RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.RF Generation.  The Classic and Modern Gaming Databases.

Posted on Jul 8th 2015 at 12:00:00 PM by (MetalFRO)
Posted under Opinion Piece, Gaming Culture, Gaming Fun


If you're reading this article, there's a high degree of likelihood that you like video games and think they are fun.  There's a good chance you own one or more video game consoles or platforms, with more than a dozen games to play.  It's more than a little plausible that you've spent hours pouring over your favorite video games.  If you're in my age bracket, and grew up during the 1980's and early 1990's, you might have spent a lot of time reading Nintendo Power, Sega Visions, Electronic Gaming Monthly, or any number of other magazines dedicated to video games.  It's also possible that, now as an adult, you've spent a considerable amount of time and money on video games over the years.

But the question I want to ask you is this: Have you had fun?  Have your experiences, in total, added up to what you would call "fun"?  How does one quantify fun, and what does that look like?  Is fun simply a series of feelings, or is it more than that?  While I can't claim to have all the answers, they are important questions to ask, in light of one's experiences with gaming.



I was captivated by video games at an early age.  The first time I picked up an Atari 2600 joystick to enjoy Combat or Pac-Man, I knew that this was a medium I could relate to, and something that would be a big part of my future.  Years later, when my family bought a home computer, I solidified those feelings, and spent many hours playing one game after another.  The same happened with the Game Boy, and later with the Sega Genesis.  As I acquired each new game, I would play it as much as I could, and try to discover everything I could about it, soaking up every morsel of enjoyment I could.  Then, the unthinkable happened - I became an adult.


No, I haven't devolved into a slovenly, unkempt man-child creature.

Before everyone thinks I suddenly became a cynical, curmudgeonly beast when I reached adulthood, let me quickly dispel that idea.  When I rekindled my love for gaming in the late 90's, that's when I started collecting, and branching out.  I bought my first NES, a SNES, a Sega Saturn, a Sega Nomad, a Game Boy Color, and a Sony PlayStation.  My games collection grew from a dozen or so titles to well over 50 or 60 games in a relatively short amount of time.  I discovered not only a great deal of games from my childhood that I had missed out on, but also the new era of 3-D gaming at the same time.  I was mesmerized by new games with brilliant graphics, while still maintaining a love for the old games and all they had to offer.  But at the same time, a kind of shift happened to me, one that has made it difficult to fully enjoy games as an adult.  That change was full-time employment.

You see, as an adult in the working world, I spend a fair amount of time at the office.  I'm blessed to have a 3 block commute, rather than having to spend an hour and a half on the freeway, but the sheer amount of time I am at work can sometimes be rather disheartening.  With so much time dedicated to working in order to pay bills, take care of the expenses of merely existing, and money left over to indulge my hobbies (when there is money left over, that is), there's not a lot of time left for other pursuits.  I don't have the kind of free time I did when I was a kid, so spending an entire summer uncovering every inch and secret of Super Mario Bros. 3 is no longer an option for me.  Since I have to dedicate so much of my time to things other than my hobbies, I want that time with my hobbies to be maximized as much as possible--maximum fun in minimum time, if you will.  I don't want to spend 40 hours grinding and fighting slimes.  I don't want to have to play levels 1-5 just to get to level 6 again, only to be shamed by that stupid boss monster for the umpteenth time.  I want to progress in this game and get to the end so I can say it's accomplished and move on!  I don't want to wait for my gaming gratification, I want it now.........now, Now, NOW!


We all know who this guy is, and we all know he's angry.  How many
of us can say we've never had a fit of rage toward our TV before?

