Its all about fun and unwinding for me. My wife plays as well so co-op is always fun here at our house. Its just a great way to forget about the work day.
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Why do you play video games?
- Thread starter newtonja
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Hmm, Found a Youtube video related to this topic, Not mine Of course..... So here
Oh that's a fresh take I haven't heard of before.
I thought the same thing, Kinda thought it would be something more than just "Cuz they are fun" But this is a bit more in depth
It provides a more consistent dopamine rush than methamphetamine without the disastrous life wrecking side effects.
Mostly just to distract myself away from life and all of its problemsExcept the video game community just makes me frustrated yet again and I have to forget about it when playing my favorite games
All the posts in this thread have been fairly simple so I'd like to make a "longer" one in the hopes that it might create more content.
People have mentioned that games make for a good distraction and escape from reality but just hearing that again would be boring so I gave it some thought. My earliest memory of playing video games is from when I was about 3-4 years old playing Spyro (man that original trilogy was so fuckin good) and I remember my parents spending a decent amount of time on that console. What feels like not long after, my dad had gotten me a Gameboy Color and a copy of Pokemon Yellow. This means that it is totally my parent's fault for starting me on games in the first place. There's also social influence, even back in kindergarten just about everyone played some video game which helped us all connect and still does. I think it's fair to say that my environment has encouraged me to play video games.
Another thing that I feel not many people mentioned was competitiveness. Even when I was a child I could be pretty competitive and video games helped fill the void by providing me with opponents (CPU) to frequently play against. My parents would sometimes play against me in games like Tetris but I never felt it was enough and it just so happened that my brother was pretty anti-competitive. I'm pretty happy that I was able to get competitive satisfaction from games because I feel they are one of the most fair, in this case meaning it has a relatively low entry barrier, sources of competition. Games have a pretty broad appeal and the ability/potential for disabled people to succeed at high levels is pretty fuckin amazing.
People have mentioned that games make for a good distraction and escape from reality but just hearing that again would be boring so I gave it some thought. My earliest memory of playing video games is from when I was about 3-4 years old playing Spyro (man that original trilogy was so fuckin good) and I remember my parents spending a decent amount of time on that console. What feels like not long after, my dad had gotten me a Gameboy Color and a copy of Pokemon Yellow. This means that it is totally my parent's fault for starting me on games in the first place. There's also social influence, even back in kindergarten just about everyone played some video game which helped us all connect and still does. I think it's fair to say that my environment has encouraged me to play video games.
Another thing that I feel not many people mentioned was competitiveness. Even when I was a child I could be pretty competitive and video games helped fill the void by providing me with opponents (CPU) to frequently play against. My parents would sometimes play against me in games like Tetris but I never felt it was enough and it just so happened that my brother was pretty anti-competitive. I'm pretty happy that I was able to get competitive satisfaction from games because I feel they are one of the most fair, in this case meaning it has a relatively low entry barrier, sources of competition. Games have a pretty broad appeal and the ability/potential for disabled people to succeed at high levels is pretty fuckin amazing.
Like TheFourthChaser said, I think I enjoy video games mostly for the competitive aspect. I can't play single player or role playing games for long at all either, I prefer the games that you can compete with other real people.
When I was younger I think I played video games simply because they were fun, but as I got older it became more of the escape from reality some people mentioned. The older I get the more I find myself thinking of games as a waste of time that could be better spent elsewhere; however I still enjoy playing them and its not like they are really holding me back from anything at the moment so I will continue to play them.
When I was younger I think I played video games simply because they were fun, but as I got older it became more of the escape from reality some people mentioned. The older I get the more I find myself thinking of games as a waste of time that could be better spent elsewhere; however I still enjoy playing them and its not like they are really holding me back from anything at the moment so I will continue to play them.
Sarcastic shit giving aside, I play videogames because of the immersive nature of the media. I've always loved books and movies and television series since I was young. However, nothing fascinated me more than watching my cousin play games like Ocarina of Time or Final Fantasy X. These grand adventures that he was able to control and make decisions in. It would be on him whether the story continued or not.
What I love about games is how immensely personal they can be. Other media can certainly connect to you on an emotional level, and books are arguably vaguely interactive, requiring you to build the imaginary world that the story takes place, to be the director of the movie in your head leading to a very personal experience. But games on the other hand, are interactive in the sense that you aren't the director, but the primary actor. You are the lead role, making the decisions and choices of how you want to move across the stage, and deal with the trials and tribulations. This relationship feels much more gripping in my opinion, and its why I always hold a game like Ico in a much higher regard than many other pieces in other media, because that is a game that made me feel the story. I wasn't shown the story, I didn't identify with the story, I literally felt the emotions of the story. And my experience of Ico will be much different than another's, and in some cases DRASTICALLY different because of how the story is only told on such a personal level.
A lot of people have been saying they love feeling like they're learning the game and getting better, but for me it's less about getting better than it is about playing in the sandbox. Sure I'm getting better and I'm mastering the game, but that's far less important than doing something fun. Like in a game like Assassin's Creed 1, the only thing you have to do is just counter every attack and you will never take damage no matter how many enemies you faced. Instead of choosing to do that, I would always just spam attack because that swashbuckling feel was far more fun. Or how sometimes in the Uncharted games I would attempt to do missions as if they were stealth missions, and try to never alert attention of the many guards itching for a gunfight, even if it meant taking more time to do it. There are a myriad of other examples where when given the choice I would always choose the one that felt the most fun, not necessarily the one that made the most tactical sense.
