The Motivation: Resources
The Example:Lost Planet
The Crime:
A bleak yet blinding landscape of ice spreads out before you. Endless white dotted with the occasional caved-in building or frozen bridge. As you begin the long, slow trek across the wasted battlefield, you're glad to have 15 companions on either side of you, both for the warmth and for the company. But then you see it - a flash of metal shining beneath a fallen pile of snow. You dig furiously, forgetting your friends, trying to uncover the giant weapon hidden underneath... the weapon that will bring you individual glory.
Just as you finish, a cruel laser blast stops you cold. The enemy made it this far already? As you keel face first into the frost, you catch an ironic glimpse of your killer entering your mech and moving forward to rejoin yourteam.
The Justification:
Throughout history, man has waged war over one thing - resources. More specifically, the finite amount thereof.
Medieval kingdoms fought for control of fiefdoms; modern nations fight for control of oil. A thousand Greek battle ships were launched for possession of a single beautiful woman; now a thousand geek dollars are spent for possession of a single limited edition statue of a beautiful woman (preferably with pointy ears or gold bikini). Time has proven that if X of something exists, but X+Y number of people want it, +Y is gonna die.
Videogames, including Lost Planet, are no different. If 16 team members start off inthe samearea of a map containing only one or two mechs, friendly fire is guaranteed. Walking in snow is painfully slow... marching across snow in a badass robot is gleefully fast. Squishing people and blasting rockets is fun... accessing data posts is not.
So when you first succumb to betraying a friend, take solace knowing that you're following in the footsteps of your equally imperfect ancestors. In this case, the team kill is human nature.
