Gaming Gentlemen

ancapailldorcha

It's something which has traditionally been regarding as a primarily male pastime. However, it's now one of the most popular pastimes around which is no surprise given the popularity of smartphones and tablets combined with an innovative industry which is more than willing to adapt to these new platforms.

So, my question is how big a part of your life does gaming constitute? Is it something you do while waiting for the bus? Perhaps a handy way to wind down at the end of the day or maybe you even have a gaming PC along with the consoles and a 3DS or a Vita.

flyingsnail

I would consider myself a big gamer, I play solely on pc now (I have not had a console since PS2). I never really got into the mobile gaming side of things, although I did have a PSP at one stage. I probably play 15+ hours a week, it may seem like a lot but I am not a big tv person so while others may sit in front of a tv or 1 or 2 hours a night I prefer to game.

For me I use it to switch off and relax, I think that is why I tend to go for largely single player games and even better if it has a great story and world to immerse myself in. I like to be able to move along at my own pace and not have to worry about other people, I can kind of disengage from reality for a little while (sometimes it is nice to escape the responsibility of the real world). Certain multiplayer games do grab me from time to time, I put a stupid amount of hours into star trek online but even then that can be played as a largely single player game.

The Black Oil

I'm not much of a gamer, I'm pretty passive about it. I do like the experience, but I don't particularly follow what's coming out or available. I don't read gaming websites, I see the odd trailer, that's about it. I can play and then leave it be for 6 months. I understand why it's such an enormous industry, though.

I have an original Game Boy from back in the day. Gone are the times of simple cartridges without the need for updates, user accounts and all that lark.

speedboatchase

I'm a big gamer and always have been, although as I get older I have less free time to indulge. These days I consume a lot of gaming-related content (articles, YouTube videos etc) but when it comes down to sitting in front of a TV and playing for a few hours at a time, I just don't have the time like I used to. As for mobile gaming, it's just never appealed to me and when I see the success of something like Flappy Bird - which would look limited compared to Super Mario Bros in 1984 - and 'freemium' games, it just seems like the industry is going backwards in terms of some fan's expectations from gaming and perception of value.

strelok

i barely game at all these days, the only gaming thing i've done recently is watch a regular lets play series on dark souls. it's nice to see someone else go through the game and discuss the lore in short one hour chunks, rather than getting stuck into it myself and losing an entire evening


that said, when dark souls 3 comes out I'm going to be doing just about nothing else for about a month

Stranger Danger

I'd play my PS4 a couple of evenings a week.

I've a 6-year old who loves it so mostly I end up playing Little Big Planet or Rayman with him.

When he's in bed I might get to play some more grown up stuff like GTA5, Last of Us or Tomb Raider. It'll take me ages to actually finish a game because I might only be doing an hour or so a week.

Recently got the re-mastered versions of Unchartered and am about half-way through the first one.

Boskowski

I used to game quite a bit years ago and used to be handy at 1st person shooters at the time. Now I can hardly find a game that I find exciting. Every now and then I play a bit of NHL online and a bit of EA tennis vs the girlfriend. Thats about it. I tried to get into story line adventures but found them predictable and boring. And modern 1st person stuff looks terrific but is too hard to get into as the standard is very high and you're just split second frag fodder if not on top of it. I play a bit of Candy Crush now and then if just want to kill some time. :eek:

ancapailldorcha

speedboatchase wrote: »

I'm a big gamer and always have been, although as I get older I have less free time to indulge. These days I consume a lot of gaming-related content (articles, YouTube videos etc) but when it comes down to sitting in front of a TV and playing for a few hours at a time, I just don't have the time like I used to. As for mobile gaming, it's just never appealed to me and when I see the success of something like Flappy Bird - which would look limited compared to Super Mario Bros in 1984 - and 'freemium' games, it just seems like the industry is going backwards in terms of some fan's expectations from gaming and perception of value.

strelok wrote: »

i barely game at all these days, the only gaming thing i've done recently is watch a regular lets play series on dark souls. it's nice to see someone else go through the game and discuss the lore in short one hour chunks, rather than getting stuck into it myself and losing an entire evening

that said, when dark souls 3 comes out I'm going to be doing just about nothing else for about a month

I'd be the same. I use my laptop for the most part which does a pretty decent job but a lot of the newer stuff just isn't an option.