Allow me to circle back to my original question: am I having fun?  I can't always say that I am, but some of that is my fault.  I have a tendency to think I'm better at video games than I actually am, which causes me some grief.  That, coupled with my desire for instant gratification due to limited time, and you have a recipe for major frustration.  Do I really want to slog through 3 or 4 stages again and again, just to finally beat the pesky boss guarding the castle entrance, only to realize that there are 4 floors in the castle and there's no password or battery to save my progress when I have to quit playing in 10 minutes to eat or mow the lawn?  I have to assume that this is a reason for the major shift in video game mechanics from short stages, hard level design, limited lives, and limited continues, to sprawling levels, unlimited re-spawns, narrative-driven gameplay, and copious save points.  I've been spoiled by modern games, and often have nary the patience to play anything that doesn't reward me almost immediately.  When I go back and play old games that have actual challenge to them, or newer games like God of War or The Wonderful 101 that truly do have challenge, I get easily frustrated and stubbornly feel like I should be better at the game than I am. As a result, occasionally I will spend more time mitigating my own frustration than actually enjoying the experience.  I get angry at my own inability to recognize that I have to PRACTICE the game I'm playing, before I can progress.

That's just my side of the story, however.  I still love video games, still love playing them, and still try to eek as much enjoyment from them as I can.  Despite that, I still have fits of rage over cheap deaths, still yell at my TV, as if the enemy on the screen is going to hear me insult them, and still grimace at the screen when my lifebar is being whittled away by some no-name enemy, only to reach the boss with not enough life left to fill a thimble, let alone face an enemy worthy enough to be my opponent.  I am trying to recognize my own shortcomings and become a better person, and gaming is one way for me to do that.  By looking at things objectively, realizing that truly, "It's just a game," and by not taking things so seriously, I can hopefully get a better perspective on life so that I can focus all of that energy elsewhere.  I can apply it toward family, friends, work, and all the things that real life are truly about....not on falling off that mountain ledge for the 12th time!

What experiences do you have where games just aren't fun?  Do you struggle with thinking you're better at games than you actually are like I do?  Do you like some aspects of a game and dislike others to the point where you just don't have any fun?  What games do you wish you had fun with, but your experience has been less than stellar?


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Comments
 
Great article. I feel the same way. It's hard to be patient enough to get good (especially at older games) or find the time to put in the hours needed to get the most out of longer games (my unplayed copy of Skyrim will confirm this).  Real life seems to eat up more of your time as you get older. I try to take it in stride and play when I can and just enjoy the moment, instead of always looking ahead to my huge pile of unplayed games. Right now, my 3 year old can't get enough of watching me play Tetris on NES......and you know what? That's worth way more than any trophy or achievement points you can get.
 
I can empathize with the lack of time to be sure. I choose to spend my time on what I want to play, and not worry much about what's on the backlog. Sometimes that means I play the same game for months. If I am having fun, it doesn't matter to me. It's not about quantity, it's quality that matters to me.
 
I wish I had a three block commute. I tend to gravitate to older games where I can play for 5-30 minutes and still get a lot out of them. Games such as the aforementioned Tetris or Castlevania are great examples. I've been upset at games before but I've never thrown a controller or yelled at the screen. Take advice from Arino and keep cool while playing your games.

http://www.sa-gccx.com/episode-guide
 
Excellent article and a very poignant topic.

Probably like many here, your life-arc is similar to mine, and I do admit I now often set a game to an easy or at best normal difficulty so I can experience the game and move on.  There are always exceptions (recently, Bloodborne) where I stop and dedicate myself to a particular challenge, but it just depends on the game and the way I want to spend my time.

For another example, Destiny is undeniably repetitive in its end-game, and yet I play it often during bike workouts because its comfortable, still fun, and I know from beginning to end how to spend my time.  However, getting a fun co-op game with friends who are skilled at it, and cranking the difficulty up to the highest, can be a tense and fun time.

In the end, as I've also written about myself, the most important thing is that the game is doing what I want for me at that moment.  If I want a challenge, a story, a repetitive grind for relaxing, a group experience, or just a laid back and entertaining time, I just have to be familiar enough with our collection to pick the game that matches where I am, because there is surely one out there. Smiley

Again, thanks for the article!
 
