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Are you even having fun with gaming?

FreeMufasa said:
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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I've been enjoying games lately at least as much as before, if not more, and the visuals have been an integral part of it for me ever since the Amiga days. It's been the same with every new generation; in the beginning people always take notice of the graphics more, which is why it feels odd that it's viewed as something brought by this gen. I can of course enjoy a game with a lesser eye candy, after all, I've replayed some of the PS1/2 games on the PS3. It's not an insurmountable threshold for me, but why wouldn't I want games to show what the new hardware is capable of? I find it an absurd idea, that the graphics would take something away from the games, or the "purity" of the experience.

I don't let cynicism taint the hobby, and if someone can only find fault in today's gaming culture, why continue the hobby at all if it doesn't bring any enjoyment?
 
DNAbro said:
Of course. Everyone does like their shiny new graphics though.
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I don't particularly care about that, to be honest - at least not on the technical level, good art is always appreciated. I mean, sure, some great looking games can appear mind-blowingly beautiful at first, but it's such a short-lasting impression. As soon as I start playing and become engrossed in the gameplay, I stop noticing it. It's so, so superficial. I've always wished for resources to be spent elsewhere; instead of monster GPUs, let's have hardware that will produce just decent visuals (original Xbox and even PS2 looked more than good enough for me already), but give us worlds filled to the brim with interactivity, fantastic AI, lifelike animations (far more visually impressive thing than realistic graphics, in my opinion) unique behaviors, objects with dynamic properties and other little details.

Alas, we're stuck in this window dressing world.
 
"But I can't have fun unless my games are ensuring social justice order and proper representation of a conflicted minority all the while being presentation in glorious 4k resolution wtih 120 fps action."

And I'm just like "I really love the part where I kicked that lady into the sky, climbed up a building then died when an angry citizen shot me and I fell 7 stories."

Yet I when I mention my experience I feel like I'm always being told that I'm doing it wrong or said game is actually terrible because it represents this group like this and so on and so on. Like I'm not supposed to be having fun or something like all video games or serious business and if a video game isn't serious business it is shallow. A game simply cannot be fun if it doesn't run 100% perfectly with no janky parts at all. But is the game fun? If the game isn't fun then it really doesn't matter if it runs at 120 fps with 4k resolution does it?

A lot of people have forgotten to just have fun.
 
What's sad is i'd rather play Double Dragon 2 or some older, simple game than a lot of this newer stuff. I've been a Nintendo hater for a while, but given their recent line-up, they actually have me the most interested due to them actually having the type of games I like to play. I've had my fill of GTA, Gears of War, and Call of Duty esque games.
 
I've wondered the same thing before when I see people getting so worked up about resolutions.

At the moment I'm playing Mario Kart 8, Dark Souls and Resident Evil 5 in online co-op. All amazingly fun games!

What's a side chick?
 
The problem I have is time constraints. Quite often it takes me along time to get into a game and with less time to do this, I enjoy them less....
 
i believe people are def still having fun.

on the other hand, sometimes you really stop and question whether or not people on this forum do though, when you read the average post.

there's way too much cynicism, aggression, and deliberate agenda-motivated ignorance & misinterpretation of facts. it's actually pretty disgusting.

i feel as though, at least for the majority on gaf, 'industry politics' and consoles wars are more 'fun' than actually playing games. it's really quite tough to come to any other conclusion than that, unfortunately.

i wonder, if there was a way to graph traffic, and divided them between 'industry politics thread' and actual threads discussing the gameplay of a particular title, i wonder what results those would yield.

i'd love to be wrong, as i think there are some really great threads that are made on here.
 
FreeMufasa said:
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.
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Hey, speak for yourself and your boy.
Personally, I'm having a blast. Sure, there is a lot of drama these days and an inescapable focus on the next big technological leap, etc. but many of us are purely in it for the funs.

Hell, I'm still chilling with my PS3 (and will be for a while yet). Replaying stuff like Metal Gear Rising and Vanquish, still bro-oping with my homies in Dark Souls 2, not to mention discovering a wealth of great indies on my Vita - and everyone knows indies are first and foremost about the fun and excitement of playing something for the sake of playing, rather than for the shaders/real-time weather effects/physically rendered textures/etc.

