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Are you even having fun with gaming?

I was starting to find games to be so repetitive being an online FPS gamer mainly. I grew up on flight sims and racers since the late 80s, so ive been around the block...but i found the beginning of the ps4 era stale...but then...

War Thunder...god its fun, who care I have no idea how the games progression works...its fun.

And Kerbal Space Program, its alpha, but its such a good time trying to send those little funny green men to the mun and beyond...and failing horribly.
 
Playing them yes but talking about them, not as much. I feel this first year of this generation has, from personal experience, been one of the very worst in terms of community, up there with 2005/2006 and probably surpassing it.
 
OrlanisWorks said:
Playing an oldie and a newish game at the moment.

Medal of Honor Allied Assault is pretty fun, even with such little substance and story line.

The Last of Us is radically different. The stealth and combat feel like chores and almost entirely drained of fum after failing the second time.

Games are still fun for me, but stressful games like TLOU is pretty unfun, but is still really interesting and the story is what keeps me playing.
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Man, I loved playing that game on Hard. Maybe it's because I really love solving combat puzzles but I felt like trying to survive the situations you were put in were just so much fun because there was a lot of creativity required to get around the lack of resources on harder modes.
 
I'm a bit more cynical. I see Open Sky and examine the combat system instead of the open world design, I wonder how much you're actually going to be able to do beyond exploring. Yeah I can see all these randomly generated worlds, but what can I do with them? It sucks but its just my nature.

I also don't find a lot of GOTY stuff that great because I need a hook in gameplay. Demon Souls is something refreshing that I enjoy, Uncharted not so much.

If anything, over the years, I've become much more picky in what I play. When you don't have as much time on your hands I guess that happens.
 
When I find a new (to me) game I like gaming is awesome. But that feeling doesn't last forever, and at some point gaming goes back to something I do to pass the time. It's a cycle. Love it, like it, could care less, love it...
 
I bought a Vita yesterday. Then proceeded to buy Persona 4 Golden after being forced too.

I feel like between that game and the Destiny alpha I'v rediscovered fun games.
I'm so dramatic, but thats how I feel right now
 
Definitely agree there is way too much concern over graphics in this industry, and at least for me, that doesnt make it fun. However, games that have interesting and challenging mechanics and level design, are very fun, which is why I mostly play either retro games or Nintendo-stuff, as they tend to care less about presentation and more about gameplay.
 
Yeah, but I still appreciate good graphics and art design. It's like watching a movie and being engrossed by the cinematography or a certain shot. Focusing on it doesn't detract my enjoyment from the game/movie, it's just something extra that I appreciate. Although, I do agree with your overall statement. If you look at GAF, you see people saying they will only play a game if it's 1080p/60fps which, personally, is ridiculous as fuck.
 
I certainly still have fun playing games. It's nice for games to look good but that's not what really draws me to them. The whole reason I'm going nutz for No Man's Sky is because it looks like I'll get to explore and enjoy all of the cool features that it promises.
 
Only games that i really have fun with are usually nintendo games and anything that lets me create my own fun like GTA, Halo MP (Pre - Halo Reach), Dead Rising, Gears of War (to an extent), & Crackdown.

several indies too

Super Time Force and shit like that.
 
Am I having fun with gaming? That's an interesting question.

I've been a gamer since I was 6, so I have 18 years of experience with gaming.

18 years later, like anything you continuously do after a long time, you start to see patterns emerge and the same old shit come out.

Right now, I'm no longer feeling the same feels I had when I started playing Donkey Kong Country and Earthbound when they first came out. Those games blew my mind and cemented what could've been a lifelong hobby of mine.

But right now, I have a backlog of 15 games running deep without even going into next gen. The market is over-saturated with shit and it's becoming harder and harder to make money for developers and publishers.

Call me a cynic, but we need a crash to clear out the bad blood and start fresh.

If indies are doing what AAA publishers are doing at 1/3 the budget and are 3 times as much fun, there's a problem with the industry at large.

