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IMPress Polly
07-19-2015, 01:04 PM
While I was searching through some more back episodes of PBS Game/Show recently, I ran across one I found pretty interesting that discusses what your favorite game genre says about you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqSJGDUyf1I

I think there's a lot of truth here! I definitely think our gaming habits mirror our real-world personalities! One illustration of this for me is that I don't think I'm as genre-biased as most gamers and I'd say I have a little bit of most all of those qualities he discussed. However, while I can appreciate games of about every type, I can also identify some traits that tend to find stronger expression in terms of my gaming interests. Using the trait descriptions Jamin provides in the video, I would describe myself primarily as a storyteller and secondarily as a high-fidelity gamer. Although I enjoy lots of games from lots of different genres, it's no coincidence that games heavy on emotional storytelling more often than not wind up being my favorites for any given year. "So why not just watch a movie?", some people ask when they hear that. Well I DO watch a lot of movies! I'm moderately a cinephile. However, there's an important additional layer of immersion that games can offer that films cannot and that's interactivity. That's where the high-fidelity thing kicks in for me: I really enjoy FEELING the experience that a game has to offer using all my senses, not just my eyes and ears. You can't do that with movies. An artistic medium has to be participatory in order to utilize all the senses and thus maximize the level of immersion one can experience, I find!

There's also one quality Jamin mentions that I definitely don't naturally have at all and that's an interest in exploring. My friend Matt LOVES exploring both in real life and in games. I don't naturally get anything out of either experience but frustration. I rarely travel and have been out of the country only once, I'm terrible with directions and need GPS badly on the road to proverbially guide me by the hand, I never look for shortcuts if I already know a way that will get me to my destination for sure, and likewise I tend to get lost in open-world games (and I don't mean in a romantic sense) and just find no fun in wondering around aimlessly in a giant proverbial sandbox anyway. I tend to prefer that games be just about as linear as they can possibly be. I also find that linearity often enhances the quality of storytelling that a game can pull off. However, there are a growing number of exceptions to that rule because a growing number of open-world adventure games are being made that eliminate all casual distractions like combat, puzzles, and assorted mini-games, thus leaving the player with nothing to explore but the game's story...which gives me a real reason to scour long and hard! That's important for me because I don't get any intrinsic value out of exploring; there needs to be a good reason for me to do so for me to feel driven to do so. Some of the exploration-based adventures of the sort I'm describing include the likes of Gone Home and a pair of indy games due out later this year: Beyond Eyes and Firewatch. Just as examples of what I mean.

To judge by what sells the best, I think most gamers are what Jamin calls challengers, social butterflies, and submissive players. I am all those things to some degree, but none is a dominant quality for yours truly.

Well anyway, do you think what Jamin's saying about our gaming habits reflecting our real-world personality is true? (I do!) If so, what type of gamer are you?

Common
07-19-2015, 01:19 PM
For many years, I was a PC fps gamer. I played all through the early games. Duke Nukem etc. I started playing Wolfenstein, then doom then quake and I played through all 4 quakes till the game came to an end. Then I played Enemy Territory for awhile then I went to World of Warcraft at the end of 2005

Private Pickle
07-19-2015, 01:27 PM
My Dad started me out with the first computers and the first computers games. He is still a big gamer at 76 and plays things like Eve.

Personally I'm all over the map. I alpha'd WoW for a year and beta'd it for a year and played it for about 6 years after release. I played the original Star Wars MMO and SWOTR. I played Everquest, Marvel Heroes 2015, and a few other MMOs. Started those from playing the original World Crafts and Diablos.

Also a big 1st person shooter. Started out with Doom, Duke Nukem, Quake, Counter Strike (and all the variants), Call of Duty (all variants), Battlefield (all variants). Dozens upon dozens of others.

Also love the Strategy Games: Really started out with board games like Axis and Allies and of course Risk. Translated into the Total War series (all of them), Civilization (all variants), This War of Mine, some of the Simulation games (Sim City, Tropico). And dozens of others.

Play a few story mode games: GTA V online, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Hitman, and multiple others.

Also was a big console gamer growing up and before the PC took over (in my opinion). Lots of Nintendo.

Played just about everything.

Mister D
07-19-2015, 01:50 PM
I always loved historical simulations. Europa Universalis and Take Command were the two best, IMO.

