The Virtual Gamer

[Craig234]

I've been a gamer since, well, the first computer games (Zork on a DEC?)

I own literally hundreds of PC games. Anyway:

I noticed one day that I spent the day:

- Reading online game reviews
- Reading online game message boards
- Reading some of the four gaming magazines I subscribe to
- Reading PC gaming hardware info
- Shopping for yet more games and components in several sales ads

Finally, later in the day, it was time to play a game, and I didn't really feel like it. I had enjoyed all the preparations, the other things, but as I clicked away in an old RPG - bleh.

I realized - wow, I seem to enjoy the 'meta' level of gaming rather than the actual playing of the games now!

Can you actually have a gaming hobby where you don't play the games, you simply know the best gaming components, the best games to play?

Why is it so satisfying to read about dozens of games you don't have time to play?

I just thought I'd post this as an unusual point of view on the hobby, and to see if others get a chuckle if they see any similarities.

And I do play games, too.

 

[jjzelinski]

You know I've been noticing the same thing about myself lately. Part of it is that as I grow older my life becomes more complicated and my responsibilities become greater job, raising a family, education, etc.) so I don't have the time to "commit" to a game. When you get right down to it, gaming requires ALOT of commitment. One thing that's common among all the activities you mentioned is that none of them require any degree of commitment, and that's the key I think (at least for my own situation.)

Another aspect might be that since guys like you and I have played hundreds of games throughout most of our lives, perhaps we're a little underwhelmed by new products that really don't offer anything truly new.

I also like tinkering. Messing around with parts, organizing the OS, planning builds, seeking information about new technologies, reading testimonials of others engaged in the same process, that's all cathartic for me. Some people like chewing on sports stats, I like the equivalent of this hobby; technology/PC stats.

Yeah, long story short I can totally relate to you.

 

[DaveSimmons]

It's been years since college for me, and I now have more money than free time. I have time to read about dozens of games that look like fun, but much less time to actually play any of them.

I do buy some, only for half of them to end up gathering dust on my unplayed games shelf. I still enjoy the few that I find time to play though.

 

[Hanky]

Amazing, I've always thought I'm alone with this kind of behavior, which I actually consider to be quite unhealthy and unproductive (spending my spare free time reading about games which I'm not gonna have time to play anyway instead of reading/doing something useful).

Anyway, I think jjzelinski nailed it with his comment on commitment. In my opinion current games tend to become more and more complex in terms of control schemes and things like that without offering any true innovation. Such games become boring for me within seconds. I simply can't commit. There are only a few games I really still like to play and they're usually innovative AND easily accessible, which is why I'm actually enjoying brain training on my Nintendo DS Lite and a couple of Indie games which very often offer more fresh ideas than big corp games. I also loved Fahrenheit (or "Indigo Prophecy" in the US) which was also a breath of fresh air.

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

It's not quite the same, but back when I was home schooled, I had all the time in the world to play any game I want or read anything I want on the internet. Now that I'm in school again, I really have to pick and choose which games I play. Hell, with my dumbass Mom always telling to do crap that she can do herself, it's really hard to sit down and play a game, even on the weekends.

 

[jjzelinski]

Originally posted by: GundamSonicZeroX
It's not quite the same, but back when I was home schooled, I had all the time in the world to play any game I want or read anything I want on the internet. Now that I'm in school again, I really have to pick and choose which games I play. Hell, with my dumbass Mom always telling to do crap that she can do herself, it's really hard to sit down and play a game, even on the weekends.

You're probably going to cringe about that comment here in 5-10 years or so...

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Originally posted by: jjzelinski

Originally posted by: GundamSonicZeroX
It's not quite the same, but back when I was home schooled, I had all the time in the world to play any game I want or read anything I want on the internet. Now that I'm in school again, I really have to pick and choose which games I play. Hell, with my dumbass Mom always telling to do crap that she can do herself, it's really hard to sit down and play a game, even on the weekends.

You're probably going to cringe about that comment here in 5-10 years or so...

Hopefully, not. I'll [hopefully] be able to manage my time better when I move out and get a job that doesn't involve me getting up at FIVE IN THE MORNING!!!!!