Difficulty of single-player computer games

[Tinuviel]

@WTFE There's also the more narrow question: What is the difference between 'a person who plays and enjoys video games' and 'a gamer'? I'm definitely the former.

[WTFE]

@Tinuviel That is another question too. I used to be a gamer (non-video) in the latter sense. Now I'm more a gamer (non-video) in the former sense.

[Tinuviel]

@WTFE Gamer (non-video) seems like a very odd undergraduate degree. I approve of the usage.

[WTFE]

@Tinuviel They don't offer those at your university?

[Tinuviel]

@WTFE Not when I went, no. I need to brush up, it seems. Comparative FPS Studies, MMOlogy...

[Rook]

Gamer is someone who has the hobby/passtime of playing games, be they video, board, or otherwise. Interestingly, I doubt that cardplayers are looped in, as they have their own culture and word. Huh.

I think it depends on whom you are speaking to as to which they immediately assume (video, non-video) 'gamer' means. I think most people today associate 'gamer' with video gamers. Board gamers are just geeks.

[Arkandel]

@Tinuviel said in Difficulty of single-player computer games:

@WTFE There's also the more narrow question: What is the difference between 'a person who plays and enjoys video games' and 'a gamer'? I'm definitely the former.

I've a friend who, during my most intense WoW-playing period to which I had transitioned through Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, etc said he doesn't consider me a gamer because I only play MMORPGs.

[Jim Nanban]

@WTFE said in Difficulty of single-player computer games:

@Tinuviel They don't offer those at your university?

They offered them at my High School: VGHS

[ThatGuyThere]

To me the difference between gamer and someone who enjoys playing games is determined by the amount of resources and effort they put into the hobby.
I am definitely a gamer in the board game RPG sense. I will buy both Board games and RPGs I know I will likely never play because they are neat, or I want to look over them, or to support the creator. I talk with other board/rpg gamers a lot about said games, and frequently visit the FLGSs in my town to see what is new or if anything used has come in that I want.
While I have enjoyed video games since I first got an Atari 2600 in fourth grade when I had no clue what an RPG was and my conception of board games was on the Sorry and Monopoly level, but i have never been into them in the same way. I enjoy them casually and wouldn't go into a Video game store just to see what's new, when I go into one i go with the purpose to buy a specific game. So for these reasons I would not consider myself a video gamer but someone who enjoys video games.

[Thenomain]

I consider a "gamer" to be something you self-apply, not something that is applied to you. Mind you, you can self-apply by association; if you compete in MLG events then you're probably a gamer whether you call yourself that or not.

[Rook]

<offtopic> This whole new 'thing' of 'self-applied' or 'name calling' debate that seems to have come up in recent years, while I am not saying that doesn't have merit, is weird to me.

To highjack @Thenomain's words as my illustration:

I consider a "jackass" to be something you self-apply, not something that is applied to you. Mind you, you can self-apply by association; if you <do jackass-y things> then you're probably a jackass whether you call yourself that or not.

This doesn't always work, and it is exactly what I try to ask/explain to people who have this thought process about "Don't call me a <thing> because I'm not a <thing>!" Well, you might be a <thing> if you act like a <thing>, don't you think?

@ThatGuyThere doesn't consider himself a video gamer, but I do consider him one.

As I have explained to others before, you are a cop if you carry a badge and enforce the law, whether you call yourself a cop or not because you think that you aren't a great one, or others around you are better, or you just hate the word 'cop' for whatever reason. You're still a cop.

What? Has this been discussed recently and I have opinion on it? Well... yes, I suppose so.

</offtopic>

[ThatGuyThere]

@Rook
I think it comes down to how much would the loss the thing impact your life.
Without video games I would save some money and watch more TV but not much would change.
If i stopped the other forms of gaming it would be like when I stopped collecting comics there would be a social impact, I would lose contact with friends who I am mainly connected to from gaming or at if the contact was maintain the relationship would suffer. That is where the difference lies to me.
To me there is a big difference between a career and a hobby so I agree with you on the cop thing, and would say anyone who makes a living playing video games is definitely a gamer whether they call themselves that or not.

