I've thought a lot about the different kinds of video games there are, and how features or aspects that some love others don't care about at all or actively hate. I can't remember that dipshit from a few years ago who would make a new thread every day about how stories in games don't matter, but as more and more AAA games are collapsing and seem to be deliberately leaving out the aspects of games that gamers actually like, it got me thinking about those aspects and how ones personality affects their gaming habits, and why you might call a game a masterpiece while I think it's boring, while another game might be my all time favorite and you can list 20 things wrong with it.
So without mentioning the games themselves, I started thinking about the basic gamer personality types, or the most core aspects of a game that appeal to them and why that draws them to some games and not others. If you've got more to add, than by all means do so.
In no particular order, first, human competition. People who get a thrill about competing against other people. If it weren't video games, it would be football or basketball or MMA or some other activity where you pit yourself against another or several other people to be simply better than them. A video game just happens to be how you do it. The game itself is basically just an advanced rubix cube in one of those timed competitions. It's the thing that you use to see if you're better than someone else at that thing.
The second one is harder to describe, but it's almost like the player pitting themselves against the game programmer. Like solving a puzzle or getting good at lockpicking, the player sees the game as a complex series of challenges to overcome. The more they play and the better they get, they win against the design of the game itself. The narrative, characters, themes, etc are just amusing window dressing so that it doesn't seem like you're doing the same thing all the time. What amounts to getting really skilled at pressing a series of plastic buttons in a particular order, but the thrill comes from the design of the game, which comes from the mind of the designer. He created a series of challenges that are accomplished with pressing those plastic buttons, but all the cues from things on the screen, figuring out what the coding behind the scenes must be for A action to lead to B reaction, memorizing long sequences of events or actions you must perform, and being able to do it all from memory very quickly. Basically trying to beat the code without being able to see the code, only the effects of it.
Third, pure escapism. Being able to shut yourself out of real life and be dropped into a world that doesn't exist. How you do it matters less than what you're doing while you're there. The gameplay itself is just a vehicle to deliver the immersive escapist experience. You can't actually be that person on the screen in that cooler world doing awesome stuff, you have to pilot that avatar somehow, and gameplay is the means you do it, but so long as it gets the job done, it gets tuned out in favor of losing yourself in being someone else somewhere else. Though a caveat on that is that sometimes for a niche group of games, the gameplay does enhance that experience. Think a sim like DCS where you have to actually know how to program the MFD of a real life F-18 to be able to do it in the game. You have to know when and how to turn on the APU in real life to be able to do it in the game. The game is as close to a 1:1 replication of the real life actions, just through plastic buttons. This is why things like HOTAS setups and personal flightsim rigs are popular, because losing yourself in the guise of a rea pilot or racecar driver or soldier or whatever is enhanced by making more like real life. It's not difficulty for difficulty's sake, it's difficulty because that's how it really is in real life. But the end result is still similar to someone who dives into a gameplay-light RPG or single player story; being able to forget you're you sitting on a couch or chair and losing yourself in pretending to be someone else doing something else you would never be able to do otherwise.
If you can describe any others, which I'm sure I've missed, by all means chime in. But I think that if one of these personality types for lack of a better term, appeals to you while another does not at all, that can explain why you might like a game and be utterly incapable of wrapping your head around why anyone could possible enjoy a different game. Take the first Last of Us game. Objectively mediocre game play, light stealth, light FPS, light puzzle solving. A solid 6/10 when compared to other games that do stealth better, or shooting better, or puzzles better. And for these accurate reasons, a lot of gamers just simply don't get why anyone would like it. Yet it's considered one of the most favored games of all time for others. A direct contrast to that would be a Soulslike game, for the opposite reasons. The gameplay is the game. But very few people likely find themselves sitting alone in a room a few hours later after finishing it still feeling deep emotions about how the story and characters made them feel.