When you have to worry about about frames and resolution and not how fun a game is, there's a problem with the industry at large.

When you can't tell the difference between one FPS shooter and the next, there's a problem with the industry at large.

But my definition of fun is getting lost in a world and playing through a story and becoming invested in the characters and the world. The last time I can admit to having fun was playing the Souls franchise. Before that, Cave Story. Before that, Bastion.

So yes there are games that allow me to have the same fun I had when I was younger, but not to the same extent that it was in 1996.
 
of course I have fun when I game, although I openly admit I do tend to have more fun discussing games than playing them most of the times.
 
Usually. I don't really like the definition of "fun" people usually use. Like, I don't like it when people describe a film as "fun" in film reviews. Because to me, even if a film is dark, depressing, sad, and evokes negative emotions in me, I'm still ultimately having "fun". Hell, even if a film is bad, I'm usually still having fun. Because to me the experience of sitting down, eating a bucket of popcorn, and staring at moving pictures on a screen is fun regardless of the other emotions that goes along with the experience. To me, fun is synonymous with enjoyment. I enjoy that experience. It's something I'm glad I did. It's the same thing with games. I enjoy the experience of controlling moving pictures on a screen with buttons. Regardless of what that is. I have fun playing everything from Super Mario Galaxy to To the Moon.
 
On a scale of 1 - 10: 1 = looking at man boobs, and 10 = listening to a Giantbomb Bradcast, I will personally say the fun I am having in games is 5 (Skrillex performing a song about man boobs).
 
Yes, I'm having fun gaming. I'm currently having a blast with Dark Souls. I have massive backlogs for PC (GOG + Steam), Vita, and 3ds. I have a wide variety of games, mostly RPGs (Western and Eastern, Action and Turn-based), FPS, and RTS. I view my backlog as a library. I play what I'm in the mood for. This pretty much garuntees that I will have fun with a game (if not I drop it and play another). I care more about the genre than I do how pretty a game is. Indie or AAA, pretty or dated I don't care. I'm as comfortable playing Fallout 1 and it's dated graphics as I am playing a fully modded Fallout 3/NV (with mods like Vurt's floral overhaul. If nothing is fun at the moment, I figure i just need a break and stop playing games for a couple of days.
 
FreeMufasa said:
Something I've been thinking about the past few years. I saw this today.

"turbulent weather rolls in, skies thickening before bursting onto the roads. Crowds at the side of the track reach for their macs and umbrellas, winds tug at the trackside scenery while puddles form in the divots and dips of the road surface,"

"The heat from the sun dynamically melts the snow, with northern-facing surfaces reacting first."

and ppl seem to be losing their shit. Then there's No Sky Man game i checked out and ppl are going nuts for it, yet no one really knows how it plays. I was at a side chicks house last weekend and invited my boy over to cotch. He brought his PS4 and was eager to show me games like infamous and killzone. He was taking close ups of walls n shit and showing me excitedly.

But all this shit, at the end of the day just seems like people are playing games (GAF and enthusiasts) to be impressed on a technical/art level than having fun.

Take a step back for a min n really see if you're having fun with the games u play.
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Having a lot of fun on PC. Playing in GAF guild in Guild Wars 2, there is always fun and partying.


STEAM has given amazing experiences in 2014. I've been floored by Banished, Broken Age and Banner Saga. These games kicked me in the nuts with their unique feel and style. Completely suave, different, and touched me more deeply than games with fancy pansy graphics can.

These games proved to me that indie scene is much more than just the hipster hype of your Fez/Braid/Minecraft. There is a lot more too it. There is a lot of great gameplay, even uncovered by games that are not getting a lot of attention.

And not all of the games feel indie either. Some of them have no peers. The Banner Saga. It was so good. The writing was better than I have ever seen in a Final Fantasy. The art was some of the best I have ever seen. It felt like Don Bluth characters in an Eywind Earle painting. It's amazing and so many people on GAF are oblivious to it's complete genius.
 