Also, that No Man's Sky hype is real. What they're trying to pull off is very impressive on a technical level, but the pure joy folks like me feel when imagining the potential shown in those trailers - that's the fun talking.

So, yeah. Stay free, Mufasa.
 
The games are largely the same - but with prettier graphics. It's only natural people are focusing on the things that are new when showing them off.
 
digoutyoursoul said:
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.
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Dude, except for the underlined, I was literally going to type this word for word. I'm seriously kind of freaking out right now. Are you in my brain bro?

Also, I don't consistently play a game that I don't find fun. I'm an artist yet graphics are pretty meaningless to me and I've been having the most fun lately on technically "sub-par" games like Wolfenstein and Risk of Rain.

All I really want to do is talk about the actual games that I love the most or think I will like with others who like it too.

I wish that we could have two separate threads for each game, one for tech stuff where people can pixel count, post fps gifs, post comparison gifs of completely different games, talk shadows and lighting and complain about other platforms while praising their own because the thread is actually about the platform that the game looks "best" on instead of the actual game itself.
Sorry, I got carried away.
And at the same time another thread where we can discuss lore, story, art, meaning, our experiences on how the game touched us and our theories on where the developers might take us next.

We are all here because we love gaming in one way or another. The least we could do is show each other a little respect and create a healthy environment for all types of gamers.
 
FreeMufasa said:
I was at a side chicks house last weekend and invited my boy over to cotch.
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I'm struggling to parse this sentence.

Why does appreciating the technical aspects of a game imply that someone is not appreciating it for fun also? I'm not getting this line of thinking.
 
IvorB said:
I'm struggling to parse this sentence.

Why does appreciating the technical aspects of a game imply that someone is not appreciating it for fun also? I'm not getting this line of thinking.
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Meh, different people - different opinions I guess. Luckily, we have a product for people like that... It's called ZX Spectrum 48k!
;)
 
I put the bad habit of falling for visually stunning games to rest in the last generation. There were alyways games in history that only had the looks but lacked everything else but I feel like these games are coming out more and more frequently in todays gaming landscape. Somehow (through my rose tinted glasses) I remember that in the past you were sure to have a fun game in your hands just by looking at it's graphics. If the graphics were good, the game was too... they were coneccted in a lot of games!

I'm dissaponted by a lot of graphics benchmark games in the present, I can imagine a lot of people falling for them... always ask what the game has to it besides the graphics!
 
SliceSabre said:
"But I can't have fun unless my games are ensuring social justice order and proper representation of a conflicted minority all the while being presentation in glorious 4k resolution wtih 120 fps action."

And I'm just like "I really love the part where I kicked that lady into the sky, climbed up a building then died when an angry citizen shot me and I fell 7 stories."

Yet I when I mention my experience I feel like I'm always being told that I'm doing it wrong or said game is actually terrible because it represents this group like this and so on and so on. Like I'm not supposed to be having fun or something like all video games or serious business and if a video game isn't serious business it is shallow. A game simply cannot be fun if it doesn't run 100% perfectly with no janky parts at all. But is the game fun? If the game isn't fun then it really doesn't matter if it runs at 120 fps with 4k resolution does it?

A lot of people have forgotten to just have fun.
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Pretty much exactly how I feel. The Far Cry 4 stuff is a perfect example because while so many bicker and bitch about the sexuality/ethnicity of the characters all I can think about was how much fun the E3 demo looked.

I mean the whole segment combined with the wing suit flying stuff just looked windowing to me. Knowing that I can do all the with a friend just makes it even better.
 
There's so much Nintendo/Wii U love in this thread! ^_^

MbFP9s0.gif
 
As of late I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I just beat Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, and I had tons of fun. It was such an adventure and after I beat it I had a hard time going back to a lot of the games I used to find enjoyable.

I don't think that going in and admiring a game for its world and aesthetics isn't fun mind. That's a big part of making a game fun to play. There's a lot of work that goes into making these awesome places so it makes sense that a lot of people get stoked at the thought of getting to visit them.