Private Pickle
07-19-2015, 01:51 PM
I always loved historical simulations. Europa Universalis and Take Command were the two best, IMO.

Have you checked out the Total War series?

Mister D
07-19-2015, 02:06 PM
Have you checked out the Total War series?

Yeah, I played a lot of the Medieval and Roman versions. They were fun but the action was a little too arcade like.

Peter1469
07-19-2015, 02:07 PM
I like Total War. On an older system I did the modifications for Total War Total Realism. That was cool.

Mister D
07-19-2015, 02:07 PM
I like Total War. On an older system I did the modifications for Total War Total Realism. That was cool.

Never tried that.

Private Pickle
07-19-2015, 02:10 PM
Yeah, I played a lot of the Medieval and Roman versions. They were fun but the action was a little too arcade like.

Did you play the later releases?

They recreate actual historical battles and the attention to detail is pretty impressive.

Mister D
07-19-2015, 02:13 PM
Did you play the later releases?

They recreate actual historical battles and the attention to detail is pretty impressive.

I think they all did that. I remember the first version of Medieval Total War had Hastings.

Like I said, it's a fun game but ancient and medieval armies just didn't move like that. Getting flanked didn't really mean much in the game because you could do a 180 at will.

Private Pickle
07-19-2015, 02:15 PM
I think they all did that. I remember the first version of Medieval Total War had Hastings.

Like I said, it's a fun game but ancient and medieval armies just didn't move like that. Getting flanked didn't really mean much in the game because you could do a 180 at will.

Yeah. The later releases fixed that. In the Shogun II release they even included feints pulling your troops to flanks they really aren't attacking. It's much better. Throw in the naval warfare and it has really gotten good.

Mister D
07-19-2015, 02:17 PM
Yeah. The later releases fixed that. In the Shogun II release they even included feints pulling your troops to flanks they really aren't attacking. It's much better. Throw in the naval warfare and it has really gotten good.

I was thinking about playing games again.

Private Pickle
07-19-2015, 02:18 PM
I was thinking about playing games again.

I think my favorite is Empire: Total War but I also love Total War: Rome II

Give those a looksy.

IMPress Polly
07-19-2015, 02:24 PM
Hmm...it sounds to me like most of you are probably mainly what Jamin called challengers in the OP video: very competitive people in general who primarily look for a stiff challenge to overcome when playing video games. Or at least that's what it sounds like to me anyway. Would you (any others who have responded thus far) say that that sounds accurate?

Well anyway, since so many people are citing first-person shooters as their favorite genre, I thought I'd provide a list of some of my favorite FPS games spanning the years. Generally from oldest to newest...

-GoldenEye 007
-Perfect Dark (both console installments)
-Red Faction (first three installments)
-Metroid Prime (all installments)
-Time Splitters 2
-BioShock (all installments, but with a preference for BioShock Infinite)
-Borderlands (all installments)

As you can gather, my storyteller instincts are still in play here, as I tend to prefer the more story-heavy shooting games (and yeah, often ones that come off to me as "left wing"). I could never get into franchises like Doom, Duke Nukem, Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc.

Common
07-19-2015, 02:26 PM
I always loved historical simulations. Europa Universalis and Take Command were the two best, IMO.

You dont strike me as a gamer at all, I must admit im a little surprised :)

Private Pickle
07-19-2015, 02:29 PM
Hmm...it sounds to me like most of you are probably mainly what Jamin called challengers in the OP video: very competitive people in general who primarily look for a stiff challenge to overcome when playing video games. Or at least that's what it sounds like to me anyway. Would you (any others who have responded thus far) say that that sounds accurate?

Well anyway, since so many people are citing first-person shooters as their favorite genre, I thought I'd provide a list of some of my favorite FPS games spanning the years. Generally from oldest to newest...

-GoldenEye 007
-Perfect Dark (all installments)
-Red Faction (first three installments)
-Metroid Prime (all installments)
-Time Splitters 2
-BioShock (all installments, but with a preference for BioShock Infinite)
-Borderlands (all installments)

As you can gather, my storyteller instincts are still in play here, as I tend to prefer the more story-driven shooting games (and yeah, often ones that come off to me as "left wing")...though honestly shooters are not my favorite genre. Shooting stuff has its intellectual limits and gets old fast for me.

