Whats in it for you?

B

BonusWaffle

Still Mildly Glowing
What is your primary reason for playing video games? Are you interested in the stories? Do you like the memory and reflex challenges? Is it because make you think about things? Or is it more about the emotion and how it makes you feel?

Im sure there are lots of reasons but what is your biggest?


For me i think its mostly how they can put me into the characters shoes and let me experience their struggles and victories.
 
It's because videogames are the end point of art. Think about it. Long ago we started making art, music, stories. We want to recreate reality as real as possible. So that we, the artist, can share our thoughts, experiences in life. And now with videogames we are able to combine all of those things to, for the first time, create a new reality. A slice of an imagined life no less real than our own. And we can experience it, fully.

I would say few games have really realized the potential of videogames and most actually don't become an experience as though it were real. But they can, and some do.
 
Well put, though I'm not sure I would be so bold as to say they are the endpoint of art, but I get what you're saying.

I've raced GT and F1 cars at the limit on world circuits. Driven banned Group B rally cars in simulations recommended by professional real-world rally schools. I've participated in the Battle of Britain. Sunk enemy shipping off the coast of Japan/England in Fleet/U-Boats. Commanded almost every sort of military unit throughout almost every age of warfare, from squad leader on the ground to general in the rear. I've even taken a stab at surviving a zombie apocalypse. And so on and so forth.

It's the experience. And it also happens to be a LOT of FUN.

Those are my biggest reasons, and happen to be why I tend toward realistic/simulation games. I still love a good RPG or action game, but they are more like reading a good fantasy novel than the experience I get out of what I listed above.
 
mobucks said:
Well put, though I'm not sure I would be so bold as to say they are the endpoint of art, but I get what you're saying.
Click to expand...

Well they aren't. Not yet. But once they become sophisticated enough to be full life-like simulations, in virtual reality. . where do we go then? That's why I call it the endpoint.
 
BonusWaffle said:
What is your primary reason for playing video games? Are you interested in the stories? Do you like the memory and reflex challenges? Is it because make you think about things? Or is it more about the emotion and how it makes you feel?

Im sure there are lots of reasons but what is your biggest?


For me i think its mostly how they can put me into the characters shoes and let me experience their struggles and victories.
Click to expand...
Lets be honest, the vast majority of people play video games for the entertainment value. Sure some consider its as an art form or daily intellectual exercise, but for the majority it is a great past time or even busy work where you can spend hours upon hours.

So maybe the question should be which aspects of gameplay we enjoy most?
 
Depends all on the type of game. In some games I marvel at the atmosphere, visuals or soundsystem that let me feel like I am part of that world (particulary in 2d Isometric games, the Infinity engine games), even better with a good story topped on it (PS:T).

I also enjoy working together in teams in a multiplayer game. Nothing better than the entire team screaming of joy when you finally ended the match and the superior team won.
 
Used to be the "living in another world" aspect, experiencing the journey, stories, the feeling of creating something that is your own and the whole mystical atmosphere of it all. I guess the only time i would warrant the word "imerssive" (the game promoting made me hate the word) is now, because i was really imerssed in games like Warcraft 3, Fallout, Torment, Mafia, Gothic, heck - even in the first Call of duty. Now it's mostly about the challange and the interesting mechanics of the game. Some of that "dreamy" aspect still appears sometimes, albeit in a lesser form, but to feel it again there would have to be a very different game than of what we see today.

Also, i don't like the Entertainment, or Fun argument, since it almost implies that there is one kind of fun, when many people also get "entertained" by puzzle games and having to pick complex choices, to think about the whole thing.
 
Akratus said:
mobucks said:
Well put, though I'm not sure I would be so bold as to say they are the endpoint of art, but I get what you're saying.
Click to expand...

Well they aren't. Not yet. But once they become sophisticated enough to be full life-like simulations, in virtual reality. . where do we go then? That's why I call it the endpoint.
Click to expand...

You seem to be implying videogames are superior to other media.
 
While I do consider games to be art in a sense, I mostly play them for pure entertainment, escapism and stress relief. Sometimes I crave something with a great story, sometimes I get enjoyment purely out of playing something with beautiful artwork and great music, sometimes I want to shoot things and get an adrenaline rush. But in the end I just want a game to be fun and challenging. I can be a real elitist and I'm quick to give critisism when it comes to games, but I can also enjoy pretty simple and mindless games. I love challening both my mind and my reactions, but more often my mind. Making choices, both strategic and narrative, is after all my absolute favorite thing in games.

I guess I just see different types of games as different types of entertainment and I don't see it all black and white in that games need to be this and that for me to think of it as a great game. At the same time, I hold certain types of games in a much higher regard than others.
 
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