However a lot of games I've seen for the past while have felt really uninspired.

In the end it's all a matter of personal preference but I think that with so many options at our disposal it's become harder to sift through the truly fun games and the ones that just feel generic and blah. Really though I still love gaming and now that I'm actually looking for it I've been able to find a lot more games that I actually enjoy.

Whether it's to go on an epic adventure or just exploring a big beautiful world though, I'm happy as ever to be a gamer. Nintendo seems to be making some awesome new stuff and I plan to get a Wii U after seeing E3's Zelda. Then there's Destiny, and Scalebound, Little Big Planet 3, and a TON of new Indie games. Plus revisiting Halo will be a blast.

So yeah, I can't wait to have some fun.
 
I do, but sometimes my mood can fluctuate a lot, and end up dropping some games, or going back to others.

Dropped Skyrim for about a year because of how much there was to do, I always spent too much time exploring whatever location I discovered. Just recently went back and obtained the very last achievement. Now I don't have anything left to do on that game, no locations left to explore.

This is where having a big backlog is useful, I can go to whatever game I feel like playing, or try something new for a change.

I mostly play Counter-Strike games in the end, but yeah, I'm having lots of fun.
 
It's funny this came up. I was playing FF 14 with a friend the other night and he spent the entire time complaining. If he couldn't figure out how to complete a mission, it was because the game was fucked. If we were in a dungeon there was always some player who was doing it wrong or didn't have the right gear. If he got loot it was terrible. I wanted to do a low level dungeon for fun but no, that wasn't acceptable. Anyway, this went on and on and I wondered to myself why he was bothering to play it. He clearly wasn't enjoying the experience, so why not switch off and do something else.
 
Yes I had. Although my gaming time has drastically reduced since I started attending college. Since 2012 I only have put 1030 hours into my 3DS, about 100 hours into my launch WiiU (pathetic), 100 hours in my PSVita and like 150-200 hours into PC gaming (tracked on Steam, probably another 100 hours for games not found on steam).

Just to compare, from 2008-2010 I put about 1000 hours into SSBB alone and I have about a hundred hours worth of Kingdom Hearts II saves from 2011 alone, if I include all the other stuff on all other platforms I've played I probably had the combined hours of 2012-2014 in each single year between 2008-2011.

With lots of exciting new games on the horizon (SSB4! Bayonetta 2! etc...) I'm sure the playtime will go up again.
 
On getting my PS4, I had to give my brother back his PS3, so I haven't really been having that much use out of it, but I've really been enjoying my 3DS recently. I think after Nintendo's winning of E3, I'll be picking up a Wii U soon and enjoying its back catalogue whilst waiting for some more AAA games to come out for the PS4.
 
Some game, most recently Watch_Dogs, are brilliant games and the are moments of pure joy in them... but for the most part games like this I am no longer sure if I'm actually having 'fun'. When an awesome moment happens, or I beat a difficult section, there is definitely an 'awwww yisss' moment, so it serves as an adequate time waster when I have nothing else to do and don't feel like reading/watching tv.

I play a lot of different games though and on the whole I have a ton of fun, or engagement, with the game, as isn't that mostly the point?

The only difference I have recently noticed is that I can do the epic sessions I used to (not only because of other constraints on my time). I used to go like 6-8 hours on a single player game in one go, even a couple of days a few winters back which ended up as pretty much dawn to dusk WoW. But these days its rare that I want to do more than a couple of hours in a single stint (maybe more over an entire day but I just need to break and do something else after a while with most games). Though I have to say Batman Arkham Asylum broke that trend for me recently. Played through and 100% the whole thing in two days a couple weekends ago!
 
SliceSabre said:
"But I can't have fun unless my games are ensuring social justice order and proper representation of a conflicted minority all the while being presentation in glorious 4k resolution wtih 120 fps action."

And I'm just like "I really love the part where I kicked that lady into the sky, climbed up a building then died when an angry citizen shot me and I fell 7 stories."

