Play Life and Live Games
- Thread starter Archon
- Start date
Finding an equilibrium between making as many posts as possible, whilst trying to make them relevant and inoffensive seems easy to me, but is something that not many people seem to be able to master. I mean, if someone makes a thread about the strengths and flaws of, say, Final Fantasy VII, just to pick a random game, do you really need to make a post that says "I haven't played it so I dunno"? Or post "I don't really care about this" in the comments of a news article? You'd think it would be a no-brainer, but it really happens a lot. Granted this may be because the forum is awash with new users everyday, each one without much regard for the rules and interested only in "upping the score" on their post count, but I still see users with over 1000 posts being put on probation or suspended every day.
I love the idea of adding the competetive "catch 'em all" component to the forum, and it does encourage people to give their opinions and explore all the content on the site. But, let's face it, we're all gamers. Some of us play by the rules and some of us cheat. Or, at least, tempt fate by taking the dangerous route that gives you the most bonus points. I for one am less of a risk taker, and prefer not to make a post unless I think it really actually adds something the conversation. That's not to say I don't love the competetive edge of it all. Just seeing the "New Badge" message sitting in my mailbox makes my heart jump a little, even if all I did to get it was watch a few videos.
I like how you managed to take gaming to it's logical conclusion: life. Gaming isn't just a pastime, it's a lifestyle. Literally. This is a social world in which we live, and isn't making friends all just a game anyway? If I make a good joke, I get X points on my friendship meter. Whoops, apparently this NPC isn't a fan of toilet humour. I'd better not choose the one about the ferret and the canterloupe next time. It's all about points and goals. Fun is a factor that varies.
On a related topic: WOOOOO NEW BADGE!!
I love the idea of adding the competetive "catch 'em all" component to the forum, and it does encourage people to give their opinions and explore all the content on the site. But, let's face it, we're all gamers. Some of us play by the rules and some of us cheat. Or, at least, tempt fate by taking the dangerous route that gives you the most bonus points. I for one am less of a risk taker, and prefer not to make a post unless I think it really actually adds something the conversation. That's not to say I don't love the competetive edge of it all. Just seeing the "New Badge" message sitting in my mailbox makes my heart jump a little, even if all I did to get it was watch a few videos.
I like how you managed to take gaming to it's logical conclusion: life. Gaming isn't just a pastime, it's a lifestyle. Literally. This is a social world in which we live, and isn't making friends all just a game anyway? If I make a good joke, I get X points on my friendship meter. Whoops, apparently this NPC isn't a fan of toilet humour. I'd better not choose the one about the ferret and the canterloupe next time. It's all about points and goals. Fun is a factor that varies.
On a related topic: WOOOOO NEW BADGE!!
There is a lot of truth in that article. I may have found this site initially through Zero Punctuation, but the main reason I read it most days as my primary source of gaming news is for (well, the interesting content, of course, but...) the prospect of earning badges. *polishes new quiz badge*
I'm totally a sucker for any sort of reward system, especially if it's for something I already enjoy doing anyway. This can of course lead to some serious time wasting though... Some times it pains me how many hours I've put into my WoW achievement score... >.<
I'm totally a sucker for any sort of reward system, especially if it's for something I already enjoy doing anyway. This can of course lead to some serious time wasting though... Some times it pains me how many hours I've put into my WoW achievement score... >.<
I agree that The Escapist is a game due to the titles and post counters.
The badges are our acheivments. And thanks for the shiny new badge as well.
*rubs badge, badge sparkles*
The badges are our acheivments. And thanks for the shiny new badge as well.
*rubs badge, badge sparkles*
Good motto.
Thanks for the Badge XD
The funny thing is, I enjoyed reading that article more because I got a badge for it. What we really need is job based achievements - "Congratulations, you filed 100 reports!" Then you could go to a job interview and just show them that you got the "Overtime" achievement.
