Margaret Robertson: Why I play games

[Wools]

I'm deadly serious. I think I stopped enjoying games about 10 years back. Buying them is habit more than anything nowadays.

Sad to hear that, I'm glad I stopped colleting before I got to far gone!

Joe, seriously, sell it all! It'll give you back your love of games.

[Riskbreaker]

Games are a constant let down, as much as they are a triumph and a joy. Take the wankers in Gears of War for example. I don't want to play as those fannies (one of them is even called Baird FFS!). I want to be a normal guy with a sense of humour and a bit of healthy fear. Being John Rambo Clone #334 just isn't fun.

I kind of understand where you're coming from. Using "generic waliking tank space marine" does get long in the tooth. But surely the same occurs for any medium that is trying to convey a story. If I don't want to watch a tale of a teenage wizard going to school with hundreds of other teenage wizards, I don't watch Harry Potter. As in the case I've seen a couple of the films, but not by going out of my way.

The same goes for Gears, Epic have an story they want to tell in the title, and have designed their characters to fit that. If you really don't want to play one of those characters, don't buy the game. I wasn't particularly interested in Gears until just prior to the launch for the same reason, but after buying it on a whim, the gameplay and atmosphere won me over. I still didn't really care for the characters too much and the plot wasn't fantastic but the game was good enough to make up for it. That said, Baird is my favourite character

[Concrete donkey]

I'm deadly serious. I think I stopped enjoying games about 10 years back. Buying them is habit more than anything nowadays.

I know how you feel. Barring the occasional title I began to stop enjoying games as a whole back in 2005. I kept buying games that I knew were good, even rythem games which I'm extremly crap at, but spent little time playing and enjoying them.

Last year I stopped buying most games, picking up a couple second hand, in an attempt (successful I must add) to get out of debt. Since then my entier buying strategy has changed, ignoring perfectly good games in favour of games I know I want to or must play. It means I've only brought a handfull of games this year a fraction of what I used to, but I've spent much more time gaming this year than I've done since leaving Uni.

[babs]

This is why I tend not to play RPGs (I get bored of it way too soon, the stories don't hold my interest). Over the last few years my games-buying has revolved more around gimicky things than ever. I became a Singstar fiend, and still love DDR/PIU.

Occasionally I'll buy something new and big-name, but generally I barely play it. Did that with so many games over the last year or two it's not funny; SotC, GRAW (although online was fun), Twilight princess save sits at around 50% - I'll stop there but it's a big list. Why do I do it? Almost just to stay up-to-date I guess. I was dead keen on Forza 2 when it first came out, but I didn't buy it and now the buzz has died down I'm not so keen, I could say the same about loads of games.

I think it's a result of being a child of the 80's. My games fixes came somewhat from home computers, but mostly arcades. By their very nature they're quick fix fun, not drawn out affairs. I've played through each and every genre more times than I care to think about, so now if the game mechanics aren't fun, or I can't get some quick gratification then I just don't care any more. It's not to say I don't like games any more, I'm just getting picky in my old age

[Leon Retro]

I agree with a lot of people here. I find myself buying a lot of games because of hype and out of curiosity, even though I often feel like I don't really have much interest in the titles, or hope that they will satisfy.

I only bought Gears Of War because everyone kept going on about it, so I bought it for £25, and played it for 3days, realising I hated it.

The same with Forza2. I love racers, but past experiences with the more serious racers( Race Driver 2 etc.. ) have left me cold, so I really should refrain from buying those types of racers, but I always can't resist. Forza2 seemed o.k, but I soon realised that it was far too geeky and serious in multiplayer.

I really should only buy games I'm pretty sure I'll like. MetalGear4 is tempting, but I know inside that I'll probably hate it. I should concentrate on the arcade or classic style games I like, and realise that I can't play, or like every game around.

If most apathetic gamers stopped taking notice of hype and other peoples enthusiasm, and concentrated on their own needs, then they'd probably be far happier with gaming. I guess it comes down to the old saying: "Be true to yourself" .

I must resist Halo3.

[sj33]

Sad to hear that, I'm glad I stopped colleting before I got to far gone!

Joe, seriously, sell it all! It'll give you back your love of games.

God, this is so spot on.

This is a bit off topic, but I've enjoyed gaming less since I've become an adult and have been able to buy whatever game I want, on a whim. But recently because I'm saving for uni, I've *forced* myself not to buy anything other than bare essentials, wait until Christmas for Mario Galaxy etc and y'know what? I'm enjoying games so much more now, buying a game suddenly has real value and meaning, like when I was a kid, and I'd put time into that game and enjoy it.

[rmoxon]

Yeah, I have to agree with what seems like the majority so far here and say that being an adult, Im spoilt and as a result gaming can often be a chore as it often seems like I have an unlimited suply of games at my displosal yet im always wanting more. So I play as many games as possible, never relaly finishing half of them barely touching some at all, and all in all its quite depressing to be honest.

