Gamers, please come here

[InvisibleJim]

Playing games is one of my prefered leisure activites. I have played many many games and my favourite medium is the PC. I have no particularly prefered type of game although I am disinclined towards sports games which I find unimaginative. I play a lot. That's all you need to know.

 

[Totenkindly]

I learned that fact while playing Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness.
But I also learned that moldavia is very remote and once you get there it's a pain in the ass to leave. Hmm, *ponders*. But at least it's safe to sleep in the middle of the woods at Erana's beautiful garden!

I loved Shadows of Darkness. (and the identity and fate of poor Katrina or Katrinka or whatever her name was..!)

 

[Fluffywolf]

I loved Shadows of Darkness. (and the identity and fate of poor Katrina or Katrinka or whatever her name was..!)

The entire game was epic and very well written. But yeah, Katrina's character is probably the most sorry I've ever felt for a game character. The rusalka was pretty sad as well, but that might've been my teen hormones talking.

 

[Totenkindly]

Aside from entertainment reasons, what things (physical, mental, social etc) do you learn from gaming?

It depends on the game, but I've learned teamwork, communication with other types of people, how to read people.
In creative games, we weave stories together to provide a satisfying narrative.
Physical games can improve physical abilities and overall health.

Also, what kind of games do you enjoy playing the most and WHY?

I'm not really sure which games I enjoy most. I like a variety of game, and so if I do one type for too long, I get bored with it and meanwhile feel a need to do other things. I also often don't have others to play games with, locally, so many games are individual computer games.

I do typically like games that engage my mind and provide choices about how to meet goals. I also enjoy games where my choices impact character development and storyline.

But... if I'm in a mood where I want to stop thinking and just respond to things, I really enjoy driving games or shooting games.

When other people are around, I like playing interactive games. Hearts, Spoons, Uno, Apples to Apples, Rummy Q, Quiddler, Pictionary, Clue, Dutch Blitz. (My kids and I always have had a lot of fun with those games.) On occasions when I wanted to invest brain power, I'd play Risk or chess or bridge.

For physical games, I'll play trampoline games, or frisbee/Ultimate, or spud, or throw a ball. On occasion, I'll play soccer or freezetag/capture the flag.

How many hours per week do you estimate you spend playing?

I probably play games on Facebooks 5-6 hours a week.
When I was playing Rift (a new popular MMO), I played probably 20-25 hours a week, but right now maybe only five hours a week.
I'm on a pen-and-paper gaming schedule where, if we stick to schedule, we play probably five hours a week.

 

[Giggly]

When I learned about type theory, I realized that all my RPG characters were basically my own type. After that I made a conscious effort to design characters with significant differences, but I then found I was much less successful and comfortable playing them. Gaming is one of the few activities I do with a group, so it is a significant social outlet as well.

Did you keep this up or did you go back to the types of characters you were familiar with?
also, what types are the people you play with in your group?

 

[Randomnity]

Why don't you like shooting-type games? I'm pretty sure I'd like shooting-type games but only if they were shooting something other than people. lol I know I sound lame but I'm being honest.

1 - no strategy involved (at least in the games I know of), which is the main (possibly only) appeal for me in games
2 - I don't really like real-time games for the most part, I find them stressful rather than relaxing. I'd rather have time to sit and think about the best strategy rather than having to punch a thousand keys.
3 - Most games require accurate and rapid hand-eye coordination which is not my strength, so I tend to do poorly and then get frustrated
4 - the idea of shooting people even in a game really really really doesn't appeal to me, it's almost "gross" to me (perhaps interestingly, I think I would be ok with real-life hunting deer or something, although I've never tried it). I also don't like the gloomy/horror kind of atmosphere that is pretty common in those games.
5 - probably as a result of all of the above factors, I've found every shooting game that I've tried to be mind-numbingly boring while also frustrating and stressful. Not at all entertaining. The only reason I play games is entertainment so.....

