CCPGÇÖs Dust 514 is probably not a game IGÇÖll ever play when itGÇÖs released, but every time I see it I find myself wanting to invent reasons why I should. IGNGÇÖs Colin Moriarty and Keza MacDonald have both written fine explanations of its extraordinary scale and shooter bona fides. ItGÇÖs true that we have lived through an era when online shooters defined a large part of what constitutes a GÇ£video game,GÇ¥ but itGÇÖs not DustGÇÖs ability to add to the complexity of this form that excites me. Dust 514 is filled with empty space in the best sense of the word. The three times IGÇÖve played the game at preview events I find myself wandering around its enormous maps imagining what else one might do in those spaces besides shoot.

Science fiction games often default to using shooting as a central mechanic, from Quake and DOOM to Mass Effect 3 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The go-to interaction in the future has been gunplay. Pretending to shoot at things doesnGÇÖt excite me anymore. IGÇÖm not interested in beating people nor mastering anything. As you wander around the maps you can see open vistas with outposts sitting atop mountain ranges. This setting immediately triggers a deeper and more primal response to science fiction settings, which is not to fight but to simply explore something new and strange. To me, the combat often feels like a distraction.

I think the he fails to note that DUST is just as much MMORPG as it is MMOFPS.

One big thing people don't realise, is that in DUST, like EVE, you don't need to fire a shot. Wars don't NEED to happen. Even in our beta games we could, in theory, all stand around and talk about it, or decide it in a race or sharpshooting competition.

Granted, fighting is fun, it's an option yes, and people often take it even when diplomacy would be easier (says something about human nature). It's that kind of scale that brings DUST far above halo and CoD. Even though it's less visible in the current build.