOs, using a control pad to shoot and the major works of both companies involved in the creation of Destiny. Imagine the ground state of my soul loading the alpha client up. Imagine my face. It is not the face of an impressed person. It is not the face of a person with expectations. it is a person ready to sneeringly perpetuate an existing bias and make cutting remarks about how hype drives the games industry.

Now picture my face about 15 minutes later. It is not the same face. It is a very happy face indeed. Because Destiny is, even in this early state, fucking brilliant.

Read on to find out why Brenna’s suddenly converted to the church of console shooter MMOs.