[Thenomain]

@Rook

I agree 100%.

And yet, a "gamer" is not something that has a clear-cut label any more than if I am late to the bus I am a "runner". Without the ability to define what a gamer is, the onus is on you to defend why you're right and he's wrong, or to initiate the discussion that explains what you mean by "gamer" so that you can come to an understanding.

Self-identifying is useful in those situations.

I am not being a hippie about this, but I see around me people getting pissed off at things where a simple conversation can clarify views and we can move on. You know, like this. Right now.

--

edit: I like @ThatGuyThere's definition, too.

[Rook]

Good conversation. Good points.

I am reminded of something I learned in the 8th grade:
"I am not who I think I am.
I am not who you think I am.
I am whom I think you think I am."

I think it applies in life, and I also think that this is somewhat changing recently to something like:
"I am not who you think I am.
I am whom I say I am."

[Thenomain]

@Rook

I think that we are enjoying a time where we have the luxury of defining ourselves more than we have in decades. The hippies, the people who didn't stop being hippies and start being greedy 80s business fucks, know what it's like. George Clooney in the 90s told Entertainment Magazine that he would cut them off from every interview if they kept hounding him. They bitched, he cut them off, they stopped. Proposition 8 failed. A bakery got sued for gender discrimination. Not minor corporations left North Carolina for their attitude on same-sex couples, and were not pressured by their target audience to do so. We are in a social war over beliefs right now and I cannot think of any other point in my life that I'm more excited at the future of our species.

I do see that people are taking this selfishly, such as the radical elements of both the SJW movement and the Men's Rights movement (don't laugh; there are people on both sides with valid points). We make fun of Millenials for this, brah, but this is the world they're growing up in. I think that we need to go the final step and talk and understand. I don't know if that's going to happen, but I think that will be the final step and tell us how this is all going to play out.

[Arkandel]

@Thenomain said in Difficulty of single-player computer games:

I think that we are enjoying a time where we have the luxury of defining ourselves more than we have in decades.

Something that impresses me is how we've overcome a lot of stigma over not that many years. When I was a kid or even young adult it wasn't exactly considered cool at all to play games; it ranged from suspicion over table-top games ("are you guys worshipping Satan?") to epilepsy-inducing coin-swallowing arcade rooms to LAN parties, but it was never anything remotely close to mainstream.

Now it's a multiple billion dollar industry and everyone is playing video games on their phones during the commute. It might irritate some of us in a hipsterish way but we've come a long way, dammit.

[Rook]

@Thenomain
Cannot disagree. However, I think that society needs to remember that times like this are volatile, at best. Creeds clash, beliefs moreso.

While one can 'enjoy' this time, others hate it, and it seems like escalations by the loudest of both of those groups causes friction that is counter-productive to movements, thought groups, forward thinkers and etc.

Like you said, talking and understanding, not just talking to get your point out, but flipping the coin and listening... that's the key. That's something that all of us have to keep spouting.

[Thenomain]

@Rook

I also cannot think of a time I am any more nervous and anxious about our future. Obviously I want it to go one way over another, but I called it a war because I think we have some core ideologies that are clashing hard. It's nerve-wracking. It's amazing.

I want to find the happy middle ground. Except for over science. Businessmen and religious organization who are trying to push an anti-science agenda for their own profit or beliefs can fuck right off. Humanity will be worse off for the attempts of these people.

This is now the entirely wrong thread for this. Hm.

[Arkandel]

@Thenomain said in Difficulty of single-player computer games:

This is now the entirely wrong thread for this. Hm.

As the OP, it's not really that kind of focused thread. As long as we're talking about non-MUSH video games it's probably on topic, so... feel free to go on tangents folks.

[Rook]

I am loving the Assassin's Creed: Syndicate game. The difficulty (see? back on thread-track) is much higher, by default, than the previous AC games I've played (almost all of them). It has really drawn me in, made me relearn the game, tactics and how to approach the problems.