Playing Warframe with Siblings

This is an article I never thought I’d be able to write. For the longest of times, I was always told to try out the games they liked (e.g. Dead Island, Borderlands) but the same suggestions never worked when I made them. Yes, I am slightly obsessed with Warframe, the same way I go through phases of obsession with Skyrim and other games. But my brother and sister never ever wanted to play with me.

In fact, the only way I could get them to play was via the power of the Birthday Rule.

Basically, the Birthday Rule states two things – one, you can’t be mean to the birthday boy or girl, and two, you have to do as they ask, within reason. It’s an unofficial family tradition, and for my 25th, I invoked it to get brother Smeghead and sister LilSkully to play Warframe with me.

And play together, we did. Once brother had finished the first tutorial mission. Because the very first mission where you pick your character and wake up, you have to do it solo to get your weapons and stuff.

First things first, they both picked Volt. Even though I suggested that they read each Warframe’s information and pick which frame they fancied. Turns out they both agreed with me, Electric Space Ninja is more fun than Sword Space Ninja and Magnetic Space Ninja. Once brother had finished that and got his navigation console installed, I got the three of us into a party and off we went.

We played through the tutorial missions at first (same way I did with aabicus). We saved Darvo, we built the thingy, then we fought Captain Vor, with those two kicking the shit out of him while I fought off Vor’s minions. Sister ran around with her MK1-Paris, MK1-Kunai and Skana, while brother went with the MK1-Braton, Lato and Skana. Seems I was the only idiot who went with the MK1-Bo.

We went quite far. I taught them how to do Rescue and Spy missions. We worked towards the Venus junction, doing two Exterminate missions, a Defense mission, a Spy mission and a Rescue mission. After a quick break for them to do the Venus junction (all junctions are solo-only missions), we did a handful of missions on Venus before ending the day.

As we played, customization came up. Both Bro and Sis wanted to make themselves look cooler, so I bought them a colour palette each, partly as a thank you for playing with me.

We all enjoyed it. But the amazing thing is, they both actually enjoyed playing, and are continuing to play. LilSkully not as much as Smeghead, but it’s surprising to see them playing on their own. Both of them log in for their daily rewards. In fact, brother is plowing through the star chart, with a little help from me. Because Lech Kril and the Raptors are awkward boss fights for low level characters. He’s currently MR7 and on his way to Pluto. He hasn’t seen the Second Dream yet.

As for why this all seems amazing for me, well, it’s several reasons. Firstly, it’s super nice having someone ask questions and me being able to answer them. But this goes completely opposite to how games spread among the three of us. Normally, brother plays a game and we pick it up later. This is the first time I’ve picked up a game and then those two have followed. And it’s really nice to actually guide someone, make suggestions and thinks. Brother hasn’t done everything the same way I did, but he listened to my advice and adapted himself.

But yeah, it’s mostly because I like giving knowledge to others. There’s a huge feeling of satisfaction, helping someone get better at a game, even if I’m secretly shit at games myself.