I'm not a gamer, an introspection
Tue 30 July 2024
Since I haven't blogged in a couple weeks, I put out a challenge to my fedifriends to help me come up with a subject to blog on, which I would write in the next 48 hours. I put out a poll to decide what to write about, and the idea that won... is going to take some time. :D
Since I promised to put out an update within 48 hours (24 hours after the poll closed, and it was a 24-hour poll), I will for now write on the second-place-winner subject: my life as a non-gamer, as it were.
Admiring from afar
I love games. At least, I love a lot of the games I remember playing as a youth. At least... I... love the memory of playing them. Would I be occupied for an hour if you put me back in front of a TRON arcade game today? Probably not. No, probably not even with the epic Star Wars arcade which knocked my socks into the next zip code back in the 80s with its almost 3D vector graphics and real sound samples from the movie.
Another universe
Going into an arcade in the 80s with a pocket moderately full of quarters was an otherworldly experience. Even though the original Atari VCS was impressive for its time, most kids didn't have one at home. But for a couple dollars, you could walk into this magical place with scintillating lights and sounds, and utterly forget your terribly bland, wood-paneled life at home. And even when you ran out of quarters (some of us much faster than others, for reasons of finance and/or skill), you could watch others play, or even just sit there and watch the demo screens. That extended your enjoyment for a few more minutes at least.
An admirer, more than an enjoyer
So how is it that I love games, but don't really love playing them? Well, there's many aspects to a good video game. Complexity, storytelling, graphics/aesthetics, sound effects, music, kinematics (movement within the game), puzzles, technical excellence, etc. A person can be fascinated by some of those aspects and bored by the others.
I always loved the aesthetics and technical challenges of a game. Pacman's colorfulness and sounds. Wolfenstein 3D's impossible almost-3d graphics. Mario 64's seemingly limitless worlds and incredibly soft graphics. Myst's immersiveness. Wipeout's unbelievable speed.
But sitting there and grinding out an RPG to find the items I'll need to get to the next stage? Hard pass. Figuring out all the clues in Myst? Not happening without a guide. Solving all the mysteries and finding all the stars in SM64? No thanks, I got the wing cap and I can fly around and chase butterflies to my heart's content. That's all I ever really wanted, anyway. Building a craft that can explore the Jool 5 in Kerbal Space Program? No way, those long-distance orbital maneuvers are sooooo fiddly!! I'd much rather have fun designing cool crafts and bop around between Kerbin, Minmus, and the Mün.
NOT a gamer?
Well, I think it's obvious that I do enjoy games, or at least some of them. But I'm far from a typical gamer. I'd rather go to the dentist than play most AAA titles, and I'm permanently scarred from playing Doom for hours and hours 30 years ago. Please don't even make me watch it.
I think there are probably some genres of games that I'd enjoy a lot more, I'm just not sure what exactly they are. Honestly, I used to enjoy mobile games a lot before they became flaming garbage in the past 10 years. But I don't have a lot of patience for the kind of games that require (and honestly reward) great time and dedication.
Category: Tech Tagged: Computing Gaming Life Non-religious post