Games either with achievement or without have always had a 'work-reward' mentality with it's demographic. The article sort of alerted me to something that was quite obvious but I never really paid that much attention to; the Escapist is a massive game. There is a competitive streak that spews out from somewhere, be it recognition, quotability, post count or number of badges, it's all a game.
Very good!.
Thanks for the badge by the by!.
Very good!.
Thanks for the badge by the by!.
The cult of Ubermensch is growing by the minute! Quick, get that anthem written!Archon said:What fires me up is that everyone who got the badge is putting it in their profile!
Gamers, gamers, uber alles.... should definitely be a song.
Nice article. I hope we get to read some more stuff from you in the future.
You know, I don't really read the Escapist because it's part of some forum "game"; I just read the articles because I like the articles
That said, though, I'm obviously not adverse to playing the "game" if I don't have to do anything differently. There was a definite moment of "WANT" at the end of the article.
That said, though, I'm obviously not adverse to playing the "game" if I don't have to do anything differently. There was a definite moment of "WANT" at the end of the article.
I dig this article. Esp. the part about social networking (which ironically I posted to my Facebook page).
I had stumbled across The Escapist a few months before I became a member, but now I've noticed/earned the badges and whatnot, I have to ask myself, "Do I go back and re-watch all the Zero Punctuation reviews and Unskippable videos? Re-read all the weekly articles and Stolen Pixels so I can earn a badge for it this time?" It's tempting, but I don't want to fall into the same trap several of my friends have on the Xbox 360, play the games for the achievement points and not to actually enjoy the game.
I had stumbled across The Escapist a few months before I became a member, but now I've noticed/earned the badges and whatnot, I have to ask myself, "Do I go back and re-watch all the Zero Punctuation reviews and Unskippable videos? Re-read all the weekly articles and Stolen Pixels so I can earn a badge for it this time?" It's tempting, but I don't want to fall into the same trap several of my friends have on the Xbox 360, play the games for the achievement points and not to actually enjoy the game.
It´s this kind of gaming ideology that I really like about this site. Gaming is everywhere. If it isn´t already intentionally implemented into the medium at hand, we create it. By drawing a set of arbitrary rules, within which you then maneuver, and a specific goal, you can make a game out of practically everything, if only for laughs. There´s a peculiar kind of playfulness inherent in all of us, even if we don´t always realize it. In a way gamers are people who actively "play out" this tendency to playing.
I may be stretching it a bit, but it´s still an interesting article (with a shiny on top).
I may be stretching it a bit, but it´s still an interesting article (with a shiny on top).
Do you think it would be acceptable just to rip off the Dead Kennedys' song of a similar name [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quLqEu4mUOU]?randommaster said:
Very interesting idea you have come up with here, Archon. I've thought about gaming being a form of competition, but I never really thought that about The Escapist.
There was a thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.149214] a while back in Gaming Discussion which asked about what you thought the medium of gaming was. Whilst I did explain in that that gaming was a form of competition where the overall goal was to win, I never really thought about badges and post counts on this site as a form of competition. Bit ironic when you consider the fact that I'm an admin of a certain usergroup [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Escapist-Badge-Hunters] dedicated to what you would classify as competition and a goal in the game of The Escapist. But that's probably because I'm not that competative a person nowadays when it comes down to it.
I guess I've never viewed sites like this as being a competative medium where people compete to have the highest post count or the most badges (but then again, I was a post count whore when I first joined and was annoyed to see other people having more posts than me) as that didn't really seem to have much affect or achievement compared to other stuff I could've chosen to spend my time doing. But then again, I guess the same could be said for gaming, so you would still have a point there.
But, if gaming would basically mean anything competitve (as I'm assuming you're meaning gaming is by definition from the article), I'm guessing life itself would count as gaming. After all, life is a constant competition for being the best and having the best. Even before we went all materialistic (not saying that that is a bad thing) we were in constangt survival of the fittest, a competition still.
I guess you have just given away the meaning to your other slogan as well, accidentally: 'Play life, live games.'
Oh, and since I'm a hunter: Wooh, free badge!
That's called a promotion.Hamster at Dawn said: