Long story, bullet points needed :
- Being a gamer is about instinct
- Good games are made for cats
- Fun is where you find it
- Not liking Quake 3 doesn't make you a bad gamer
I love Video Games.
I've been playing them since I was 7, beginning with a SEGA master system, mind boggled by such awesome graphics and sounds, and I haven't changed with the years.
However, my way to get hitched to a particular game has rather evolved since then, graphics are the least I care about.
I had, in the beginning, something to do with instinct. When I was offered to chose between the very first episode of
Sonic the Hedgehog and a rather nice but not quite half the fun adaptation of
Asterix, I didn't decide upon which one was best looking or fastest scrolling, Sonic just felt good.
Since then, I can say that I rarely screwed up choosing a game, even when it was an obscure and almost unknown title, I'd make the right choice. My rule of the thumb is simple : try the game for 10 minutes maximum. If you don't wanna jump up and down of excitement, don't buy it.
That said, when I am browsing gaming community bulletin boards around the web, I often stumble across this killer statement : "You are not a true gamer."
What in the world is a true gamer ? Well here is my own personal point of view : A cat.
Have you ever remarked how cats tend to play with almost everything ? If it sounds or looks or moves nice enough, Mr Cat will spend minutes playing with it, may it be its own tail, he does not care.
The point being : cats knows how to extract the fun from where it lyes, and so do Gamers.
My ADD has led me to behave more or less like the fluffy ones, either sleeping or playing. Here is an example :
Come into my room and you'll find an empty whiskey bottle.
Well, I don't drink alcohol (anymore), and I am not a bottle collector, so why the hell is this bottle in my room ? Just for fun boss, just for fun. Ever heard of "
bar juggling" ?
That's where the fun is, in a bottle.
A bottle doesn't have a good VGA card.
A bottle doesn't have surround sound.
A bottle doesn't have amazing cut scenes (unless you smash it in you own hand, then the intrinsic dramatic intensity unleashes).
A bottle can let you play with it until you feel your arms falling off.
Just now I went for a smoke, and my buddy and I had a ten minute broom-balancing-on-your-finger session, that's what fun is about.
When I choose a video game, I follow the same scheme as when I chose a "toy". What about the instant fun, the replayability, what will it demand from my actual skills ? When I play it, will I be completely absorbed by it ? Will I improve any of my "real life skills" with it ? Will it influence my mood in a positive way ? What about creativity ? And the most important : Does it challenge me ?
In short, to my mind, a good game is supposed to let you do things your way, to let you experiment as you like and give you the possibility to do a bit more than what it's supposed to.
Like a bottle.
A Gamer will be the natural counterpart to such a game, for she will look for "What can I do more that just following the line ?".
Like a cat.
Sadly enough, I have found only few games matching the criteria above. I have found only few games that immerse me so deeply that I'll forget to sleep or to eat.
You are already thinking that World Of Warcraft could do the trick, since people can even suffer from dehydration as a consequence of playing it too much.
But no, the rush for XP and virtual fame isn't appealing. Once I leave the game, I've gained nothing. My mood is not better, and I won't carry anything "outside" the game. And for the taking I'm not looking for an alternate life.
In the other hand,
Quake 3 Arena is, according to my standards, an awesome load of fun. You want to be a basic berserker, off you go, you want to find the unreachable place in the map, find a way to stand on it and be a sleazy sniper, be free. You don't need to be a shooter expert to have instant in game fun, the multiplayer mode is thrilling and there are plenty of mods available. Quake 3 is still played by many people.
Another game that caught my attention is
Toribash. I've always like the "beat em up" genre, since when it's well done it appeals to real life skills such as reflexes and timing. I've never seen a good real life fighter being bad at fighting games.
Toribash basically let you do anything you want to. The learning curve is a bit tough, but once you understand the concept, you can have a win over long time players. You will never find a guy who's able to do an instant kill because he
has built his avatar with XP steroids. The same move always cause the same amount of damage. As in real life, a garden wrestler will suffer deep humiliation versus a professional boxer but feel at ease against a total newbie; and a fast learner will climb to the top aided only by it's understanding.
These game both have a very basic technical level, no real eye or ear candy, but a rock solid gameplay that let the player evolve by himself.
Last but not least, it's also a question of taste.
How can you play a game that doesn't match your tastes ? How can you blame someone not playing something she just doesn't like ?
I've been reading comments sounding like : "You don't like Mario/Resident Evil/Quake 3, then you probably don't like video games"
What if I am tired of seeing a plumber and his clique having taken over my game console in a kart, on a basketball/soccer/tennis/golf field or in a fighting game since 1984 ? What if zombies are in my opinion the worst and stupidest element to include in any medium ? What if I hate guns, real or virtual ?
Well, in fact, nothing is wrong about it, I won't harass you if you don't eat meat, and you won't harass me if I don't like Mario, and we'll give each other a break.
I think I've said it all, I'm back to my bottle, have some serious juggling to do.
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