Yet I when I mention my experience I feel like I'm always being told that I'm doing it wrong or said game is actually terrible because it represents this group like this and so on and so on. Like I'm not supposed to be having fun or something like all video games or serious business and if a video game isn't serious business it is shallow. A game simply cannot be fun if it doesn't run 100% perfectly with no janky parts at all. But is the game fun? If the game isn't fun then it really doesn't matter if it runs at 120 fps with 4k resolution does it?

A lot of people have forgotten to just have fun.
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You think that people are playing games purely so that they can have politically correct whinge-fests on GAF? People are playing games for fun. That has not changed. People are able to do this AND have conversations analysing that experience.

"A lot of people have forgotten to just have fun"? You've gone full Disney here...
 
Most of the time it feels like I'm playing games to distract me from the other shit that I need to do that I don't want to do.
The last game I truly enjoyed was Gunpoint, and the joy of Spelunky has turned to ashes as I fruitlessly try to improve on my fastest time.
The last AAA game I've enjoyed was Fallout New Vegas.
 
Last gen, I was shifting more towards my 360 despite the love I have for Nintendo (the Wii had a massive shortage of great games, and they were so far between eachother). I have about 50 Xbox 360 games and when Black Ops 2 & Halo 4 hit, I realised that even though the games I had were well made, they just weren't giving me the fun that used to draw me into the games so much. So often, my game playing was filled with profanity, both from me and the others I was playing with. It was sucking the joy out of gaming for me.

The 3DS and the Wii U have actually injected the joy back into gaming for me. I play the games I have for them with a smile on my face. It's the epitome of fun for me. I don't need a dark story, I don't need it to tackle issues or tick boxes, I just want and need fun games and that is why I love my Wii U.
 
Yeah I have fun, everyday. In fact, the most fun I have is in the infamously "anti-fun" game of League of Legends, of which I've spent nearly 1000 hours playing and am not even close to bored.
 
I like the high IQ but I find it cheaper to just watch on Gamersyde than buy a console and games, most AAA stuff isn't exactly great to play. I get my fun on Nintendo and PC.
 
People here are having a lot of fun with videogames here. But some of them can't accept other people are having fun with other games. Especially games that they consider (oh my god) BAD.
 
I don't really get hot in the loins for the tech part in my media, but it's not hard to assume that some people do. I play games for a plethora of reasons, just like I do with films. Sometimes I just want to be entertained, sometimes I want to go on an emotional ride, sometimes I want to be challenged and sometimes immerse myself in another world. If the technical side of games can engage people, that should be fine. "Fun" can come from all sorts of angles, and sometimes it can manifest in strange ways.

When I struggle with a mission in Monster Hunter, I can get really frustrated and seem like I'm having just the worst time. The thing is though that the struggle is all part of the payoff.
 
I'm having deep emotional experiences. Are those considered "fun"? I haven't really had fun all by myself in a long time with a videogame, like having a big smile on my face. Doesn't mean I didn't like playing the games or I was looking at the graphics, I just find that most games now try to be dramatic and those who don't try don't really hit the other points (funny, terror, etc...)
 
Sometimes I wonder. I don't find myself getting excited as much anymore. Main thing I want to know when a new game is coming out is, "What do I actually do?". Lately that gets skirted around. If I want to look at fancy shit I'll watch a movie.
 
I'm tired of all the 'edgy' games with color palettes that look like they were taken from the inside of a dumpster. Too much realistic, post-apocalyptic, zombies, guns, race cars, yada yada. Too many games are turning into gun shooting sandboxes. I want more of when games were 'games', aka they weren't attempting to replicate reality.

More bomberman's, more poy poy's, more jrpgs, more dragon forces, more streets of rages, etc. I suppose this is why I've been leaning on Nintendo with the Wii U when I've traditionally been a Sony fan for the longest. New yoshi's island, star fox, kirby, etc. is fantastic. I'll probably get more into the 'next gen' systems when more diverse games start coming out.
 
Filaipus said:
I'm having deep emotional experiences. Are those considered "fun"? I haven't really had fun all by myself in a long time with a videogame, like having a big smile on my face. Doesn't mean I didn't like playing the games or I was looking at the graphics, I just find that most games now try to be dramatic and those who don't try don't really hit the other points (funny, terror, etc...)
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Yes games like TLoU, Journey and Skyrim can be entertaining but they lack the essential component of video games that games like Castlevania SotN, Meat Boy or Mario Galaxy have, the way they are pure fun by just delivering elegant level design.
 
