C2V wrote:
Quote:
We have a whole forum on this site for gaming.
Which I never read, because of my pertinent question on this topic - what is the fascination with "gaming?"
To my understanding it achieves nothing, and I'm curious as to why those of you who do it enjoy it so much or can get so into it. Other forms of entertainment, storytelling for one, have been used throughout the centuries and civilisations to inspire, to provoke, to teach, to communicate, to facilitate culture and philosophy.
There has been much commentary on the purpose of storytelling in human consciousness.
Does anyone question why this gaming is so entrancing? Why bother to do it?
As I said, just curious.
I'll try to answer some of this as best I can.
My own fascination tends to come from the challenge of these; certainly, not all games are about challenge and difficulty. But the sort I get into tend to be. For example, this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uON3zty3-Q The core idea of that one is to dodge all of the purple crap, while continuing to advance through the level. It is the single hardest game ever made.
And that game is a great example of what gaming can do for someone, actually. The reason I'm able to do the stuff in the video is because of my ability to mentally process a monstrous number of things at once. In the case of a game like that, I can track every object on the screen at the same time. I've now gone so far with this ability that I seem to have LOST the ability to only focus on ONE thing. It doesnt fill up enough "mental space" now, so my mind wanders, trying to find more things to process. As a kid, I couldnt do this. Now, it's effortless and automatic. IRL, this can be pretty damn useful. I'm totally aware of my surroundings at ALL times. Nothing surprises me, because whatever it is, I'm already aware of it, even if all it did was make a small noise. This is a hugely useful skill in many situations, particularly when driving, and also it's good for general safety. In addition, I'm *really* coordinated. And most of all, I"m fast. Really fast. Reaction speed, I mean. Among those that know me, that speed is what I'm known for. Not just useful in gaming, the ability to react hyper-quickly is certainly useful IRL too; I doubt I need to list any situations as examples, because everyone runs into situations where fast reactions are very suddenly necessary. I had decent reflexes and whatnot as a kid, but it's massively increased as I continue to do these things. These are all skills that are improved by gaming in general.
Of course, it does depend on the types of games played; something like Angry Birds wont do this. But in a general sense, gaming can improve these things to a great degree. The player simply needs to be up to the challenge of actually doing so, constantly.
In addition, there can be a social aspect to these things. I've made friends, and I mean lasting, close ones, through these games. Often met when playing competitive games, these are people I would never have met otherwise. And THAT would be a real shame. That's typically happened IRL, but there's an advantage to doing it online too; when my social anxiety is too high to deal with people in-person, I can still get some social contact via the Net, often in various games played online. It also just gives me something to do with like-minded friends, something to join them in, even if my other interests dont mesh with theirs. Gaming is our usual activity, much of the time. Not the ONLY one, but the usual one. We're all geeks, really, heh.
Now, as for the idea of storytelling... there are plenty of gamers that would argue that games can tell very compelling stories. I, in all honesty, am not one of them. I've never gotten into story-focused games; not my preference. One of my other interests is books, of which I have tons, and those are where I'll go when I want a story. But plenty of others see it differently. Perhaps someone else can better explain this specific appeal of games.
However, sometimes games can CREATE the stories as you play them. Many gamers have their own stories, often shared with friends, of things that have happened in some game or other. These stories can be impressive, strange, hilarious... or whatever. I've not met another gamer that DOESNT have at least some to tell.
And lastly, the big huge misconception about gaming: that it's all a bunch of blood and guns and blah blah blah... that one's entirely wrong. As an example, this is one of my favorites:
http://i.imgur.com/MQ2kvsX.jpg Looks like math, eh? I'm not even going to try to explain what's going on in that, but it's a puzzle game based on pure logic (the bits that look like math are generated by the game and serve a different purpose, as data for the player to consider). The game can get *really* difficult and complicated as all hell. There's alot more games out there than people (often parents) might think. Only some games are those bloody shooters and whatnot. Many, many others are way more than that simple idea, it's just that you dont HEAR about them as much. They dont have massive advertising budgets and dont make headlines for any reason.
So there, that's some explanation. A bit long, but maybe it'll help for some understanding. Possibly.
09 Jul 2016, 5:47 am
Besides Nintendo games, I love Monster Hunter, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Street Fighter, among many other franchises.
