Tackling Gamer Stereotypes
December 12th, 2007
It goes without explanation really that as gamers society has formed certain stereotypes about the type of people that we are. Sometimes these stereotypes can be a little hard to swallow because of the pure nature of type casting. So lets take a look at gamer stereotypes and break them down, so that we can understand how they are formed and why they are right or wrong.
What I am going to do is tackle one stereotype at a time. Look at what the requirements are, why people might think this and what the truth really is. Chances are that you’ve been labeled as one or more of these. I know that I sure have. So it should be good to understand both sides of the story.
Gamers are Antisocial
The premises is that people who play video games don’t have much of a social life. The reason being because they are too busy playing games to go out and meet people. They might have a ‘social life’ online through the internet or the games themselves but this isn’t a ‘real’ social life. The main point here is that: gamers would rather play video games than spend time with their mates.
Why Someone Might Think This
Its not hard to see why someone could easily get this impression. When we play games we are shutting ourselves out from the world and concentrating just on what is happening on screen. We are purposely trying to block out any distractions that might be around us.
Furthermore a good deal of gamers play their games for long periods of time with only a few breaks. It is easy for us to forget our worries and just play a game until we are satisfied. MMORPG players fit into this group very well. So all of this time that we game is time we are not interacting or socializing with anyone else.
Is This True?
I don’t believe that this is the case for the majority of gamers. Much like any other form of entertainment some people obsessively take advantage of video games while others play in moderation. It really depends on the individual person. But in theory gamers are no more antisocial than people that watch TV, go to the movies or listen to music as its all entertainment. I say in theory because video games are a much more engrossing medium than other forms of entertainment.
Just recently infact, my brother and I encouraged our Mum (who hasn’t properly played a game for maybe 10 years) to play some Dr Mario as we had the NES hooked up and she use to enjoy that game. Now it didn’t take long for an addiction to form and for a few days she was always eager to play Dr Mario.
You might have hear the expression: ‘To get lost in a good book’. Well its much easier to lose yourself and become addicted to a good video game.
All forms of entertainment can be enjoyed socially, you can go to a music gig, watch a movie with friends etc. This is no different to video games, infact video games have always been about soial enjoyment. Take the very first game ‘Tennis for Two’, this was a multiplayer game, the late 1970 and early 1980 consoles and arcades all had multiplayer. Even when advertised the games were being enjoyed socially.
Almost every game on the market includes some form of multiplayer which means that gamers are more social than ever before. Online gaming has also made gaming more social. Although I believe that this makes general gameplay much more social (as you can never play alone), personally I don’t think that this type of gaming (or any form of online communication) should be used to substitute actual real life socializing.
Overall video games aren’t antisocial. Think of the example that guns are not the problem but its the people use them. Its a similar deal. Multiplayer almost destroys the antisocial debate. Consider this: When you compare a group of people watching a movie to a group of people playing a video game, you tell me which one is more social.
Read the rest of this entry »
What was Your First Video Game?
December 9th, 2007
Know Your Roots
This expression, I hold with great importance. People that believe in this statement are people who are proud of what they have become and hence have great respect towards the things that shaped them into the person that they are today. I am one of those people and for me video games is one of those things that has shaped me into who I am today.
It is important for us not only as gamers but people to look back at our past and place things of this nature in high regard. So hence I want to talk about the first games that I owned.
I remember when I was selecting my first two games for the NES. My brother and I had a set limit of money to spend. So we spent our money wisely we bought a 3-in-1 cart because it was only a bit more expensive then a single game but it was 3 games! After we made that decision we didn’t have much left to spend so we were forced to buy one of the cheapest games in the cabinet. So we chose a game entitled Totally Rad, probably because of the sweet name I’d say.
3 in 1 cart: Super Mario Bros, Tetris and Nintendo World Cup
You gotta say, this cart is absolutely awesome. Not only did it have the two most defining games of the era but it also had the sweet Nintendo World Cup. As a gamer I shouldn’t need to introduce Tetris or Mario to you but I do want to briefly mention that the NES version of Tetris. Anyone that remembers this version of Tetris will no doubt remember the part of the game (I forget which part) where there were the set of Nintendo characters each playing a musical instrument, yay!
A lot of people probably haven’t heard of Nintendo World Cup. It was part of the Kunio-kun series which basically means that each of the players had the same character design as River City Ransom’s bad asses. Before each match you could set 4 variables for the computer AI, for example should the your team mates shoot for goal etc. Much like other NES sport titles NWC was unique in gameplay to work around the NES’ limited hardware. Unlike modern soccer games you control only one player and when you don’t have the ball you call to your team mates for them to pass the ball. By controlling one player it stops the camera from constantly moving from player to player which probably would have killed the NES as any camera panning in this game made the sprites often flash white and caused some slow down.
Totally Rad
Now considering that this game was one of the cheapest NES games on sale that day this game is actually a better than average 8 bit platformer. Totally Rad was made by the not very successful developer Jaleco. There is a storyline in there about a kid that can use magic and his girlfriend being captured but its not very interesting. This is made worse by the totally lame (pun) dialogue. The translators have tried to make things interesting by using teen slang and outdated words like gnarly and tubular. But despite the lame story the game plays quite well. Its not as frustrating as your typical unfair NES platformer and the game has quite a consistent balance throughout.
The game’s main selling point is the set of magic powers that you can use to heal, go invincible and turn into animal-esque creatures. It is very similar to the abilities in other NES platformers like Megaman.
So what about you? What was the first game that you owned?
Street Fighter 4:: First Screenshot and More Info
December 6th, 2007
And there I was thinking that there was no decent news for tonight. Capcom have shown off the first screenshot as well as providing more details on the hotly anticipated Street Fighter 4. Here’s the screenshot:
Looks very impresive eh? Although it hasn’t been confirmed the screenshot appears to solidify the claim that this will be a 2.5D fighter. Chun-li, Ryu, Ken and Dhalsim will again be returning.
As mentioned in the link the upcoming January EGM magazine will feature hands on, details on the new gameplay features and presumably more screens.
Update: More details can be found at Capcom’s Official Blog
Welcome to Daniel Primed, my self-titled games analysis blog and the online supplement to Adventures in Games Analysis.
Reader Emails | RSS / Email Feed
Game Design Companion: A Critical Analysis of Wario Land 4 - $7.99
Level Design: Processes and Experiences
Speed Boost: The Hidden Secrets Behind Arcade Racing Design - $5.99
Adventures in Games Analysis: Volume I - $5.99