I'd say that's pretty accurate. I will play a game until I have mastered it and then I lose interest.

The only FPS I've played on your list is Borderlands and I didn't play it for long. There are other ones I've played that are more story-based that I've played.

Half-life, the Call of Duties and the Metals of Honors are all story-based. Homefront is a good one.

Mister D
07-19-2015, 02:34 PM
I think my favorite is Empire: Total War but I also love Total War: Rome II

Give those a looksy.

Will do.

I can't believe they never made another version of Take Command: Second Manassas. I'd consider getting a new PC just for that. Best 19th Century tactical sim EVER. Check it out on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IJ9w2KgYFQ

Mister D
07-19-2015, 02:35 PM
You dont strike me as a gamer at all, I must admit im a little surprised :)

There a few games I played all night. I'd rush home from work crack a beer and start playing. Yeah, super nerdy but I love historical simulations. They appeal to my love for history.

IMPress Polly
07-19-2015, 02:38 PM
Private Pickle wrote:
I'd say that's pretty accurate. I will play a game until I have mastered it and then I lose interest.

The only FPS I've played on your list is Borderlands and I didn't play it for long. There are other ones I've played that are more story-based that I've played.

Half-life, the Call of Duties and the Metals of Honors are all story-based. Homefront is a good one.

I have a few of the Call of Duty games (including the most recent: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare), but in general their stories are pathetic, by which I mean not even coherent let alone moving. Like in Advanced Warfare, for example, there's this scene toward the beginning of the game where you're participating in an invasion of North Korea (naturally :rollseyes:) and you meet this soldier who is killed a matter of seconds after you first see him. The next scene has you attending his funeral, wherein your only option for progressing further in the game is to "Press [button] to pay respects". Wow. I feel moved. :laugh: I mean seriously: I just met the guy 20 seconds ago and I'm supposed to feel emotionally jarred by the loss. THAT's the kind of storytelling the Call of Duty franchise offers. There is absolutely no comparison between that and the likes of say what BioShock Infinite has to offer. That's the thing of it for me.

When I list earlier games like GoldenEye 007 and the Metroid Prime games, I mean that they were more story-heavy than other FPS's of their time. Relative to the likes of the Borderlands and BioShock franchises, even those have nothing to offer in the way interesting narrative.

Now Half-Life is a much-acclaimed franchise that I haven't yet tried out though and which I might just have to upon your recommendation though. If I may ask, what kind of stories are involved therein?

Common
07-19-2015, 03:30 PM
There a few games I played all night. I'd rush home from work crack a beer and start playing. Yeah, super nerdy but I love historical simulations. They appeal to my love for history.

Ive even taken a vacation day because i stayed up all night gaming. My wife shook her head and said "GROW UP" Lieutenant, sigh, only Polly understands me :(

The Xl
07-19-2015, 03:48 PM
I'm a fan of many different genres. Some of my favorite games are all over the place. JRPGs(FF series, Xenogears, Suikoden series, etc) strategy games(Romance of the three kingdom series, Civilization series) Fighting games(Street Fighter, DBZ Budokai series and beyond) sports sims(NBA 2k series, EA UFC, etc) tactical RPGs(Fire Emblem series) and even unique games that I wouldn't know to classify(Phoenix Wright series)

So, I don't know where all of that would put me.

IMPress Polly
07-19-2015, 04:20 PM
Common wrote:
Ive even taken a vacation day because i stayed up all night gaming. My wife shook her head and said "GROW UP" Lieutenant, sigh, only Polly understands me :(

You have no idea how many times I've spent all day or all night gaming. For a year in middle school, that was actually my normal daily routine, and I mean to the point of it being literally an unhealthy addiction that I only broke by way of my parents forcing me into shaolin kempo (that was my choice of something more sociable to do; they made me pick something). I wound up liking it, so it worked out just fine and my life became a little more balanced. Still, even now there are days when I'll do little other than play video games for the whole day. I'm generally pretty busy in terms of scheduling anymore, but summer is when I get to really catch up and part of that defs means more hours playing games. So yeah, I certainly understand!