The Black Oil wrote: »

I'm not much of a gamer, I'm pretty passive about it. I do like the experience, but I don't particularly follow what's coming out or available. I don't read gaming websites, I see the odd trailer, that's about it. I can play and then leave it be for 6 months. I understand why it's such an enormous industry, though.

I have an original Game Boy from back in the day. Gone are the times of simple cartridges without the need for updates, user accounts and all that lark.

I get really depressed when I see some of the cashmongering nonsense that's pervaded the industry. In addition, you have publishing companies cutting corners leading to triple A titles needing to be pulled from sale. Once the Batman Arkham series became popular, Warner Brothers did their best to ruin with the latest game being so bugged it had to be pulled from sale. I'm working my way through Arkham Origins at the moment and it's riddled with them. WB announced that they wouldn't patch them because the developers were working on new DLC for it. This video shows off some of the bugs.

I am currently under "never" but not due to lack of interest - but lack of time. My life simply does not afford me a moment to invest in gaming - or television - and even reading which I do invest time in suffers.

When I do game however I have changed over the years as I have grown. Whereas I might have liked shooters, platformers, or "god" games like Dune, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer and all that sort - I have pretty much gone off all of them. I stick now to games from - or game similar to - what you would expect to come out of Software houses like TellTale and Bioware.

But because such games tend to be so story driven - and because it can be weeks or months between chances to sit down and play an hour or two of them - it is hard to enjoy them. Because I spend as much time trying to remember what was going on the last time I played - than I do playing further.

Generally most of my gaming therefore comes when I am sick and everything else gets put on hold. I had a vicious 4 day cold/flu thing recently enough and managed to play through pretty much the entirety of "The Witcher 2" including all side quests - in that time from start to finish. I have now installed TW3 and imported the save game into it - and I will probably get to play the Prologue of it some time in 2018 or so

The Black Oil

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I get really depressed when I see some of the cashmongering nonsense that's pervaded the industry. In addition, you have publishing companies cutting corners leading to triple A titles needing to be pulled from sale. Once the Batman Arkham series became popular, Warner Brothers did their best to ruin with the latest game being so bugged it had to be pulled from sale. I'm working my way through Arkham Origins at the moment and it's riddled with them. WB announced that they wouldn't patch them because the developers were working on new DLC for it. This video shows off some of the bugs.

Not too familiar with this. What do you mean, rushed releases whilst quality control is done to the dogs? I've never heard of a game being pulled from sale, interesting.

Considering the prices of new console games today, if you were a teenager you'd need a part-time job or fairly generous pocket money just to buy one.

I've been a gamer since I was a young kid, on the days of the Spectrum and tape deck games.

Something that I find interesting is that now the average age of gamers is 37, which shows just how mainstream it has become in recent years. Also the main gender of gamers is female, according to the same statistics, but I would assume this encompasses casual games, such as Candy Crush and other mobile games. So I would still reckon the average PC/console gamer still skews male.

Yea, what happened with the latest in the Arkham franchise, Arkham Knight, just showed how big the gaming community is backlashing against early releases when games aren't fixed. Similar to what happened with the upcoming Deux Ex game, which offered a tiered system for preorders. They were forced to cancel this, because of the amount of outcry there was.

ancapailldorcha

The Black Oil wrote: »

Not too familiar with this. What do you mean, rushed releases whilst quality control is done to the dogs? I've never heard of a game being pulled from sale, interesting.

