The logo that's giving me a reason to be.

Let me preface this entire post by saying two things.

I have no life.
I’m a sucker for fake points.

Now that’s out of the way, I can tell you that I’ve just completed my first full day of having “prestiged” on Modern Warfare 2. What’s that mean? Read on, and find out.

Modern Warfare 2, if you’ve been living under a rock for the past two months, is a first-person shooter game for PC, XBOX 360, and Playstation 3 consoles. It is the best-selling game in the history of the industry. The plot is rather unimportant for the purposes of this post, as the most important aspects of the game are included in the game’s title. It’s warfare, in a modern setting.

Amanda Bynes. I'm not fucking her tonight, nor are the kids screaming "faggot" and "nigger" in my ear getting disciplined on XBOX Live.

Basically, for an old-man like me anyway, you run around killing and being killed by 13-year olds while being called “faggot” and “nigger” the entire time. Ostensibly there are supposed to be controls for this sort of behavior, but as I’ve found out, the likelihood of someone actually seeing some consequences for their in-game conduct is about as likely as me fucking Amanda Bynes. Tonight. So, that’s the gist of the game and it’s mechanics.

So that brings us to “prestige,” or rather Prestige Mode (hereafter referred to as Prestige, because I’m seriously not going to type Mode again and again.) Essentially, after you gain rank all the way to lvl 70 (Commander, if you must know) you trade all that time, effort and child-killing in for a special icon next to your name, and the chance to do it all over again.

Sounds fun, right? Wait, where are you going?! Come back!

I know. Believe me, I know how this looks/reads/sounds. Pathetic, check. Time-consuming, check. Mind numbing and slightly maddening, double check.

So why did I do it? I’m a sucker for points. It doesn’t matter that I don’t actually get anything for them, I love them. I used to double-box World of Warcraft for this exact same reason. If you give me a task, attach a point-system to it and make the point system pay out rewards semi-regularly, I’m pretty much instantly hooked.

This is the precise reason I don’t gamble, by the way.

I know I’m not alone in this. Hell, the town in which I live survives solely because of this impulse. It’s the same driving force behind Farmville, too. And that’s supposedly a big deal. I wouldn’t know because I don’t have a Facebook account, but that’s what I recently heard from an uncle of mine (who’s in his late 60’s, BTW) who does, and is also a sucker for fake points.

And believe you, me, Modern Warfare 2 has fake points in spades. Aside from getting points for how much actual killing one does, there are specific tasks (and consequently rewards) for just about everything there is to do in the game. Up to and including falling to your death. Seriously.

So, after gaining rank up to Commander, I played about three rounds with my newly acquired AK-47 before the urge to keep going got the better of me, and after triple confirming my intention to give everything I’d gained away, I was off and running.

Maybe it is the confidence that Prestige gave me in-game, maybe it is because I’ve now logged enough hours in-game that not much surprises me any more, it could even be the headphones, but I’m playing better than I ever have. With WAY less gear to choose from.

In a day, I’ve been able to rank up from Private (lvl 1) up to Sergeant Major 1 (lvl 28) and have had a great time doing it! I’ve been able to max out my killstreaks (you get to do special things for killing several people without dying, the more you kill the better the reward) with alarming regularity, and have gained all important new titles to impress and confound my teammates and enemies alike.

This whole exercise, which I’ll not lie made me panic a little bit after seeing everything gone from my profile (despite multiple warnings,) has been remarkably pleasant.

I’ll likely rank someplace into the 30’s tomorrow.

In the meantime here’s the custom class I’ve used to do most of my levelling (almost exclusively Domination) in Prestige:

• FAMAS Assault Rifle
  • Red Dot/Holographic Sight (Sometimes an ACOG, too, but it’s rare) or Grenade Launcher
• SPAS-12 Shotgun
  • Grip Attachment
• Tactical Insertion
• Smoke Grenade
• Perk 1: Scavenger/Pro (lets me pop smoke pretty consistently or dish out the noobishness with the Grenade Launcher, and I never run out of ammo, even on the longest of killing-sprees)
• Perk 2: Stopping Power/Pro (increased damage is a good thing)
• Perk 3: Steady Aim (tighter groups when hip-firing the shotty) or Commando/Pro (increased melee speed and distance and with the Pro version no damage from falls)

This class is a good all around build and right at home in Domination. It combines the highest burst-fire weapon in the game with the ability to dish out solid damage at distance and up close. Also, it will allow you to remain effective throughout the round WITHOUT having to resort to battlefield-pickup should your ammo run dry.