The Xl wrote:
I'm a fan of many different genres. Some of my favorite games are all over the place. JRPGs(FF series, Xenogears, Suikoden series, etc) strategy games(Romance of the three kingdom series, Civilization series) Fighting games(Street Fighter, DBZ Budokai series and beyond) sports sims(NBA 2k series, EA UFC, etc) tactical RPGs(Fire Emblem series) and even unique games that I wouldn't know to classify(Phoenix Wright series)

So, I don't know where all of that would put me.

Probably means you're a more balanced person in general than the rest of us. :tongue:

I too have at least a casual interest in just about every genre, but I think you've got more nuance and balance than I do, as ultimately I have some general leanings. They're not necessarily defined by game play genre, but if we use the OP video's alternate definition of game genres, then I have preferences: storytelling and high-fidelity are my two overall favorites. Including digital distribution titles, I typically get somewhere between 25 and 45 games a year, but the games that I wind up ranking as my favorites almost invariably seem to have strong storytelling elements and/or very rich atmosphere pretty consistently and no other factor seems as consistent therein.

Like let's take my favorite games of this year so far. Life is Strange is my favorite game from this year so far and that is mainly for it's interesting, introspective storyline and well-developed characters and the fact that the play mechanics are a good match for the type of story the game seeks to tell (so far; it's episodic and incomplete). Only a little further down the list we have games like Crypt of the Necro Dancer, which doesn't really have a story to speak of, but still qualifies under the high-fidelity category in that it's very involving (I use a dance pad :grin:), atmospheric, and original, as it's a rhythm-based dungeon-crawler with one of the best soundtracks in gaming history! Once you get out of the top six or seven games though, it starts to get into titles that I only like casually and those are different types of games for the most part.

Mister D
07-19-2015, 06:21 PM
Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Battle was a great sim too. Peter1469 may appreciate this. It's one thing to read about it but it was in playing this particular game that I came to a better understanding of Napoleonic tactics. It made the dos and don'ts much more clear.

GrassrootsConservative
07-19-2015, 06:36 PM
I prefer games I can beat in different and creative ways for unlimited replay value. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are the best examples of this. I remember right after I beat fallout 3 as an evil thief that used mainly silent melee weapons (like the shishkebab) and small guns I played through again as a justice-seeking big-guns and explosives character.

The first idea was a lot better. Big guns and explosives tend to splash innocent people and earn negative karma. Oh well. What were you doing standing next to a group of flesh-eating ghouls for anyway, stupid?

I've been thinking of playing Fallout again. I do believe there is still more I haven't done. Like an unarmed character or maybe just see how low level I can take down a super mutant behemoth.

IMPress Polly
07-19-2015, 06:57 PM
You sound a lot like my friend Matt in terms of game preferences, which tells me that you might be something of an explorer type of person, to use the characterizations in the OP video.

Archer0915
07-19-2015, 07:27 PM
While I was searching through some more back episodes of PBS Game/Show recently, I ran across one I found pretty interesting that discusses what your favorite game genre says about you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqSJGDUyf1I

I think there's a lot of truth here! I definitely think our gaming habits mirror our real-world personalities! One illustration of this for me is that I don't think I'm as genre-biased as most gamers and I'd say I have a little bit of most all of those qualities he discussed. However, while I can appreciate games of about every type, I can also identify some traits that tend to find stronger expression in terms of my gaming interests. Using the trait descriptions Jamin provides in the video, I would describe myself primarily as a storyteller and secondarily as a high-fidelity gamer. Although I enjoy lots of games from lots of different genres, it's no coincidence that games heavy on emotional storytelling more often than not wind up being my favorites for any given year. "So why not just watch a movie?", some people ask when they hear that. Well I DO watch a lot of movies! I'm moderately a cinephile. However, there's an important additional layer of immersion that games can offer that films cannot and that's interactivity. That's where the high-fidelity thing kicks in for me: I really enjoy FEELING the experience that a game has to offer using all my senses, not just my eyes and ears. You can't do that with movies. An artistic medium has to be participatory in order to utilize all the senses and thus maximize the level of immersion one can experience, I find!