I wouldn't be here if I didn't enjoy playing games.

I don't really care if a wall looks good for the sake of it, it's art direction that counts, and it's one of the many factors that make a good setting and atmosphere.

kevm3 said:
I'm tired of all the 'edgy' games with color palettes that look like they were taken from the inside of a dumpster. Too much realistic, post-apocalyptic, zombies, guns, race cars, yada yada.
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This, too.
 
Ansatz said:
Yes games like TLoU, Journey and Skyrim can be entertaining but they lack the essential component of video games that games like Castlevania SotN, Meat Boy or Mario Galaxy have, the way they are pure fun by just delivering elegant level design.
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What's essential to you is different from me.

Personally, I'll take Skyrim over Super Meat Boy, Castlevania or Super Mario Galaxy anyday. I simply have more fun with immersive, exploratory games like that, even if the level design isn't super brilliant.

Anyways, yes, I'm loving gaming still. Probably more than ever as I'm still somewhat giddy about making the switch to PC gaming last year and enjoying gaming at its finest.
 
Ansatz said:
Yes games like TLoU, Journey and Skyrim can be entertaining but they lack the essential component of video games that games like Castlevania SotN, Meat Boy or Mario Galaxy have, the way they are pure fun by just delivering elegant level design.
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In your opinion. It's not a good idea to project your idea of fun on other people.
 
I can honestly say that I'm having fun with MK8 and also throwing myself around in Infamous SS. The movement in the infamous games has always been second to none.

I enjoyed a good BF4 conquest game the other night. Is it "fun" if you're doing well and scoring points?
 
In between ftl, Dota and Spelunky I have been going back and replaying classics I missed, like Metal Gear Solid, Ocarina of Time, Mario Picross, etc.

It turns out that the key to me enjoying video games is to play quality games.
 
Ansatz said:
Yes games like TLoU, Journey and Skyrim can be entertaining but they lack the essential component of video games that games like Castlevania SotN, Meat Boy or Mario Galaxy have, the way they are pure fun by just delivering elegant level design.
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I couldn't disagree more. I quit gaming in the 16-bit era for half a decade, as I was fed up with the gameplay of the time, particularly with platformers and sidescrollers. The games of today are far more entertaining to me than anything back in the day. I do enjoy some retro(ish) gaming every once in a while, like Resogun.
 
Games are like books and movies. Some of them are for fun, some are challenging, some we want to play because we are horrified, some are ..etc.
So, fun, is, at least, relative. How fun is it for someone to kill hordes with a chainsaw in first person camera ? Does that mean he is mentally sick ?
I am completely devoted when i play Heartstone. Yes, i am having (some kind of) fun, but the truth is i am not laughing or smiling at any moment. I sitting quietly thinking my next move.
I was almost screaming when i play Outlast on my PS4. I was horrified (i want to be, like in the movies). But was it fun? Well, not exactly...
I platinumed GT6 some time ago. Did i have fun trying to drive 12,000 km to get the final trophy? Well, not exactly, but i want trough it anyway and now i "admire" my platinum.

So, it's not entirely about fun. Someone could play tetris for fun but someone else could try and be so competitive in it that the fun is gone. Or is it ?

This is why interactive entertainment is a far better set of words to use than "games". Games = toys = fun. It's not that simple though. Different people receive different feelings playing though the same "games' (heh).

So, to answer the OP question. Yes, i am having fun. And no, i am not having fun, but i like it :)
 
IvorB said:
You think that people are playing games purely so that they can have politically correct whinge-fests on GAF? People are playing games for fun. That has not changed. People are able to do this AND have conversations analysing that experience.
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I actually don't think a lot of the usual suspects in those topics play the games they are complaining about at all.
 
Well, yes. I'm not playing FTL for the graphics, that's for sure.

For me, games tend to be fun insofar that they are challenging. As a consequence, I tend to skip a lot of AAA games.
 
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