The hilarious thing about the collapse of the AAA industry is how they are shitting the bed on all of those things. The stories and characters are shit, focused more on diversity than good writing or compelling characters and in many cases the stories and characters are written specifically and deliberately to make you feel bad about liking something similar from a decade ago (see Last of Us pt 2, all of the emotions you might have gotten from that story arc with the main two characters, the sequel was written to undermine all of it and spit in your face for having reacted the way you did to the original). The gameplay is designed by people who would be hard pressed to beat a game from 20 years ago on Journalist mode, full of bugs, features and quality of life aspects that are universally understood to be superior for a decade simply removed without a thought, and with all of the live-service bullshit, speech codes, removal of chat, matchmaking systems that are designed first and foremost to make queers not feel bad, rip the heart out of human competition.
At this point 80% fun entertainment. The other 20% for shared social experience. Specifically I play games with a handful of family and friends and it's a decent way to catch up and have a shared activity whether in person or remotely.
Some of your points apply to me, specifically the second one regarding puzzle solving, but in the end it comes down to entertainment and it being fun for me to solve puzzles. Different traits applied in the past, but I think in a way I've outgrown almost any of the other motivation. The sense of winning, competition, domination, accomplishment, or what not is fleeting for minutes at best and not really motivational or something I attach any value to. If I'm going to brag or take pride in something it's going to be family or some large project I completed, etc. and really not ever the result of a video game.
I completely agree with your points, the games I still play fall into that category though can still be a bit more competitive than you describe.
The difference is time has become more of a factor for me where grinds I used to do when I was younger are no longer acceptable for me now and oddly enough I find that games that are decades old but have been constantly updated like GTA, Warframe etc have changed that grind to more fit my older perspective (making it a lot easier to gain resources in game) whereas a lot of the newer games are still stuck with the old grind mechanics that I could tolerate when I was younger but not anymore like they haven't learnt anything over the years.
I play EVE Online.
Because real life has too many cops.
And to few spreadsheets?
Enjoy getting lost in a world like Skyrim or other RPGs. Also games like the Sims or other simulation games are enjoyable for me. When I was younger I’d play games like ninja turtles or streets of rage with friends but now I mainly play alone. I love playing baseball and football games but weirdly I’ve enjoyed the front office aspect more and more
Because I like them and they're fun, simple as that. No need to armchair-psychoanalyze it too much, at least in my case.
I wouldn't say there's much consistency, I like most types of video games. The only genres I'd say I don't really care for are pure platformers, pure puzzle games, and non-violent simulation games. I guess if a game doesn't have combat or violence in some fashion, its less interesting in my eyes, but I still enjoy visual novels so its not like its an ironclad rule necessarily.
Fair enough. I find thinking about why people do, think, feel, or believe the things they do to be interesting, and helpful in a lot of cases. If I like something and they don't, or they do and I don't, knowing whether they are using an entirely different measuring stick than me, and whether they even know my measuring stick exists, is helpful in understanding them and arriving at some sort of common ground. If someone says "this sucks" but I think it's great, instead of just dismissing them as an idiot or normie or some other pejorative (though those may in the end still end up being true), knowing why they think it sucks and realizing they're judging it on standards that matter to them I had no idea were even factors worth considering is an eye opening and useful experience.
That's fine, just be aware not everything can be solved with labels and broad categorizations/generalizations.
While I certainly think there are strong preferences among certain gamers towards the archetypes you describe, I personally don't believe there's a hard line for most core gamers. I think many core gamers can play and enjoy a variety of genres and types of games, and differences can often come down to personal preferences.
For example, just because someone doesn't like PvP in an MMO or an ARPG doesn't mean they wouldn't like it in an FPS or a fighting game.
In my case, I usually don't care about open-world RPGs, but I still like Fallout 1 and Baldur's Gate 1 so its not something ironclad, and I used to love playing Runescape. I wouldn't be able to tell you "why" per se, maybe it has to do with implementation and format of the ones I don't care for.
I'm sure many people on KiA2 have played and enjoyed at least 1 competitive game, 1 co-op game, and 1 PvE type game. Some of the most competitive esports-type people I've followed still consider games like Mario and Zelda to be among their favorites, or more recently are enjoying games like Elden Ring (and no, not for the PvP in it).
I like efficiency. I enjoy making things more efficient, and working towards tasks in a manner I feel is more efficient. This is not something you get a lot of in real life, especially with women or children in it, so games offer the greatest value for that feeling. Its why I also do achievements in games and can enjoy light grinding in games that provide it (when it doesn't feel like mindless padding like many older games did).