(that said, I have really enjoyed playing RTS and some MMOs, despite the real-time aspect. I especially like co-op real-time, which takes some of the stress off, and I find it more fun to be in a team for many games. Especially MMOs where teamwork is really the entire game for me. Most games are real-time since most people seem to prefer them, so there's not many decent alternatives. )

(as a random aside, I'm one of the only people I've met who cares almost nothing for the storyline, and usually skip by it if I can, or skim it at most. I can read a book for much more interesting stories- I want to be playing the game)

 

[InvisibleJim]

Although according to the first sample (640 points) plenty of INFPs and ENFJs in WOW.

 

[Stigmata]

Aside from entertainment reasons, what things (physical, mental, social etc) do you learn from gaming?

The detrimental effect that food with little nutritional value can have on the body when coupled with a sedentary lifestyle.

Also, what kind of games do you enjoy playing the most and WHY?

MMORPGs, RTS's, and RPGs. The occasional FPS.

How many hours per week do you estimate you spend playing?

Maybe 15 hours, give or take.

 

[Giggly]

Although according to the first sample (640 points) plenty of INFPs and ENFJs in WOW.

Are these for real or did you just make them up?
What's up with the ENFJs?

 

[Randomnity]

I have a strong preference for healers in MMOs, with a secondary preference for range DPS, because I'm a pansy. If you want a datapoint from someone who was never really hardcore anyway (and also never played wow)

Not sure what the wow characters are but I played the warhammer mmo for maybe a year, and my favourite was the disciple (basically dark warrior priest). Solid healing and decent damage for a healer, I liked having the option for either. I have heard (and experienced) that females disproportionately prefer healer characters, for whatever reason, although certainly that's no more than a rough trend, with plenty of overlap.

edit: I think there is a thread somewhere on type and mmo characters if you're interested.

 

[Patches]

I ironically, I had opened this thread in a tab and intended to answer yesterday.....

And then I ended up getting sucked into a new game from the Steam sale, and played for about 6 hours straight.

 

[Giggly]

edit: I think there is a thread somewhere on type and mmo characters if you're interested.

you mean like which type prefers which characters? If so, that's probably more detail about mmo's specifically than I can handle at this point, but type theory related to gaming overall is interesting to me.

 

[Fluffywolf]

I ironically, I had opened this thread in a tab and intended to answer yesterday.....

And then I ended up getting sucked into a new game from the Steam sale, and played for about 6 hours straight.

I just bought two games there, played both for 20 mins and was dissappointed by both of them.

Which game got you going for 6 hours?

 

[Coriolis]

Did you keep this up or did you go back to the types of characters you were familiar with?
also, what types are the people you play with in your group?

I did not keep it up, largely due to convenience and playability. Our campaigns go on sometimes for years, which means I keep the same character that long. In over 15 years of RPGs, I have thus had 6-7 characters. I experimented this way with my previous two characters, and found it very difficult to stay in character, and even to determine how the character might approach situations when I tried to think of it outside of the game, with plenty of time to reflect. This made my play lack spontaneity and be overthought and wooden. While I might gain something from continuing to work at it, the game flows better and is more enjoyable for everyone if I have a character I can play with more consistency and fluidity. So, my current character is actually a remake of my second and favorite character. I may revisit this experiment later, if the circumstances support it.

My current group includes an INTP (the DM), 2 ISTJs, ENTJ, ISTP, and myself. Another INTP moved away recently, and we occasionally have "guests" or short-term players, whose type I do not know. The ENTJ definitely stands out in the group. She brings props, and is by far the best at speaking/acting in character. The rest of us tend to describe what our character is doing; she shows it.

 

[Patches]

I just bought two games there, played both for 20 mins and was dissappointed by both of them.

Which game got you going for 6 hours?

Sanctum. FPS + Tower Defense game in 1. Got it for 3.75. Loving both singleplayer and coop.

Also, I bought Fable III but havent played it yet. I heard it sucks but, meh. I liked the original so Ill give it a go.

Everytime Steam has one of these sales I just go nuts... like... BUY ALLLLLL THE THINGS!!!!

 

[Fluffywolf]

Sanctum. FPS + Tower Defense game in 1. Got it for 3.75. Loving both singleplayer and coop.

