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

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

First and foremost, spamming is NOT a way to win, it's a way to lose unless the opponent is pathetic, in which case the win is meaningless inherently, no matter how you obtained it.




Now, for the question in the OP, I voted "other" for the following reasons. Fun is not lost, it's just re-defined. Many people would say YOU don't have fun with your games cause you have to "learn" them, since, according to those people, learning, reading, thinking and calculating are not things one can do for fun. All I have to say is that fun means more things than it used to, to noobs it means mashing randomly and laughing at their failures, to people like us it means getting intimately familiar with a game's mechanics and perfecting everything to the best of our ability.

 

[sheah1]

It's weird, most of the fun of arcades used to be getting the highest score, because, to be honest, they kind of sucked gameplay wise so the whole "you've got to be the best there ever was" thing was all they really had going for them, but then games got good so that didn't matter. But it's as if that system has fallen through a worm hole (not a portal) and placed itself in the minds of douchebag gamers. They don't care about having fun or pulling off the most epic combos and special moves in the flashiest, most rewarding ways, they just care about seeing their score card going up, which is why the see using Sentinel and spamming his special, hitting down and square or lobbing grenades every which way as fun ways to play the game. How the fuck did this happen? I mean, it wasn't Vanquish or Bulletstorm's fault, because their score system encouraged being awesome, so what the fuck happened people?

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

As for the whole winning thing, winning in a specific way can certainly be fun. Though the people who truly cared about winning as a thing to do to have fun would definitely train as much as possible, since losing would be a great wound to their pride.


Your friends are definitely NOT play-to-win-without-fun types, they're just casual noobs who don't understand a lot of what they do but are mesmerized by the flashing colors etc.

 

[razelas]

Comparing spamming to camping? Two totally different concepts in two totally different games.
Apples to oranges.

So they're spamming and button mashing, but isn't that the means to an end, even if poorly thought out?

Exactly...it's a MEANS TO AN END.

It's NOT...a means to WIN You said yourself they are losing frequently.

Anyone playing to win would be exploiting errors in the AI, like playing chip away with long-range moves EVERY SINGLE MATCH or stuff like that.

...

You do realize that "winning" is the "end" result? So long as they win a single match, any match, that's a win in their book.

And of course they're losing frequently, spamming and button-mashing only go so far.

And playing to win doesn't necessarily mean they have to be smart about it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. It sounds like you're room mate and his friends were having fun even if they were losing because you said that was apparently their idea of fun. So if they're having fun, what are you so upset about? Is it that their idea of fun isn't the same as yours? Well what are you? A Nazi? So they like getting their asses handed to them, how does that effect you? If they get frustrated enough they'll either change their tactics or play something else, either way I don't see how it's your problem.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Sadly, I have to say yes. I see so many people go "Hawr har u suckk i domina8 u!1!" whenever I see people play games together, and I just go "... um, who the fuck cares? It's about having fun" and the they get all pissed and say stupid things like "No it takes skilz!1" "Skills" shouldn't be a term used in relation to playing games, unless it's talking about a character's skills/abilities in-game.

That's plainly wrong.


Serious fighting game players need to input numerous moves on reaction in fractions of a second, memorize 40+ input combos with precise timing, memorize every move everyone ever does to know how to react to it. There's definitely a lot of skill at work.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

...

You do realize that "winning" is the "end" result? So long as they win a single match, any match, that's a win in their book.

And of course they're losing frequently, spamming and button-mashing only go so far.

And playing to win doesn't necessarily mean they have to be smart about it.

THAT'S CALLED HAVING FUN!

Playing to win implies all the care about is the victory.

If they are still playing even during losing streaks...they FUCKING are FUCKING having FUCKING fun!

Fuck.

 

[RollForInitiative]

Ever think that "playing to win" is actually fun for some people? Everyone is still doing what they find fun, even if it's not what somebody else finds fun.

So who the Hell cares?

 

[Aprilgold]

OH HELL YEAH!! Not to step on anyones toes while typing this, but anyone who plays for fun, usually try to enjoy the game for every reason the game is fun or good. But then there are others who only play games to win, and thats where I get pissed, you see, the people who play to win are assholes that only play one genre of game, and always, ALWAYS get pissed when you ask them to play something else. Unless I'm wrong, anyone who plays to win is usually a very pissed off person in real life, but why can't more people just FUCKING enjoy gaming, and branch out to other game genres. I like tetris, Team Fortress 2, and even fancy pants adventure world 3, most of all Portal 2 [oh, yeah, portal 2 is rated E 10+, does that make it less fun, HELLZ NO!]

 

[Zeetchmen]

I believe it, whenever recently I find myself going into a trance until the game over screen. Can't say Ive had fun with any game for awhile.