Batman: Arkham Knight is the most recent example. The thing just did not work on PC so WB pulled it from sale. Apparently, there are still issues (1). Anyway, this might be a tiny bit off topic and I should save my ranting for another forum.

The Black Oil wrote: »

Considering the prices of new console games today, if you were a teenager you'd need a part-time job or fairly generous pocket money just to buy one.

Hmmm... I don't know. New triple A titles have always been pricey. The thing is nowadays, DLC is much more mainstream whereas it used to only really apply to PC games with the odd "special" or "gold" edition hitting the consoles after the title was originally released.

What we need is for consoles to adopt fully digital platforms like PCs have done with Steam. That could potentially lower prices down, but also somewhat destroy bricks and mortar stores, because what is keeping many of them afloat is the secondhand market.

ancapailldorcha

Deleted User wrote: »

What we need is for consoles to adopt fully digital platforms like PCs have done with Steam. That could potentially lower prices down, but also somewhat destroy bricks and mortar stores, because what is keeping many of them afloat is the secondhand market.

That would be a good thing IMO. They're essentially profiteering from other people's work while keeping 100% of the revenue. Digital distribution is the way forward.

ancapailldorcha

Deleted User wrote: »

I am currently under "never" but not due to lack of interest - but lack of time. My life simply does not afford me a moment to invest in gaming - or television - and even reading which I do invest time in suffers.

When I do game however I have changed over the years as I have grown. Whereas I might have liked shooters, platformers, or "god" games like Dune, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer and all that sort - I have pretty much gone off all of them. I stick now to games from - or game similar to - what you would expect to come out of Software houses like TellTale and Bioware.

But because such games tend to be so story driven - and because it can be weeks or months between chances to sit down and play an hour or two of them - it is hard to enjoy them. Because I spend as much time trying to remember what was going on the last time I played - than I do playing further.

Generally most of my gaming therefore comes when I am sick and everything else gets put on hold. I had a vicious 4 day cold/flu thing recently enough and managed to play through pretty much the entirety of "The Witcher 2" including all side quests - in that time from start to finish. I have now installed TW3 and imported the save game into it - and I will probably get to play the Prologue of it some time in 2018 or so

I wouldn't have pegged you as a gamer, T. I think my tastes would be somewhat similar though I've only played Bioware's Mass Effect series. I've never really bothered with Dragon Age or any of Telltale's stuff.

ancapailldorcha

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I wouldn't have pegged you as a gamer, T. I think my tastes would be somewhat similar though I've only played Bioware's Mass Effect series. I've never really bothered with Dragon Age or any of Telltale's stuff.

Dragon Age is pretty good.. I mean, the first one is fantastic, the second one is a disappointment, and the 3rd was much better, but still not a patch on the 1st.

As for Telltale.. I'm kind of done with them, I think. Their episodic format doesn't work when there's months of difference between releases, because you just forget everything and sort of lessens the impact. I'll just stick with what I know, and will only get the newest season of Walking Dead, but wait until all are released.

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

That would be a good thing IMO. They're essentially profiteering from other people's work while keeping 100% of the revenue. Digital distribution is the way forward.

Completely agree, but unfortunately I don't think we have the infrastructure for internet here to fully support a wholly digital marketplace. Plus currently there's little or no price difference between physical and digital, meaning that there just isn't any push to make the move. If I remember, that was the biggest selling point for PC; that it was cheaper. And that Steam stood as the perfect marketplace and platform for indie gamers.

Pepe LeFrits

Used to be a pretty heavy gamer as a teenager, but I mostly just play Civilization V these days.

Can't wait for the VR headsets to come on the market next year, though.

Next year will be interesting, because it'll be a battle between Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR).

shawki

Lucky to get in decent session in at all, Maybe once every two weeks. Finished Last of Us recently . Best Story I've ever come across.

Metal Gear 5 will do me until Christmas.

