Sunday, May 24, 2009

Interesting Question #3: Why do you game?

I've been playing video games since 1983 or so.  I remember my dad buying the Magnavox Odyssey² and bringing it home.  Since then, I've gone through numerous video game systems and such. 


And that leads us to this week's question:  Why do you game?

Is it the need to conquer that level?  Do you enjoy the typical mindless platformer?  Perhaps you are part of a clan and enjoy the comeraderie? 

There's no one reason why a person should play games.  A plethora of valid reasons exists, along with those not so valid reasons.

For me, it's about getting away for a brief moment.  It's not too terribly often I play for more than an hour at a time; I can't afford to during the school year.  Summer time, it's a bit of a different story, but I still have to set an example for my boys.  

In any case, I play games that offer a challenge (any FPS right now...), has music that I enjoy (Rock Band 2!!), and makes a person think (ever played echochrome or Flower?). 

So what drives you to get your digital fix?  Comments, as always, are welcome. And don't forget to vote on the poll!

Closing quote: "Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock and roll." - Shigeru Miyamoto

3 comments:

nelly said...

You know I have to comment on this one....You, Lisa and I have been there from the beginning; atari 2600 now to the PS3 gen, and also how we could forget about the arcade / pool hall there in Columbus.

There was a time when I would play about 25-30 hours a week just on one video game which was Socom, a FPS game but now that life has given me different priorities, its more like 1-3 hours a week if I'm lucky. I dont mind the change in my playing hours. When I was single, things were different than it is now. I remember several time, playing literally about 20 hour sessions just playing Socom and terrorizing kids online with my mad sniping skills. But when you have a family, you have to choose either them or the game, so of course you choose family hence why i dont play as much now. I would much rather spend time with Gaby and the boys then just glued to the screen, screaming and atagonizing other players in a virtual world.

Getting back to the topic, why do I game? I only play one game and its only online. The game is called SoCom: Confrontation. I jsut recently been recruited by a clan www.PayBackClan.com to help them climb the tournament ladder. I enjoy the fellowship and camraderie to play alongside my teammates. It is so cool when you can outsmart some guy in India playing SoCom. For example, a sniper has me pinned down in a road near an alley, I keep the sniper occupied while my partner sneaks around the backway, and knife the sniper in the back! Also when I am playing, Im not worried about the economy, global warming, Bin Laden, or anything that is stressful and worrisone.

I have been wanting to get Dance Dance Revolution aka "DDR", and some karaoke game so the whole family can play and not just me, alone, trying to snipe somebody on my game.

Jessica said...

Honestly? It's an escape. I like rpg's, so it's kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure story, and with today's platforms, the graphics are fantastic, so it's also like a mini-movie. Well, maybe a really long movie, since it usually takes a hell of a lot of hours in order to get to see the ending.

Also, when I'm upset or frustrated, I can take out my frustrations on the game, killing things and such, without actually resorting to any true violence. A type of anger management, if you will. With the rpg's, though, it really is more about the story for me, finding out what happened.

Marilyn said...

I think I enjoy just seeing how far I can progress. I haven't really done a lot of games. I started Mafia Wars on Myspace when Mike said he was doing it. I'm not terribly competitive but it's a fun outlet. At first, I just HAD to go and bank a couple of times a day. Now, the newness has worn off and I bank every so often...maybe sometimes once a day...sometimes not. I probably wouldn't have even checked it out if Mike wasn't doing it. So, I suppose it was also to be able to share that and compare that progress with him.