Fish on Games
January 9th, 2008 | by fish |This is an old post that’s been lurking in my “Drafts” folder for quite a while. It may be a bit dated, but I found it amusing. And I wrote it! So here you go:
I am what some would call a “casual gamer”. I know that in that opening statement I have peeved a lot of people. “You either game or you don’t” they might say, “you can’t casually game!”. I don’t like that label much either, which is why I don’t tend to stick it to myself too often – but in some cases it is a valid description.
In the course of your average month, I probably play games for 2 hours. Perhaps a little more if there is a new game that has come out that I like, but generally, I don’t game very much. But when I do, I enjoy it! But – just beacuse I don’t game very often doesn’t make my tastes any different to a hardcore gamer – it doesn’t suddenly mean that I don’t like multiplayer FPS’s, or I don’t like big epic games like Final Fantasy. It doesn’t mean I have an attention span comparable to a gnat! It doesn’t mean that I like repetition! I don’t need to have games based on movies! And most of all, it doesn’t mean that I like crap games!
Many commentators have accused the industry of ignoring the needs of causal gamers. The only way that they’re ignoring my needs is by making rubbish games.
“Casual gamers are big on brands that have come from outside the industry as it is something they know a little about, like a game based on a film or book,” said Mr Dromgoole. Well, to be honest, Mr Dromgoole is wrong in my case. That’s exactly where I don’t want brands to be coming from. I couldn’t care less about FIFA 2006 Manager Superleauge Football Allstars Legendary Edition. I couldn’t care less about Harry Potter and the Procrastinating Owl. I want games that are GAMES. I want games that are entertaining without needing to piggyback the success of something totally non-game-related.
What then, is the difference between me and a hardcore gamer. Well, for a start, I like games that you can play in short bursts, games that you can save at any point. HL2 works great for this, sine you can save it anywhere, and the game play is very nicely separated into little chunks. So, at the end of a tiring day, you can pick up your Gravity Gun and peg it to the next bit of the level before retiring.
I also like games that require you to think, but not assume any knowledge of any game prior to that. Having game elements that require practice is one thing, but assuming that you’ve played enough games to know how “game physics” works is another entirely. This is why I found Portal so fun.
So, that’s pretty much all I have to say about such things.
