Gaming Law: What’s in a main?

Greetings dungeon crawlers, today I am going to be talking about what it means to “main” something. In gaming, there is a lot of jargon that comes and goes with the times. But one word has stayed in the lingo, that of “maining.” This term refers to any games that have several different options such as characters, weapons, or abilities to choose from. Maining is where the player chooses one specific option and plays that option far more frequently than any other option. This term is the most common in team based games such as Overwatch and DOTA or brawler games such as Super Smash Bros. 

There are several different context where the term main is used. With games that utilize different classes such as a tank or healer class, maining can mean being a healer main. In Overwatch, I tend to be a healing main, with focuses on Moira and Zenyatta. Now maining does not mean that players don’t play any other characters. That is what is known as “one tricking”. Rather maining means that you focus on a certain character and class, and understand the mechanic of that character. This includes games like Super Smash Bros, which has several characters to choose from. Most players know how to play several characters, but many have a certain affinity for a specific character. Personally, I prefer Yoshi, but I can use Kirby, Fox, Ganindorf and Bowser with great effectiveness as well.

The biggest question with maining is how to choose a character to main. The biggest way to choose a class is figure out your playing style. I personally tend to be a support main that is quite blood thirsty, so I went with a healer that outputs a great deal of damage, Zenyatta and Moira. For my tank play, I tend to enjoy flanking and harassing the back line, so Dva and Hammond are my go-tos. If you tend to be more of someone who enjoys playing and supporting teammates, healers and support class characters are the way to go. If you enjoy being at the center of the action and surviving stupid amounts of damage, play tank. If clicking heads and popping off is what you enjoy the most, damage class characters are the best choice for you. The options are endless.

That’s it for today! Finding a main can be a challenging task, but is well worth the effort, and makes the game far more enjoyable. Don’t forget to tip your healers after games, always use mics in competitive games and avoid spamming thanks!

  Until next time!

-The Law