Great article! Having a full time job, a wife, and two kids really limits my time greatly. The main reason we created the  playthroughs was to interact with members and have fun discussing games, but another reason was to help knock out backlog and force ourselves to make the time to play some really awesome games. Setting aside at least a few nights a week to game is essential. Block the time off and stick to it. Sure it sucks not just being able to pick up the sticks anytime you want like you did when you were younger, but for me (and it sounds like for you as well) there are more important things in my life that I like to dedicate the majority of my time to. Priorities change, but it is very important for you to have this time to yourself. It's for your enjoyment, your sanity, and it will keep you from being resentful towards others who you might feel "take away" this time.

I agree with Duke (wow, never thought I'd say that...) in that it's okay to play a game for months. I even feel this way about shorter retro titles as well. What I will often do is make a stack of say 5-6 retro games to play around the same time and play them until I beat them or get tired of them.  As this happens, I just swap each one out with a new game. This helps with frustration on tougher games because I can just put it down, pop something else in really quick, and come back to it when I am ready.  You're not going to beat every game and should never have that expectation. Just play and get your fill of enjoyment out of each title.
 
Awesome article.  Like Duke said above, for me it's about (perceived) quality.  I used to write blog entries about my (mis)adventures playing through random games from my backlog.  One game in particular stalled me for nearly a month before I had an realization:  I was never going to be like Crabby and knockout all the games, so maybe I need to adopt another tactic.  Just play the ones I want to, regardless of how guilty I feel about all the others.
 
I hate to sound boastful, but I'm naturally good at video games...damn good. It's always come very easy to me. For this reason, I wonder if I have more fun than others do. I've done a lot of community playthroughs with you guys and I can see which forum members are more skilled than others. I wonder if the less skilled are having as much fun.

I used to watch youtube videos of "gamers" like AVGN and I'd often think - "Is this guy retarded? Is it possible for someone to love video games so much, yet be so bad at playing them?"

That's what makes me wonder if skill level plays a part in video games.

I have a lot of fun playing games that most people consider "WAY TOO HARD", because to me, they're not. A lot of people probably don't like Silver Surfer on NES. I think it's amazing.

I also have a lot of fun playing (some) games that most people consider bad, because I try to see the game more as a piece of art. It's all in the eye of the beholder. I could write an paper about how Bart Vs. The Space Mutants is a great game.


 
@JerryGreenwood: **scratches head and wonders were he falls on the JerryGreenwood Scale of Gaming Prowess**

Side Note: I'm sure we will have a Zagnorch rendering of this scale soon
 
@JerryGreenwood: Interesting thoughts, Jerry.  I think my biggest problem in that realm is that I do have skill at video games, and some natural ability, but in the heat of the moment, I always feel like I should have a super-human ability to dodge that attack, turn the corner more quickly, aim more precisely, etc.  I'm not the best gamer in the world, but I'm not the worst either.  I fall somewhere in the middle, I suspect.  My frustration comes from not being able to separate myself from the action on the screen sometimes, or feeling like a game is being "cheap", even if it's my own fault.  It's a mental thing, more than anything else.

Great comments gang, and thanks for all the love!  I wasn't entirely sure I was happy with the article, but I'm glad to see others have been able to glean something from it Smiley
 
Boss battles. I hate boss battles. I generally suck at them. Whenever I come face to face with a Boss, the fun drops precipitously for me. Case in point, "Epic Mickey". The game shouldn't be that hard, right? It's a Disney game, for crying out loud. But, I have not yet beaten the Captain Hook boss fight. I tried, over and over and over, growing so frustrated and angry... To the point that I eventually just gave up. In cases like that, giving up really is the only option. It defeats the purpose of playing a game for fun when allows themself to grow enraged at a seemingly impossible boss fight.
 
@leej07: Don't feel too bad.  Boss fights can be frustrating and super difficult, despite the difficulty of the rest of the game.  I fought through every God of War game in release order, after buying the entire saga, and when I fought Zeus at the end of God of War III, it took me over 100 tries to finally beat him.  OVER 100 TRIES, across 3 or 4 play sessions.  That boss battle nearly led me to rage quit the game altogether, but I stuck with it, and finally, eventually, took him down.  Just keep at it, and remember to put the controller down when you've reached that point where fun turns into seething rage Smiley
 
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