Also, I bought Fable III but havent played it yet. I heard it sucks but, meh. I liked the original so Ill give it a go.

Everytime Steam has one of these sales I just go nuts... like... BUY ALLLLLL THE THINGS!!!!

Yeah, same here. Most games dissappoint though. I quite enjoyed Fable 3 myself, but the coop is pretty damn buggy. I'm still playing it occasionally just to get the achievements it's true the game doesn't really have replayability and is sort of just too short. I also got all the dlc, but they were a bit dissappoint too. Except maybe for the prison one. If you also bought all the dlc I could drop in your game sometime but only people with same dlc can play together. Pretty lame.

 

[RDF]

Why don't you like shooting-type games? I'm pretty sure I'd like shooting-type games but only if they were shooting something other than people. lol I know I sound lame but I'm being honest.

You can always buy a real gun, head to the range, and do some target shooting. You can't shoot people or zombies with irl shooting, but shooting at clay disks on the fly (shooting on skeet and trap ranges) is pretty exhilarating. And some areas have competitive shooting events or circuits as well. Other places offer combat courses.

Or there's paintball or laser tag for shooting games in a competitive/team setting.

I used to spend a lot of time at target ranges. But it's kind of an all-day event, especially when you throw in travel time and gun cleaning afterward. I'm thinking of looking at bowling leagues for my next big thing.

 

[Rail Tracer]

I did not keep it up, largely due to convenience and playability. Our campaigns go on sometimes for years, which means I keep the same character that long. In over 15 years of RPGs, I have thus had 6-7 characters. I experimented this way with my previous two characters, and found it very difficult to stay in character, and even to determine how the character might approach situations when I tried to think of it outside of the game, with plenty of time to reflect. This made my play lack spontaneity and be overthought and wooden. While I might gain something from continuing to work at it, the game flows better and is more enjoyable for everyone if I have a character I can play with more consistency and fluidity. So, my current character is actually a remake of my second and favorite character. I may revisit this experiment later, if the circumstances support it.

I rarely ever stayed in character while playing FFXI. I think it was because the people I interacted with were generally just more sociable over roleplaying. Then again, I don't think I ever roleplayed and rarely met people who roleplayed seriously.

The classes I played were generally
Paladin - Tank class
Beastmaster - Solo Class
Samurai - Damage Dealing Class

But as a rule, since I was able to play one character and level every class, I really only needed 1 character for all those classes.

In terms of being an emotional outlet how satisfying is it?

It is a leisure activity, something to just relax and have fun.

 

[Coriolis]

I rarely ever stayed in character while playing FFXI. I think it was because the people I interacted with were generally just more sociable over roleplaying. Then again, I don't think I ever roleplayed and rarely met people who roleplayed seriously.

The classes I played were generally
Paladin - Tank class
Beastmaster - Solo Class
Samurai - Damage Dealing Class

We degenerate into socializing, too, which probably doesn't help any of us stay focused on our characters. (Our DM tries to rein us in, but it is like herding cats.) Somehow, I have always played mages, except once, briefly, a cleric. Whenever I have considered branching out, none of the other players wanted to play a mage, so I did it again, so the party would have one.

 

[Giggly]

You can always buy a real gun, head to the range, and do some target shooting. You can't shoot people or zombies with irl shooting, but shooting at clay disks on the fly (shooting on skeet and trap ranges) is pretty exhilarating. And some areas have competitive shooting events or circuits as well. Other places offer combat courses.

Or there's paintball or laser tag for shooting games in a competitive/team setting.

I used to spend a lot of time at target ranges. But it's kind of an all-day event, especially when you throw in travel time and gun cleaning afterward. I'm thinking of looking at bowling leagues for my next big thing.

What you said made me think. I realized that in order of preference I like:

1. The shooting games at carnivals (I love these!)
2. Going to a shooting range IRL sounds fun but I don't feel the desire to buy a gun and I'd be slightly spooked.
3. Playing a shooting video game

Also, I'm sure there's bowling video games, but the difference is you get to move your body more with real world sports vs virtual sports.