For 2016 I'm planning to play Uncharted 4, Batman AK and Fallout 4. They'll last me the year.

Manach

As I remember when Boards was a Quake forum, I say that gaming is a thread that is part of my life. At the end of the day, on a PC, it allows some R&R with co-op play with friends or provide a solo challenge: where events are simpler than in real life (mostly). So long as like all things it is done in moderation, the hobby is a socially acceptable past time.

Excuse me - I now need as Caesar to crush some pesky Greeks who are challenging my authority in Civ 5. Prepare the catapults...

4zn76tysfajdxp

I don't game that much myself, apart from at social gatherings. Personally, I find it a bit infantile, like being excited over the new Star Wars film or smoking.

Infantile? Gaming hasn't been infantile for a long time. Bioshock: Infinite, Nathan Drake collection, Mass Effect, and Last of Us have heralded a new golden age of story and character driven gaming and I'm thoroughly excited for what is coming.

I'd say all gamers are eagerly awaiting November 10th. Hurry the eff up already.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Deleted User wrote: »

Infantile? Gaming hasn't been infantile for a long time. Bioshock: Infinite, Nathan Drake collection, Mass Effect, and Last of Us have heralded a new golden age of story and character driven gaming and I'm thoroughly excited for what is coming.

We'll have to agree to disagree, though I find it hard to believe that anyone would play games to bash zombie skulls in the head with a copper pipe, or travel to planet Buzzquark to zap ziplocks with quazzrays, for the story. Still, to each his own.

Andrew Laeddis

I don't know if I'm a gamer as I play 1 game and one game only (Football Manager), but work permitting I'd play a good 5 hours a day so I guess that's pretty extreme.

My girlfriend on the other hand is an obsessive.

She studies games design in college, has her own YouTube gaming channel and has every console going, near enough 10,000 games and an 8 grand pc gaming rig.

Scary is not the word

silverharp

Junior has an xbox1 but I don't tend to like any games he has. The last game I played a lot was world of tanks. I'd like a playable ww2 strategy game bit I found hearts of iron 3 too difficult to get my head around. My wife has played die siedler for years at this stage , not sure why

Darkglasses

Play a lot of games these days, almost exclusively on PC. Also have a growing interest in esports for the last year or so. Work isn't too hectic and I've no kids or major responsibilities, so I have plenty of free time for it at the moment.

Mainly play StarCraft, but also Medieval Total War, Fallout and Skyrim.

ancapailldorcha

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I wouldn't have pegged you as a gamer, T. I think my tastes would be somewhat similar though I've only played Bioware's Mass Effect series.

What have you pegged me as :-) At least one user already has me down as a hippy :-p

Think my enjoyment of that kind of game started with the two Star Wars "Knights of the republic" games. They set the bar high for that style of game really. And I guess Bioware and Projekt red would be the main ones stepping up to fulfil it.

The_Valeyard

Fallout 4....



That is all.

ancapailldorcha

Deleted User wrote: »

What have you pegged me as :-) At least one user already has me down as a hippy :-p

Your words not mine!

Deleted User wrote: »

Think my enjoyment of that kind of game started with the two Star Wars "Knights of the republic" games. They set the bar high for that style of game really. And I guess Bioware and Projekt red would be the main ones stepping up to fulfil it.

I picked up the KOTOR games on a Steam sale but I've not round to them yet. Someday...

The_Valeyard

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Fallout 4....



That is all.

Man. Hurry. The. ****. Up.

But I'm preparing myself to be disappointed.

HalloweenJack

Play a lot of FM but have struggled to get into other games. This year, I've bought the latest editions of Train Simulator and Crusader Kings, both games I really enjoy but they just don't have that replay hool that FM does. I mean I still play FM11 for God's sake!

Used to play loads of Fifa and PSE and GTA etc on the PS2 but haven't done that since I was at home, haven't upgraded since the PS2 and have no desire to buy a new console, just use my mate's.