Why Do We Play Games?

camO_ocamO_o Join Date: 2004-04-19 Member: 28028Members
<div class="IPBDescription">a game design article</div> i googled up something today:

<a href='http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Chapter2.html' target='_blank'>http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/g...k/Chapter2.html</a>

this is only chapter 2, and the only one i cared about, but the entire book is worth a read. honestly, i never even thought about most of these as i played starcraft or natural selection. it was simply a lot of fun. what do you think?

Comments

  • SkySky Join Date: 2004-04-23 Member: 28131Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->*insert thing about the lion cubs* Games are thus the most ancient and time-honored vehicle for education.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Meh...I guarantee most of us don't play games to learn. Take the best CS player and put him in a real covert ops situation, and he'd **** his pants.

    My reason for gaming is twofold: I play online games to meet new people and compare my skills to other gamers, and I play single player games to challenge myself, which I find fun as well.
  • MavericMaveric Join Date: 2002-08-07 Member: 1101Members
    edited June 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Another function of games is as a means of demonstrating prowess<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I hate this. I wish this never existed. G_G ego.

    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Good graphics, color, animation, and sound are all valued by game players<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    But are not needed to make a successful game. Imagination > Graphics. See Rogue.

    [I skimmed it, and it was moderately interesting... but the last few pages (4,5,6) were all technical stuff. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> ]
  • RecoupRecoup Join Date: 2004-04-25 Member: 28195Members
    I play games for enjoyment... purley enjoyment...
  • camO_ocamO_o Join Date: 2004-04-19 Member: 28028Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Recoup+Jun 18 2004, 09:03 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Recoup @ Jun 18 2004, 09:03 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I play games for enjoyment... purley enjoyment... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    here i was thinking you were playing games coz your parents made you do it. the article defines exactly what "enjoyment" and "fun" is, the complex web of emotions that make the game so desirable. as much as you might want to deny it, part of the reason you play multiplayer games is probably because you want to prove yourself better then the next player. i'm a pretty competitive person, so i do play games to learn to be better at games. i.e. playing quake 3 really helps players develop a sense of prediction, a skill most people don't quite excel at in ns.
  • panda_de_malheureuxpanda_de_malheureux Join Date: 2003-12-26 Member: 24775Members
    I, like many others, like seeing cool shiznit, and exploding shiznit too.
  • RecoupRecoup Join Date: 2004-04-25 Member: 28195Members
    as I said before, I simply play because its fun. If a competative feeling that I feel when playing Quake III is fun, then hell if I care, ITS FUN! Yes you require a sense of predictability in Quake III, example, knowing how to thwak a guy with a rocket launcher or rail gun when you are in mid air or he is in mid air or where he is landing or where he is straffing, etc...
  • SoulSkorpionSoulSkorpion Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 423Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Exercise

    Exercise is another common motivation to play games....<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    ...wait, what? "Exercise"?...

    Oh, wait. They must be talking about DDR.
  • BlobbyBlobby Join Date: 2004-06-11 Member: 29234Members
    For a more in depth good read: Trigger Happy by Steven Poole. He also writes monthy articles in Edge Magazine (the best gaming mag EVER).
  • camO_ocamO_o Join Date: 2004-04-19 Member: 28028Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-Recoup+Jun 18 2004, 10:48 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Recoup @ Jun 18 2004, 10:48 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> as I said before, I simply play because its fun. If a competative feeling that I feel when playing Quake III is fun, then hell if I care, ITS FUN! Yes you require a sense of predictability in Quake III, example, knowing how to thwak a guy with a rocket launcher or rail gun when you are in mid air or he is in mid air or where he is landing or where he is straffing, etc... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    when you play duels 1v1, the prediction gets thousands of times more complicated. ever watch fatal1ty rail someone as he jumps off a cliff and hasn't even seen yet? that's prediction my man :X
  • StakhanovStakhanov Join Date: 2003-03-12 Member: 14448Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-camO.o+Jun 19 2004, 05:41 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (camO.o @ Jun 19 2004, 05:41 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> when you play duels 1v1, the prediction gets thousands of times more complicated. ever watch fatal1ty rail someone as he jumps off a cliff and hasn't even seen yet? that's prediction my man :X <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Pah , Q3 prediction is lightyears away from Tribes 2 prediction <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • laggerlagger Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1805Members
    I play games and I would think for the most part everyone plays games because they are introduced as fun as we grow up. When we are children we are taught to derive pleasure from toys, music, sex, etc... As we grow older we try to find more ways to find pleasure, so we start out with Gi Joe and move on to a pc game of cs/ns. Given the correct enviorment I'm sure you could make almost any stimuli pleasurable to the individual.
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