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

[LordOrin]

"I play the game (, and then I learn it)."

This is what my room mate said as he played Mortal Kombat. I'm watching him and some friends play Mortal Kombat's campaign mode, and I suggested (after getting their asses handed to them quite a few times) that maybe they should go into training mode, get a second controller, and learn some new moves/combos instead of button mashing and spamming. But apparently, getting frustrated and using the same approach is their idea of "fun." They say they like to "learn in the heat of battle" but all they're really doing is learning a few attacks/combos and then using those few moves over and over and over...

This kind of narrow-minded thinking upsets me a little. It seems that they aren't playing the game... they're just winning (or losing, mostly); in other words, it's a competition and winning is all that matters. While I've come to expect that from anonymous people playing competitively online, it's kind of hard to deal with now that it's in my face. What's even scarier is that there's no ranking/scoreboard to spur these guys on.

What about you, Escapists? Do you feel that gamers in general, or even some of the gamers around you, have lost touch with "playing for fun" and adopting "playing to win"? What ever happened to playing for fun?

I'd argue that your roommates are "playing for fun" just as much as you are, if not more so. Its just that your idea of fun is to learn to play well, while theirs is to beat the crap out of each other. Both are admirable goals encouraged by the game, you just fall on opposite ends of a spectrum.

I also think that "I play the game (, and then I learn it)" is a good attitude since well designed games should teach their mechanics through the course of play rather than through tutorials or practice modes. If they don't feel it necessary to learn any new tricks, maybe they'll feel differently after you whup their asses a few more times.

 

[DaysBefore]

Yes, surely.

Don't believe me? Gamebattles. I think this conversation is over.

 

[Chromanin]

Combustible lemons.

I seriously don't get why this argument comes up so much. Why do I need to explain what is fun for me? I like pathing out star power in Guitar Hero on Expert. Others like to just play on Medium and hear the music. Who is anybody to say that either of us is not having fun?

 

[StormShaun]

I play to have fun too its just that also to play to win is also fun.

 

[StormShaun]

I play to have fun too its just that also to play to win is also fun.

 

[TacticalAssassin1]

Combustible lemons!

 

[-Samurai-]

I think that people often mistake "fun" for "winning" when it comes to multiplayer games.

That's why most multiplayer games boil down to cheap tactics and OP weapon/character spam. There seems to be this mentality of "if I aint winnin, it aint fun". Sure, winning can be fun, but so can losing, sometimes more-so than winning.

I bet the moment games drop leaderboards and stat tracking, we see in increase in underused characters and weapons, and a decrease in glitches, cheap tactics, and trash talking. Well, maybe not trash talking. Kids gotta be kids.

 

[Robert2812]

The problem is the audience.

The mainstream is full of awful remakes and no improvements on them with occasional veins of good games.

 

[chuckman1]

Yes and I think that keeping track of stats has a lot to do for it.
People can't play for fun they're to busy worrying about kd ration, wl ratio, leveling, etc.

 

[WorldCritic]

To me, it seems like I have the most fun with a game when I replay it. A lot of my friends on the other hand play only for achievements.

 

[Netrigan]

"I play the game (, and then I learn it)."

This is what my room mate said as he played Mortal Kombat. I'm watching him and some friends play Mortal Kombat's campaign mode, and I suggested (after getting their asses handed to them quite a few times) that maybe they should go into training mode, get a second controller, and learn some new moves/combos instead of button mashing and spamming. But apparently, getting frustrated and using the same approach is their idea of "fun." They say they like to "learn in the heat of battle" but all they're really doing is learning a few attacks/combos and then using those few moves over and over and over...

This kind of narrow-minded thinking upsets me a little. It seems that they aren't playing the game... they're just winning (or losing, mostly); in other words, it's a competition and winning is all that matters. While I've come to expect that from anonymous people playing competitively online, it's kind of hard to deal with now that it's in my face. What's even scarier is that there's no ranking/scoreboard to spur these guys on.

What about you, Escapists? Do you feel that gamers in general, or even some of the gamers around you, have lost touch with "playing for fun" and adopting "playing to win"? What ever happened to playing for fun?

Wait, let me get this straight... they're jumping in the game, having a blast, and you're annoyed that they're not doing their homework, working hard, and learning how to play the game properly.

What I suggested was a compromise between the pressure to win and the opportunity to learn. Please tell me how rejecting that without consideration is not closed-minded.

