Poll: Have gamers lost touch with "playing for fun?"

[razelas]

"I play the game (, and then I learn it)."

This is what my room mate said as he played Mortal Kombat. I'm watching him and some friends play Mortal Kombat's campaign mode, and I suggested (after getting their asses handed to them quite a few times) that maybe they should go into training mode, get a second controller, and learn some new moves/combos instead of button mashing and spamming. But apparently, getting frustrated and using the same approach is their idea of "fun." They say they like to "learn in the heat of battle" but all they're really doing is learning a few attacks/combos and then using those few moves over and over and over...

This kind of narrow-minded thinking upsets me a little. It seems that they aren't playing the game... they're just winning (or losing, mostly); in other words, it's a competition and winning is all that matters. While I've come to expect that from anonymous people playing competitively online, it's kind of hard to deal with now that it's in my face. What's even scarier is that there's no ranking/scoreboard to spur these guys on.

What about you, Escapists? Do you feel that gamers in general, or even some of the gamers around you, have lost touch with "playing for fun" and adopting "playing to win"? What ever happened to playing for fun?

 

[Sun Flash]

I clicked Yes but it's nothing to worry over, and as the page loaded I saw the Combustible Lemons answer and couldn't change my vote in time.

This saddens me.

Re: Mortal Kombat, I went into the tutorial, learned the buttons and found my play style. I wouldn't worry though, as long as I'm fun, I couldn't give to shakes of a monkey's nuggets how you play.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I don't think we've lost touch with playing for fun, we've just started judging other peoples idea of fun.

 

[ScoopMeister]

For the most part, no. But in many cases, this does happen. Just try to ignore it. If that's how people want to play their games, then there's nothing you can do about it.
And thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for the 'combustible lemons' option. Having selected it, my life is now complete.

 

[Heathrow]

I think you're misunderstanding. They're obviously comfortable on the level of skill that they're at, if they are evenly matched and they find the content engaging and interesting then how exactly are they not having fun?

You don't need to master a game to enjoy it.

 

[DEAD34345]

"I play the game (, and then I learn it)."

This is what my room mate said as he played Mortal Kombat. I'm watching him and some friends play Mortal Kombat's campaign mode, and I suggested (after getting their asses handed to them quite a few times) that maybe they should go into training mode, get a second controller, and learn some new moves/combos instead of button mashing and spamming. But apparently, getting frustrated and using the same approach is their idea of "fun." They say they like to "learn in the heat of battle" but all they're really doing is learning a few attacks/combos and then using those few moves over and over and over...

This kind of narrow-minded thinking upsets me a little. It seems that they aren't playing the game... they're just winning (or losing, mostly); in other words, it's a competition and winning is all that matters. While I've come to expect that from anonymous people playing competitively online, it's kind of hard to deal with now that it's in my face. What's even scarier is that there's no ranking/scoreboard to spur these guys on.

What about you, Escapists? Do you feel that gamers in general, or even some of the gamers around you, have lost touch with "playing for fun" and adopting "playing to win"? What ever happened to playing for fun?

Sounds to me like you're the one who has stopped playing for fun. Did it ever occur to you that they didn't want to learn all the combos and playstyles, and just wanted to play?

 

[razelas]

I think you're misunderstanding. They're obviously comfortable on the level of skill that they're at, if they are evenly matched and they find the content engaging and interesting then how exactly are they not having fun?

You don't need to master a game to enjoy it.

Oh no, they're horribly out-skilled by the AI on normal. It took them 30+ minutes of redundant spamming to get past single fight. And yeah, I did wait 30+ min. before suggesting going into training.

 

[BenzSmoke]

It's not that we've lost touch with "playing for fun." It's that our definition of "fun" has changed.

 

[razelas]

"I play the game (, and then I learn it)."

This is what my room mate said as he played Mortal Kombat. I'm watching him and some friends play Mortal Kombat's campaign mode, and I suggested (after getting their asses handed to them quite a few times) that maybe they should go into training mode, get a second controller, and learn some new moves/combos instead of button mashing and spamming. But apparently, getting frustrated and using the same approach is their idea of "fun." They say they like to "learn in the heat of battle" but all they're really doing is learning a few attacks/combos and then using those few moves over and over and over...

This kind of narrow-minded thinking upsets me a little. It seems that they aren't playing the game... they're just winning (or losing, mostly); in other words, it's a competition and winning is all that matters. While I've come to expect that from anonymous people playing competitively online, it's kind of hard to deal with now that it's in my face. What's even scarier is that there's no ranking/scoreboard to spur these guys on.

What about you, Escapists? Do you feel that gamers in general, or even some of the gamers around you, have lost touch with "playing for fun" and adopting "playing to win"? What ever happened to playing for fun?

Sounds to me like you're the one who has stopped playing for fun. Did it ever occur to you that they didn't want to learn all the combos and playstyles, and just wanted to play?

Ugh, I never said anywhere that they should master the game! I just suggested learning a few new moves. And tbh, they're horrible when I play with them. Spamming got so annoying I threatened to kill my room mate is his sleep. Of course, it wasn't fun for him when I start counter-spamming him.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Hey...Fun is subjective.

I found both GTA 4 and Saint's Row 2 fun...

So, yeah. I don't really see "fun" being gone.

My idea of fun is going away, though...Bayonetta, etc.

 

[Snork Maiden]

My idea of fun is going away, though...Bayonetta, etc.

Ok I'm curious - what do you mean by this?

 

[internetzealot1]

For a game to be fun, you have to be playing towards a goal. And that goal is often victory.

 

[Ace of Spades]

You can't make that kind of generalization for all gamers based on fighting games, since I honestly find it hard to have fun when I'm getting my ass kicked. I learn combos and actually try to improve my timing, but when I'm playing against my friends who have already mastered most of the characters, it's a game of 'how long can I last before being killed'.

 

[DEAD34345]

-Snip-

Sounds to me like you're the one who has stopped playing for fun. Did it ever occur to you that they didn't want to learn all the combos and playstyles, and just wanted to play?

Ugh, I never said anywhere that they should master the game! I just suggested learning a few new moves. And tbh, they're horrible when I play with them. Spamming got so annoying I threatened to kill my room mate is his sleep. Of course, it wasn't fun for him when I start counter-spamming him.

Well, maybe they don't want to learn a few new moves either. I find fighting games boring as hell when I start trying to learn moves and combos, and much prefer what pretty much amounts to random button mashing. I don't have to be good to enjoy a game.

Also, now you're complaining about others losing sight of fun when you threaten to kill your room-mate in his sleep because he spams you in Mortal Kombat? Really?

 

[The Wonder of the net]

games dont need anything other than a good nitche and then the word gamer falls into place. i know i play for fun, my brother to win, everyone one on my friends list plays to complete the game

 

[Aethren]

I play games for fun all the time. That's why I love Elder Scrolls/Legend of Zelda/Valve games and hate Battlefield/Call of Duty/Gears of War/Halo-style games.

 

[razelas]

Hey...Fun is subjective.

I found both GTA 4 and Saint's Row 2 fun...

So, yeah. I don't really see "fun" being gone.

My idea of fun is going away, though...Bayonetta, etc.

Of course fun is subjective, but the difference between playing for fun (win or lose, it's all fun) vs. playing to win (it's only fun if I win) is that playing to win is selfish and egotistical, and it would be a damn shame to gamers generally heading in that direction.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

My idea of fun is going away, though...Bayonetta, etc.

Ok I'm curious - what do you mean by this?

The era of the hack-n-slash is ending, that's all.

God of War is gone, probably. They filled the gap between 1 & 2 on PSP, along with a prequel. That story is told.

Devil May Cry is in the hands of a developer who has yet to put forward a decent battle system.(Ninja Theory did the narratively excellent, combat poor Heavenly Sword and Enslaved games)

Dynasty Warriors is still around, though. It's usually solid fun, but really simplistic combat-wise.