No, because I never liked first person anything, I am not in AAAA blockbusters and I hate games focusing on telling stories.
 
Hmm I don't know if I can classify playing my single player games as 'having fun'. Since I enjoy RPGs and cinematic games I feel the same way as watching movies I like. I enjoy the stories and the experience greatly, but I don't know if I'd classify it as fun. Whenever I play games with my friends though its always fun. Its a blast playing co-op and even when we're playing competitive online games we're always just fuckin' around lol.
 
I unfortunately don't enjoy games like I used to. Not because of the quality of games, but just because I've changed some what as a person. Don't get me wrong I still love gaming, but I just don't do it like I used to.
 
Most games are super boring to me, like I'm going through the motions. I enjoy the very rare AAA game that connects with me and some indies. That's it.
 
For sure, if I can't find something good new to play then I just go back to the games I love and play them again.

Been playing a whole bunch of Bayonetta and Devil May Cry 3/4 again recently and having a blast.
 
I think for a lot of AAA offerings this is how I feel. There's the honeymoon period where I'm fawning over the latest new graphical whatsits and basking in the atmosphere of the world, and once that fades away I'm mostly left feeling meh towards the whole thing. This is especially true of Ubisoft open worlders. I enjoyed Watch Dogs a lot for the first 15-20 hours, but now I'm just walking around hoping it rains to look at the pretty. The combat felt fun and somewhat dynamic at first, but now is incredibly samey and stale to me. Part of the problem I think for me is I need a good story, voice actors to go along with a game like that, which WD is atrocious at on all counts.

A recent exception was Wolfenstein, was very pleasantly surprised how well done all the in-engine cutscenes and animations were done, as well as voice acting, writing etc.
That scene on the train where you're holding the tray and sit down in front of the Nazis was so well done in terms of suspense
. Haven't felt that from a game probably since TLoU.

For fun I'm relying on EAD. Been having a blast with MK8 lately playing split screen with my gf in the cups and online. Nintendo knows how to bring that pure gameplay and nostalgia factor.

I dunno my tastes have changed over the years, the experiences I tend to remember the most usually come from indies. Things like Kentucky Route Zero take me back to the old school point and click adventure days on PC where there's a boatload of quirky and eccentric titles each with their own artstyle. But is this a "fun" experience? Not necessarily, but I guess that's where my tastes are mostly feeding off of atmosphere and a good story more than raw mechanics.
 
LowKeyedUp said:
Is everyone just pretending to know what the fuck OP said in order to seem "with it"?
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No. I'm definitely not "with it" and have no idea what the OP is on about.

I am still having fun with games though, maybe more so than ever. Ignoring industry talk and focusing on what I'm playing helps a lot.
 
The one plus side to a huge backlog is that if I find I am not enjoying a game, I just move on.

Yes, to the original question asked. I try to sneak in an hour or two of gaming after work. I find it enjoyable and relaxing, even when I am playing a high stress game. The weekends I usually binge game on Sunday and find the day goes by too quickly.
 
Paracelsus said:
No, because I never liked first person anything, I am not in AAAA blockbusters and I hate games focusing on telling stories.
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There is currently a breathe of diverse games out there if you're willing to look for them. Hell even GAF could probably hook you up with some gems pertaining to your tastes. Beyond that, I'd bet the games you do like are still there; nothing wrong with mixing retro games with the current stuff if you can't find your fix.
 
sflufan said:
"Fun" should never be the objective of a gaming (or any other) experience. "Engagement" should be the objective.
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Man do I ever disagree with this statement. I play games to relax but most importantly have fun. Enjoy my gaming hobby. If a game isn't fun I stop playing it, period. Fun is engaging, but engaging is not always fun. There is a difference.




Back on topic though, am I having fun with gaming? Hell yeah. But then I'm no graphic enthusiast either. I mean sure I'm impressed by great graphics as much as anyone, but my most played game ever is Minecraft, so yeah modern graphics aren't a priority for me, LOL.
 
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