There's also one quality Jamin mentions that I definitely don't naturally have at all and that's an interest in exploring. My friend Matt LOVES exploring both in real life and in games. I don't naturally get anything out of either experience but frustration. I rarely travel and have been out of the country only once, I'm terrible with directions and need GPS badly on the road to proverbially guide me by the hand, I never look for shortcuts if I already know a way that will get me to my destination for sure, and likewise I tend to get lost in open-world games (and I don't mean in a romantic sense) and just find no fun in wondering around aimlessly in a giant proverbial sandbox anyway. I tend to prefer that games be just about as linear as they can possibly be. I also find that linearity often enhances the quality of storytelling that a game can pull off. However, there are a growing number of exceptions to that rule because a growing number of open-world adventure games are being made that eliminate all casual distractions like combat, puzzles, and assorted mini-games, thus leaving the player with nothing to explore but the game's story...which gives me a real reason to scour long and hard! That's important for me because I don't get any intrinsic value out of exploring; there needs to be a good reason for me to do so for me to feel driven to do so. Some of the exploration-based adventures of the sort I'm describing include the likes of Gone Home and a pair of indy games due out later this year: Beyond Eyes and Firewatch. Just as examples of what I mean.

To judge by what sells the best, I think most gamers are what Jamin calls challengers, social butterflies, and submissive players. I am all those things to some degree, but none is a dominant quality for yours truly.

Well anyway, do you think what Jamin's saying about our gaming habits reflecting our real-world personality is true? (I do!) If so, what type of gamer are you?

Flight sims (not good ones in years), RTS and some networked games with the kids (many types). I have a couple of networks in the house. Ine is wireless for general web and streaming and the other is for the security system and gaming (Mostly wired). It really helps.

Cthulhu
07-20-2015, 05:01 AM
Big fan of RTS start and turn based start games. Enjoy board games of similar types.

Certain racing games do the trick for me. Street Fighter and Tekken have caused much conflict and enjoyment...often simultaneously.

And FFVII is probably the only role playing game on console I'll touch, bit only because the story is just that epic.

Soul Reaver is another awesome story. Just too cool, and has possibly the best voice acting I've ever seen in a game.

And then of course table top rpgs where you busy out the pen, paper, cart of books, keg of something carbonated and caffeinated, and a satchel of dice. And then proceed to stink up a basement for a weekend.

Private Pickle
07-21-2015, 02:40 PM
I have a few of the Call of Duty games (including the most recent: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare), but in general their stories are pathetic, by which I mean not even coherent let alone moving. Like in Advanced Warfare, for example, there's this scene toward the beginning of the game where you're participating in an invasion of North Korea (naturally :rollseyes:) and you meet this soldier who is killed a matter of seconds after you first see him. The next scene has you attending his funeral, wherein your only option for progressing further in the game is to "Press [button] to pay respects". Wow. I feel moved. :laugh: I mean seriously: I just met the guy 20 seconds ago and I'm supposed to feel emotionally jarred by the loss. THAT's the kind of storytelling the Call of Duty franchise offers. There is absolutely no comparison between that and the likes of say what BioShock Infinite has to offer. That's the thing of it for me.

When I list earlier games like GoldenEye 007 and the Metroid Prime games, I mean that they were more story-heavy than other FPS's of their time. Relative to the likes of the Borderlands and BioShock franchises, even those have nothing to offer in the way interesting narrative.

Now Half-Life is a much-acclaimed franchise that I haven't yet tried out though and which I might just have to upon your recommendation though. If I may ask, what kind of stories are involved therein?

Ha! That is true. It gives just enough of the story kinda thing for guys like me who enjoy the story but also just want to blow shit up.

Have you played SWTOR? Despite it being an MMO, the single player is incredibly diverse that form and shape your character in multiple different ways.

IMPress Polly
07-22-2015, 05:50 AM
Private Pickle wrote:
Ha! That is true. It gives just enough of the story kinda thing for guys like me who enjoy the story but also just want to blow $#@! up.

To give you some idea of the kind of thing I look for in first-person shooters these days, here's what I consider the best one ever made to date:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSA9AsdBh00


Have you played SWTOR? Despite it being an MMO, the single player is incredibly diverse that form and shape your character in multiple different ways.

I haven't played The Old Republic yet, but the fact that it's a BioWare game makes it sound promising to me! Although not every title of their's is gold, they've made a lot of really innovative RPGs that I've enjoyed, from Mass Effect back in the day to Dragon Age: Inquisition last year.