It's not so much close-mindedness as you're attempting to dictate your goals and desires onto a player who approaches games in a different manner. He has fun, you have fun... why is his fun not as good as your fun?

Might he have more fun if he attempts your way? Yeah, but based on your description, he's having tons of fun losing more often than he's winning. So, basically, your criticism of him is pretty much opposite of what he's doing. He doesn't care about winning (or else he'd be pissed he's losing all the time), he cares about having fun.

 

[TiefBlau]

Some people have.

I don't really call those people gamers.

I don't really call them at all.

 

[repeating integers]

Fun is the most subjective thing in the entire world, which is why this thread makes me sad.

Ever consider that the people playing to win are doing so because they see winning as fun? In other words, by playing to achieve victory, they are playing to achieve fun.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

My friend spams when he plays fighting games, and he seems to enjoy the game heavily.

 

[MrGalactus]

"I play the game (, and then I learn it)."

This is what my room mate said as he played Mortal Kombat. I'm watching him and some friends play Mortal Kombat's campaign mode, and I suggested (after getting their asses handed to them quite a few times) that maybe they should go into training mode, get a second controller, and learn some new moves/combos instead of button mashing and spamming. But apparently, getting frustrated and using the same approach is their idea of "fun." They say they like to "learn in the heat of battle" but all they're really doing is learning a few attacks/combos and then using those few moves over and over and over...

This kind of narrow-minded thinking upsets me a little. It seems that they aren't playing the game... they're just winning (or losing, mostly); in other words, it's a competition and winning is all that matters. While I've come to expect that from anonymous people playing competitively online, it's kind of hard to deal with now that it's in my face. What's even scarier is that there's no ranking/scoreboard to spur these guys on.?

How is this not playing for fun? They don't care about the winning, they just want to mash buttons and have a laugh, not be the greatest Mortal Kombat players ever.

 

[TheEndlessSleep]

But apparently, getting frustrated and using the same approach is their idea of "fun."

This kind of narrow-minded thinking upsets me a little. It seems that they aren't playing the game... they're just winning (or losing, mostly); in other words, it's a competition and winning is all that matters.

What I suggested was a compromise between the pressure to win and the opportunity to learn. Please tell me how rejecting that without consideration is not closed-minded.

Ahhhh beautiful beautiful hypocrisy

You're telling them that their way of having fun (playing to win, whether they do or not) is wrong, and THEY are the ones being narrow minded?

 

[bootz]

When I play a fighting game or dance central, I dont like to know the combos and controls. The fun of it is figuring out the combos. The holy crap what did I just do. That discovery is very fun and your learning the game.

The tutorials ruin the game. They just tell you hit < < B and win. Thats super boring for me. Oh wow I did what I was told gold star for me.

 

[MAUSZX]

I have a confession to make, I really really suck at fighting games. I play tutorial manage to do some powers but at the end of the day I'm always losing. Maybe they are as bad as I am. So maybe yo should try to understand that not everyone is good at some genres

Maybe they just wanted to pissed you off

 

[Deskimus Prime]

Why do we consider something no longer "fun" if we put in time and effort? Does memorizing combos or techniques or patterns somehow take away the fun from a game?

Not a perfect analogy, but do people who practice sports not have fun? You practice so you can get better so you can win more, but that doesn't stop you from having fun. Why should the same be true for games?

Sure you have people who are anal about mastering games, but that's a personality quirk. They'd probably be anal about mastering anything else, from sports to cooking to putting on their pants in the morning. As for the "winning=fun" people, you can't seriously deny that it isn't enjoyable to win. There's always times where it's infinitely funnier and more enjoyable to take a fall and goof around, but for the other 95% of the time, it's just nice to win. Good for the ol' self esteem and such.

People will always turn things into competitions, because that's human nature. It's the reason we aren't saber-toothed catfood.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

My idea of fun is going away, though...Bayonetta, etc.

Ok I'm curious - what do you mean by this?

The era of the hack-n-slash is ending, that's all.

God of War is gone, probably. They filled the gap between 1 & 2 on PSP, along with a prequel. That story is told.

Devil May Cry is in the hands of a developer who has yet to put forward a decent battle system.(Ninja Theory did the narratively excellent, combat poor Heavenly Sword and Enslaved games)

Dynasty Warriors is still around, though. It's usually solid fun, but really simplistic combat-wise.

Just curious, but what difficulty do you play on?

Normal...then Hard for most of them.

Didn't really develop any sort of "skill" at the genre until the current generation. >_>