360's achievemnt points havent helped either, as they are easy to become obsessive over, stuff like the VC hasnt either, I'm buying all these games ive already played before and then finishing them all over again... and I'm not even sure why.

[Bada Bing!]

I kind of understand where you're coming from. Using "generic waliking tank space marine" does get long in the tooth. But surely the same occurs for any medium that is trying to convey a story. If I don't want to watch a tale of a teenage wizard going to school with hundreds of other teenage wizards, I don't watch Harry Potter. As in the case I've seen a couple of the films, but not by going out of my way.

The same goes for Gears, Epic have an story they want to tell in the title, and have designed their characters to fit that. If you really don't want to play one of those characters, don't buy the game. I wasn't particularly interested in Gears until just prior to the launch for the same reason, but after buying it on a whim, the gameplay and atmosphere won me over. I still didn't really care for the characters too much and the plot wasn't fantastic but the game was good enough to make up for it. That said, Baird is my favourite character

Baird is Scottish slang for "fanny", hence why I mentioned him. He reminded me of Val Kilmer.

He was one of the less annoying ones, but had zero depth or character.

The problem is I was looking forward to Gears since I first heard about it. The idea, the landscapes, and the overall story were very good so there's no way I wasn't going to buy it. But they ruined it with pathetic clich?d characters and voice acting. I'm not 8 years old and I don't think guys who look and sound like wrestlers are cool any more.

Developers keep feeding us this **** because they think that's what we want. It's not.

Put it this way, if they'd done gears of war with Ewan McGregor or Clive Owen as the lead characters instead of tatoo'd hispanic #5 and hulk hogan alike #23 would it have been in any way less of an experience? Of course not. It would actually have engaged you a bit more with the characters instead of repelling you, and making you shudder each time they tried to be Blane and Mac from Predator.

I'm not knocking Predator or muscle-bound heroes, they had a big place in 80's cinema. But they have no place in 21st century videogames, characters like that have been done to death in movies and games. Whenever possible I want to play as character I can relate to, or one who better still looks remotely like me. Most people are the same. I doubt many people playing videogames look like Macho man Randy Savage though.

In that respect, each action game that comes along continues to be a let-down because it features the same old tw@t characters.

[Bada Bing!]

I wouldn't say EDGE was highbrow; though it did become that way. It was simply created to appeal to the more 'serious' gamer'. There has always been a focus on tech, what makes a game, and other issues away from simply giving games 10/10 and proclaiming them " The best thing ever! "

Have you read Edge from issue since it started in 1993? I did, and from the word go it was always very articulate and on a different plane from the waning mags of the time like Mean Machines and Gamesmaster. Very BBC4 to use a modern example. The interviews (issue 3?) with Trip Hawkins are a prime example of early "dour but clever" Edge.

[rmoxon]

Baird is Scottish slang for "fanny", hence why I mentioned him. He reminded me of Val Kilmer.

He was one of the less annoying ones, but had zero depth or character.

The problem is I was looking forward to Gears since I first heard about it. The idea, the landscapes, and the overall story were very good so there's no way I wasn't going to buy it. But they ruined it with pathetic clichéd characters and voice acting. I'm not 8 years old and I don't think guys who look and sound like wrestlers are cool any more.

Developers keep feeding us this **** because they think that's what we want. It's not.

Actually gears of war is one of the few games Ive played over the last few years that have had me totaly immersed without really having that great a story. it didnt need to tell its story any better or have any better characters. It was about shooting things and it did it damn well, why would I want to be watching a 20 minute cut scene when all i was gonna do was shoot things constantly for 20 minutes after it? Gears of War suceeded becuase it had focus and its one of the few games Ive played recently that has in no way ever felt like a chore. I didn't want to play it to see how the story panned out, I wanted to play it becuase it was just such an utter joy too. So for me at least youre wrong, Gears was exactly what I wanted to play.

[Leon Retro]

Have you read Edge from issue since it started in 1993? I did, and from the word go it was always very articulate and on a different plane from the waning mags of the time like Mean Machines and Gamesmaster. Very BBC4 to use a modern example. The interviews (issue 3?) with Trip Hawkins are a prime example of early "dour but clever" Edge.

If highbrow means it's "Not full of cartoons and free stickers" .. then it did qualify.

I simply think the term 'highbrow' isn't really the word to describe what EDGE was about in the 90s. It was simply created for 18year plus gamers: people who are seriously into gaming, and want a lot of info and a professional approach to things.

EDGE gradually became far more serious and intellectual though; to the point where a lot of people branded it "boring and cold".

I've collected the magazine since issue1. This decade, I've often considered not buying it anymore, but I always had hope it would turn-around.

Luckily, it has once again embraced the 'fun' element of gaming, and I think it's far more enthusiastic at the moment. It's not perfect, but I still feel it's the best videogame magazine on the market.