Gamers Intuition, or just plain Experience?

[Toner]

Alright, I think a past scenario is required to explain this rather unorthodox one Ladies & Gents...

A few years ago I was at home watching my father play a new PC game he had bought. Now this game was brand new at the time, and he was playing away at the start of the game. While watching however, I couldn't help but point out things I had noticed, continually. Where I thought enemies would pop up, which direction to go next, what to do in this situation, why X didn't work against Y, etcetera. He wasn't particularly bad at it, I was just picking up things that he didn't quite perceive.

Of course this could be from merely being experienced at such games, and guessing what the next logical thing in that game should be. But I always had the slight feeling that I didn't know why I had spotted all those things that others had missed in a game. Whether this is due to the fact that I had played a huge variety of games up to that point and could guess, or whether I instinctively picked up what would be most likely to happen, I honestly don't know.

The question is whether you think that some gamers do have a rather 'instinctive perception' in situations like this that others lack, or do you think it's all just experience and guess-work, such as thinking what a developer would do in this situation?

 

[The Shade]

Remind me to call on you when the Artificial Intelligences start taking over.

 

[Spectre39]

I'm going with experience. Players that have played for a while and played a variety of games tend to notice patterns that developers seem to repeat. Can't think of any examples right now. Games can deviate from each other, but to present us with something we haven't seen or done before is quite a challenge to developers these days.

 

[Datalord]

Dude, you just need to free your mind from the matrix

 

[Esdras]

experience, I notice thesame thingwhenever I watch someone play a game who plays less games than I do.

 

[fluffylandmine]

In any game I can pick out good upgrades, bad upgrades, easy enemies, hard enemies, and the what not. Lesser experienced friends of mine can really do minor things ,but not to the degree an 8 hour gaming session can get you.

 

[kapzer]

Actually I find this is common for everyone, even people who aren't gamers. People have noticed things while I'm playing, and I've been gaming, including a little professional stuff for 11 years. When you're immersed in a game and are concentrating, you are quite picky about what you pay attention to, and others that aren't concentrating will notice things you don't.

 

[.Ricks.]

It's a kind of, mastery through repetition, having played countless games and having seen nearly as many times the "door behind the breakable object leading to shiny room" you start to get used to seeing prop X,Y or Z that does the same function as the ones from previous games only it looks diferent. Still it really confuses me when someone picks up a controller and has to look at it everytime a non-face-button pops up on screen, it just all seems so natural by now...

 

[PsyberGoth]

It's totally experience. When the (insert apocalyptic horde, be it robots, zombies, ninjas) rise, gamers and the military are going to be the planets best and last hope.

 

[mhitman]

Experience i think, if you play long enough you'll probly figure out at what moments a dev will want to set a monster on you or somethin

 

[almo]

I'm going with experience. Players that have played for a while and played a variety of games tend to notice patterns that developers seem to repeat. Can't think of any examples right now. Games can deviate from each other, but to present us with something we haven't seen or done before is quite a challenge to developers these days.

How many platformers hide stuff behind you at the start of a level.

You drop down and you can go happily the direction suggested. Or you can turn around, and sure enough, there are goodies there.

 

[Erana]

Experience.
?Shows how unoriginal games are....

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

EXP! you know what to do with a shotgun...guess what water magic does to a fire monster in an RPG? stationary turrets are likely to not run out of ammo...stuff like that...you know all of these things because you've seen it before in some fashion

 

[Shellsh0cker]

Games have their own tropes, as does every other medium. Room full of health and ammo? Stock up, boss battle around the next corner. Monsters ingesting money and ammo? Of course, it's perfectly natural. Nobody cares that you break their shit and take their cash? Why would they? You get the idea. We, as gamers, have grown accustomed to this kind of stuff.

There's also the simple fact that four eyes are better than two; a person watching over your shoulder will often notice things that you don't, especially if you're too occupied killing everything that moves.

What was the game, out of curiosity?

 

[insectoid]

Definitely experience, happens with me too. Can't think of any examples though...

It's a kind of, mastery through repetition, having played countless games and having seen nearly as many times the "door behind the breakable object leading to shiny room" you start to get used to seeing prop X,Y or Z that does the same function as the ones from previous games only it looks diferent. Still it really confuses me when someone picks up a controller and has to look at it everytime a non-face-button pops up on screen, it just all seems so natural by now...

I start thinking there's something wrong with a person when you go "No, press the right bumper to cast a spell", and they look at me quizzically going "What's the right bumper?" It's just natural for me, perhaps that's a bad thing...

 

[Apocalypse Tank]

You play from the very first Final Fantasy (ANYTHING but final) up until the most recent (XXXVIIII, you get the idea) one. Now, as logic implies, you should be pretty good at it. How can you deny that it is solely the experience? If it was your dad and you in a paintball match or say, a fencing duel, then it could be that your invested gaming skills paid off.

Anything within the gaming medium benefits from gaming experience.

 

[742]

a little of both. but im going to go mostly with experience (not just with games, but with other stuff, like movies and books and the like-YES IM SURE THAT THE "armored figure" IS THE VILLIAN! JUST LISTEN TO HIM TALK!)

 

[meatloaf231]

I'd say experience. Gamers can pick out things such as likely spots for an ambush to be hiding, find secret areas, know when bosses or save points are soon, etc. It's just like art appraisal. People who know art very well can easily say what's good, what's not so good, and what's worth the most.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Experience. Look play Painkiller and you'll know what I mean. Oooh look stairs, maybe there's a secret under there! And sure enough, a holy relic. Now back to Hellgate: London, hmm a small room that doesn't lead anywhere, could there be a treasure chest? OH MY GOD IT"S RIGHT THERE!