Ironically, I hate games most sandbox types. Because I need a goal in my efficiency. If the entire goal is just to make number go up or engage creativity, then it does nothing for me. I'll build an entire production line if it is in service of getting my Tier 2 armor to Tier 3, but if I'm just building to look good or be more complex then it does nothing for me. I recently played V Rising and it did it rather well, where I was in constant pursuit of a goal and finding the best way to achieve it to overcome a boss or complete a gear set.
But generally, I just enjoy fun stuff. It doesn't need to be specific or defined. I enjoy the Ichiban Yakuza games because they are high energy and funny fun. I enjoyed Ghost of Tsushima because it felt fun to play and random encounters were fun to do well past when they gained me anything. I enjoyed doing Bloodborne at level 4 (the lowest possible level) because it actually felt fun to explore the game in that manner. I play Yugioh Falsebound Kingdom (a game that got 2/10 reviews on release) yearly because its fun to run around with monsters and dab on their teams with my overpowered combos.
Having played the tacked on multiplayer mode, the Gameplay is far better than it gets credit for and makes for a pretty fun half stealth action game. It just doesn't ever get used to its maximum ability in the story mode. But because nobody played anything but said story mode no one really got to experience what it could do.
I like to immerse myself in another world. Go someplace else with my imagination. It's why I also love reading and tv/movies. Video Games are special, though. The interactive component makes them something that's especially and viscerally vicarious.
Of course, I also can't factor out the dopamine hits acquired from twitch reactions and deft manuvering. Love me some platformers!
Fantasy and escapism, predominately. I like exploring places in-game that I cannot go to IRL.
Skyrim lets me play in the far arctic north, an environment that I have always felt drawn to but have never lived in or near. Regular winter snows in Pennsylvania were as close as I've ever gotten. Plus all the magic and armor & weapons make it even more of an adventure.
Pokémon satisfies that same call to adventure that I can't stop feeling, in combination with allowing me to collect lots of little things along the way. Plus, my team ends of satisfying the feeling of hanging out with friends, as I give little personality quirks to each of my Pokémon that I use. "I'm out in the wide, unknown world, but I am not alone."
I played WoW for a long time, and that one was fantasy worlds, magic & armor, collecting things, and making small incremental progress towards an over-arcing goal. It also let me engage in teamplay and, having very few friends due to my inability to make lasting connections with others, it let me scratch that itch fairly regularly with dungeons and raids.
Other games like Animal Crossing, Minecraft, Starbound, and the like give me a creative outlet for designing the world around me in a way that I like. I don't play it anymore, but The Sims was my first video game that I really sunk time into, and it's when I realized that I just liked the process of designing, building, and looking at things I built, then redoing them to fix my "mistakes."
That’s a lot of text for a simple question. Anyway I play video games to look at female characters that have a hell of an ass. So not dragon age mega fag fest or what ever the new one is called.
You are, as is anyone, free to not engage in a discussion that doesn't interest you.
He literally engaged in the discussion.
Did you mean to reply to the troll? I’m very interested in girl’s asses, digital or otherwise. Which female character has the nicest butt in your opinion?
Is your gamertag a sirmixalot reference lol
There is also people who play games because its the easiest way to spend time with friends who live far away.
Escapism and Immersion
also some games like Metro series turn out to be super prophetic so its almost like enjoying a piece of the upcoming future
for fun
I play videogames because my brain was acclimated to the supernormal stimulus at a very young age and continued using them because they represented risk free rewards without exposure to stress-inducing uncertainty after enough repetition.
ChatGPT tl;Dr
The post discusses the influence of personality on video game preferences, identifying three core gamer types. First, those who thrive on competition, viewing games as a means to test their skills against others. Second, players who enjoy challenging the game's design, where success comes from mastering complex sequences and overcoming the challenges set by the game developers. Third, gamers seeking escapism, using games as a portal to immerse themselves in another world, sometimes enhanced by realistic, complex controls that mimic real-life activities. The post also criticizes the current state of AAA gaming, suggesting that poor storytelling, oversimplified gameplay, and a focus on diversity over quality are leading to a decline in the industry's standards.
Nowadays, for fun and relaxation, which is why I hardly do achievement hunting anymore and have developed a liking for those dogshit hidden object games.
Some games I play for fun and entertainment. Some I play for nostalgia, because I had them when I was young and I find myself either still enjoying them, or not so much, or just wondering why I liked it at all.
And some I play just to see what they've brought to a genre I might enjoy. Sometimes a unique or interesting mechanic can turn a genre on it's head and make you play in ways you had not thought of.
To empower myself to take on and discover more about the real world.
I don't know about you guys but I do it to get hot chicks
I like to immerse myself in good story with good characters. And for the most part, JRPG provided me just the qualities I was looking for even the mediocre ones like Star Ocean, I liked it just fine. Although I call playing games as hobby, I think I'm as competent at games as game journos, the difference is I never accepted the wokeness and globohomo artstyle most western studios seem to be going for. As someone that love the immersion, woke really takes me out of it and now I find myself not playing games as much because I'm doing something more useful, I suppose. This is why modern western RPGs like BG3, Outer Worlds and Cyberpunk 2077 never appealed to me. Between the demanding system requirements and western style storytelling didn't make me eager to try the games.
Any good recommendations for recent JRPGs? Maybe some medieval themed ones not called Fire Emblem (I have a bunch of those already)?
Sorry but I didn't play that many games nowadays, I wouldn't know but... game like Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls?
A combination of points 2 and 3 for me, but I'm not sure that describes all of it. Point 1 not so much. Gaming is 99% a solo hobby for me, although I did play a little OSRS with my sister for old time's sake, and I'd consider playing with a friend if things worked out properly. I have no interest in playing with randos online, especially with the hobby infested with normies and troons. I also enjoy a good story, but those are becoming rare and I find myself playing a lot of strategy/management games anyway.
As an addendum to your escapist description, I would say Immersive dopamine release.
Why do so many guys feel pumped after watching a Stallone or Arnold flick from the 80s? They captured a sense of peril and danger, but handled it in a way that a lot of men fantasise as a way to release aggression, tension, or indulge in healthy exertion. It's why a lot of times those movies would compel guys to hit the gym or join the army.
A good game that captures that sense of masculine-driven achievements is the same thing as those 80s films. It gives you a sense of purpose through the immersive world setting and characters, and gives you a good dopamine release when you can execute a cool series of takedowns, combos or headshots that aren't just automated one-button press quick-time events that wrests all of the control from the player. The more manual the game is, the more it feels like something YOU accomplished. And people love to overcome challenges that makes them feel like they accomplished something.
Old Bioware games are my favorite and a big fan of the Elder Scrolls games so I would say escapism/ immersion. Strangely enough I was never much in to JRPGs so more around classical Medieval Fantasy.
I also liked the puzzle/ adventure games like Monkey Island.
I did play CS, dota and lol a lot but it was less about being competitive and more that I was relatively good at it. There is also a good feeling about being crap initially at something and then building yourself up over time to become better and better at it.
I also like HoMM games and single player shooters like Doom.
I used to have this fixation on getting a level 100%, my brother likes to remind me that I was spending an entire day or even more just to get all the gems in Captain Claw. Fortunately I no longer have this as I have so little time to play.
I would say high on escapism, above medium on puzzles, bellow average on competition.
To do something different than what I've been doing all day as a way of disconnecting. Something twitchy if the day has been slow and plodding. Something chill if the day has been hectic. Something puzzley if the day's been braindead. Etc.
For the strategy, the story, the art, the skill set and coordination.
I spend most of my time playing intellectually stimulating problem solving games like Satisfactory. Organizing things, calculating math, and planning for the future. It's kind of a problem, actually, I play really nothing but these endless puzzle type games. It's like solving jigsaw puzzles for me.
I have two types of games I play. The first is a long play over short times. Breath of the Wild is a bunch of 30 minute plays when I get the chance. The other is a long play that lasts the entire game. Portal or Half Life 2 is like that.
I get really upset if the 30 minute sporadic game is designed or becomes a long play one. Vampire Survivors is like this. I enjoy it, but a single play can be an hour and that's too much.