 

[supaflystrikes]

I'm surprised no one brought up Minecraft. No goals, no competition expect with zombies and exploding penises, and very little frustration. Just pure fun, and it's the hottest game out there right now.

Also, I'M GONNA BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN...... WITH THE LEMONS!!!

 

[Sebenko]

VIDJA GAEMS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS AND ARE NEVAR FUN.

But naw, I don't think so. I did have an intelligent response, but I suddenly can't be bothered.

 

[badgersprite]

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

This is apt.

I don't think we've lost touch with playing for fun. Well, maybe some people have, but, still, they probably have some idea of what is fun for them, and the problem is that they think that idea of fun is the only valid one, and anyone who enjoys something they don't like obviously doesn't like it as a result of different tastes or because they play games just to have fun or whatever. They obviously only just like it or play the way they do "because they're stupid/easily pleased/fanboys" or whatever.

That kind of attitude really annoys me.

 

[Aprilgold]

Sadly, I have to say yes. I see so many people go "Hawr har u suckk i domina8 u!1!" whenever I see people play games together, and I just go "... um, who the fuck cares? It's about having fun" and the they get all pissed and say stupid things like "No it takes skilz!1" "Skills" shouldn't be a term used in relation to playing games, unless it's talking about a character's skills/abilities in-game.

That's plainly wrong.


Serious fighting game players need to input numerous moves on reaction in fractions of a second, memorize 40+ input combos with precise timing, memorize every move everyone ever does to know how to react to it. There's definitely a lot of skill at work.

Um, more then likely hes talking about shooters [unless I'm wrong, hope not] I don't need to explain that in shooters, people constantly say shit like "I domina8 yo noobz" or "I sucked like your mom last night" But when you beat them enough they say "Hacker" why? because they want to win. again, fighting game people are GODS for memorizing so much.

 

[razelas]

...

You do realize that "winning" is the "end" result? So long as they win a single match, any match, that's a win in their book.

And of course they're losing frequently, spamming and button-mashing only go so far.

And playing to win doesn't necessarily mean they have to be smart about it.

THAT'S CALLED HAVING FUN!

Playing to win implies all the care about is the victory.

If they are still playing even during losing streaks...they FUCKING are FUCKING having FUCKING fun!

Fuck.

So persistence/determination is not compatible with "playing to win"? What?

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Sadly, I have to say yes. I see so many people go "Hawr har u suckk i domina8 u!1!" whenever I see people play games together, and I just go "... um, who the fuck cares? It's about having fun" and the they get all pissed and say stupid things like "No it takes skilz!1" "Skills" shouldn't be a term used in relation to playing games, unless it's talking about a character's skills/abilities in-game.

That's plainly wrong.


Serious fighting game players need to input numerous moves on reaction in fractions of a second, memorize 40+ input combos with precise timing, memorize every move everyone ever does to know how to react to it. There's definitely a lot of skill at work.

Um, more then likely hes talking about shooters [unless I'm wrong, hope not] I don't need to explain that in shooters, people constantly say shit like "I domina8 yo noobz" or "I sucked like your mom last night" But when you beat them enough they say "Hacker" why? because they want to win. again, fighting game people are GODS for memorizing so much.

Well, those are idiots lol, I don't play shooters really but in Blablue and street fighter and guilty gear a few years back it's all full of truly skilled individuals and only someone who really beat you severely enough would ever use such strong insults, which were almost never said seriously btw.


Good to hear my lack of interest for FPSs has served me once again though .

 

[razelas]

What an interesting concept. So the fact that they aren't playing the way YOU think games should be played, they are the narrow-minded ones... Riiiight.

It's not about how I think games should be played, it's about them not being open to new ideas, i.e. not caring about winning.

Ever think that you are the narrow-minded one for not considering that their way is in fact how games should be played?

Of course, and I've also considered the end results:

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.

The idea that they aren't playing for fun makes no sense. They are attempting to beat a challenge and having fun doing so. Most games present obstacles for the player to conquer, the more difficult the obstacle the more rewarding the completion is. Good games make the act of completing those obstacles fun and bad games make it tedious.

Apparently, they think fun lies in victory, not in the attempt.

The facts that you provide fuel the idea that they WERE doing it just for fun. Since there was no leader boards or rankings shows that they weren't doing it for fame or getting paid to, so it's safe to say they were having fun playing a game.

Playing to win is certainly correlated with fame and profit, but it does not mean those are the only rewards.

It sounds like you are upset because thats not how you approach the game. You think that learning moves in practice mode, turning the difficulty down, etc would be a more effective way to beat the game, but they don't. They want to play their way, not yours, which is what is the main problem. The story and the idea of gamers only "playing to win" is disconnected from each other.

I'm upset that they're not open to other ideas, to playing for fun. And when did I say I want them to play "my way", or that my way is "more effective"? I only suggested another idea that may help, but I certainly didn't discourage them from playing their own way.