What I love about games is how immensely personal they can be. Other media can certainly connect to you on an emotional level, and books are arguably vaguely interactive, requiring you to build the imaginary world that the story takes place, to be the director of the movie in your head leading to a very personal experience. But games on the other hand, are interactive in the sense that you aren't the director, but the primary actor. You are the lead role, making the decisions and choices of how you want to move across the stage, and deal with the trials and tribulations. This relationship feels much more gripping in my opinion, and its why I always hold a game like Ico in a much higher regard than many other pieces in other media, because that is a game that made me feel the story. I wasn't shown the story, I didn't identify with the story, I literally felt the emotions of the story. And my experience of Ico will be much different than another's, and in some cases DRASTICALLY different because of how the story is only told on such a personal level.
A lot of people have been saying they love feeling like they're learning the game and getting better, but for me it's less about getting better than it is about playing in the sandbox. Sure I'm getting better and I'm mastering the game, but that's far less important than doing something fun. Like in a game like Assassin's Creed 1, the only thing you have to do is just counter every attack and you will never take damage no matter how many enemies you faced. Instead of choosing to do that, I would always just spam attack because that swashbuckling feel was far more fun. Or how sometimes in the Uncharted games I would attempt to do missions as if they were stealth missions, and try to never alert attention of the many guards itching for a gunfight, even if it meant taking more time to do it. There are a myriad of other examples where when given the choice I would always choose the one that felt the most fun, not necessarily the one that made the most tactical sense.
I play games like pokemon to compete, battle, collect, have fun, make friends etc. Basically I play to live.
Agreed.
I see video games as a powerful storytelling medium, with the potential to become incredibly personal. Rarely do I become emotionally invested in a fictional character, but in a game like Fire Emblem where one mistake can kill a character permanently and every one of them has their own unique personality and backstory I can't help but feel responsible for their lives.
Ideally I'd like a career game design, but I want to create something emphasis on the plot, characters, and world in ways that only a video game can rather than 'action'. I play games to appreciate the various techniques used and see how the medium has grown, observing many sadly forgotten trends along the way and discovering outstanding games that few people seem to know of (Bahamut Lagoon, Radiant Historia, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, and Populous: The Beginning to name a few).
Beyond my own curiosity and research, video games are a great common ground. I first talked to my boyfriend because of his Fire Emblem 3DS and I've made more than a few friends from people recognizing the The World Ends With You pin that I keep on my bag for exactly that reason.
All in all I find them medium to be endlessly fascinating between how it's grown, the huge variety within it, and the potential it has.
Sometimes I play games to enjoy the challenge, other times the story, often I just want to lose myself in a fantastical world that breaks the laws of this one. What compels me to put so much time into them? I'm the sort of person who refuses to leave things unfinished, be it work, books, or video games, and in the very best ones I don't even need a reason to keep playing. And a game can most certainly hold the same, or in fact greater importance to me than a movie or album, games have shaped my life, made me who I am in ways that no other media or art can. Not just the games themselves either, but the experiences I've had with them. Pokemon Ruby was one of my very first games and I passed it about four times. Halo parties with my buddies were some of the most fun I had in high school. Games have this weird way of being able to impact you so powerfully whether you're experiencing them alone or with others, they can be an emotional, personal experience that will shape the very person you become, or bring people closer together like nothing else can.
I play video games because I have the best people in the world to play video games with. Without video games, Pokemon in particular, I shudder to think of how awful my life would be.
I personally noticed in my youngest days of memory that I arrived on this planet with certain preferences- certain foods of course being one of them, some hobbies and sports appealed to me more than others and even some OCD habits like making sure I stepped on the same amount of cracks with each foot during a walk were with me because it's just the package I arrived as. Good video games are one of those things that I enjoy as a product of being yee.
It's kind of hard to go more in depth when I'm basically explaining the way we prefer different colors but it's easily the biggest reason I play: because I like to.
The other big things I see looking back is the adventure and the challenge of the first games I played like Pokemon and Paper Mario. As a kid you don't really have free roam in the real world and can only adventure outside so often. In the games you have cool abilities and can play wherever you want while you're leveling up at your own pace. This is the best way I can think of to say in a short post why video games are a really good way to let children be playful, imaginative and striving for achievements. For me having a childhood with those things and friends is something to be grateful for.
It's kind of hard to go more in depth when I'm basically explaining the way we prefer different colors but it's easily the biggest reason I play: because I like to.
The other big things I see looking back is the adventure and the challenge of the first games I played like Pokemon and Paper Mario. As a kid you don't really have free roam in the real world and can only adventure outside so often. In the games you have cool abilities and can play wherever you want while you're leveling up at your own pace. This is the best way I can think of to say in a short post why video games are a really good way to let children be playful, imaginative and striving for achievements. For me having a childhood with those things and friends is something to be grateful for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_Test
This is kind of relevant to the topic actually. It's a test tailored towards MMORPGs, but increasingly most games have some online element anyway so it seems more universally applicable than when it was conceived.
This is kind of relevant to the topic actually. It's a test tailored towards MMORPGs, but increasingly most games have some online element anyway so it seems more universally applicable than when it was conceived.
Well i have a variety of reasons of why i play Video Games, I play them to challenge myself and give me something to keep my mind working with a lot of strategy games and competitive games and I play them to help deal with boredom and pass time faster and give me something to do when there is nothing else going on. Also sometimes i play them for the story and plot that they may have as some of the games now are to the point of being movie like as far as the story is concerned, Plus i also like to play them with friends and have a good time in general there are some games that make great party games with multiple people all in the same spot that can be really fun and entertaining, especially if you can get someone with no rhythm or ability to dance to play a game like Just Dance, but yea that is just a few things i could think of off the top of my head of why i play Video Games.
