Extraverts and Gaming

[substitute]

I'm interested in the different approaches to video gaming taken by introverts and extraverts. Many introverts say they don't know any extraverts who are 'really into gaming'. My personal experience is that I've known plenty of extraverts who are into gaming in a big way, but they approach it differently and often like different kinds of games.

Your thoughts, anyone?

 

[samIam]

I personally like any competition game like sports, shooter, whatever as long as it’s competition. There is plenty of crap talk to go with that ass kicking too. Strategy games are ok too but it’s a little awkward crap talking in the middle of the game

 

[Varelse]

Hmm...I can think of two Es (both ESXP, most likely), IRL who play games.

The first (little brother), tends to play only games that have multiplayer. FPS and racing games. He doesn't have the patience for my stealth games, and hasn't even tried any RPGs. He considers MMORPGs stupid. Oh, and he plays Halo on easy. Doesn't care for Live too much, prefers lan parties.

The other is the boyfriend of a friend of mine. He plays FPS, things like Guitar Hero and DDR, the occasional game of Splinter Cell, and Oblivion. Is always going on about how he pwned something or other. Uses cheats on Oblivion to create an uber character, has no interest in the storyline-just killing things.

I'm hoping I have a biased sample.

 

[samIam]

I'm hoping I have a biased sample.

Somehow I think it's close enough though. I think E's would much rather play against someone else than a computer. I myself get bored of playing against a CPU because they are very predictable and it's easy to put them into a pattern or unsafe spot.

Games that don't offer any player on player competition I will play and beat once, if it can hold my interest that long, but I will never play it again.

I tend to get bored of many RPG type games that have you do repetitive things like wonder endlessly in circles trying to level up...collect money AKA rinse repeat or the even more dreaded rinse repeat forever ( everquest types).

 

[Varelse]

It's the part about the uber character and playing on easy for the purpose of slaughtering everything that annoys me...that and a complete lack of regard for any artistic aspects of the game.

And I would get bored of wandering endlessly in circles trying to level up as well, though.

 

[substitute]

It's the part about the uber character and playing on easy for the purpose of slaughtering everything that annoys me...that and a complete lack of regard for any artistic aspects of the game.

I have sometimes put a game on easy setting (used to do it on Heretic years ago), but not all the time. It's when I'm using it, not as an intellectual pursuit, but a tension diffuser. Extraverts by definition deal with people more - dealing with people can be stressful, even for extraverts lol so when you come home after a day of it, it can feel good to just blast through a few levels, shooting things. Stress relief. At times like that I'm not interested in long, tedious plots or frustrating puzzle-solving exercises, or stopping to smell the polygons flowers - I just wanna run, run, run and kill, kill, kill.

However, at other times I've sat for many hours upon hours playing Medieval Total War I & II, building empires and exploring all the many possible outcomes and methods. Random pitched battles also, all the variables such as landscape, different troops and strategies, very absorbing for the Ne/Ti axis to get its teeth into.

But also, being an extravert and therefore spending more time with people (generally), I don't often get long stretches of time when I can play like that, nor would I want to. So I play human players as much as I can, and even better if there's a buddy or two with me and we make an evening of it with a few beers in, play it on a big 'screen' (hang a sheet on the wall and use the projector to make it BIG!), and play each other at things like Age of Empires etc.

Oh, and beat 'em ups can be hilarious entertainment - four friends, much alcohol, an old skool SNES and Street Fighter II Turbo - hours of fun and mutual pwnage! Sometimes I've laughed so hard I thought i'd die!

 

[nightning]

Well just a game style comparison... the ENTs I know prefer action/fast response type of games more than I do. I think some of them play to beat the game... or compete with another person to see who levels faster... that sort of thing.

Me? I'm more interested in figuring out variables in the game mechanics and tweaking things to optimize for specific tasks. Not too into crazy shooters either... I prefer more sedated games.

 

[Maverick]

Well, I would be rather surprised to find much differences. I can see arguments for and against gaming in this case. I can imagine extraverts liking gaming because they need external stimulation to get themselves going. In fact, I would imagine that it's the ExTx types that are the most into gaming.

I've always been a big video game fan because it enables me to *do* something rather than staying passive when you watch TV or read a book. I need to have challenges and goals. Games give me that exactly and are relaxing for me.

 

[samIam]

Oh, and beat 'em ups can be hilarious entertainment - four friends, much alcohol, an old skool SNES and Street Fighter II Turbo - hours of fun and mutual pwnage! Sometimes I've laughed so hard I thought i'd die!

Yeah that and WCW revenge!

 

[Varelse]

Good points, sub. You seem to put more thought into it than the extraverts I know...I get tired of discussions with then that are merely "and then I pwned him and threw his body over the edge" or "I used this cheat to give my character Daedric armor at level 10 and then slaughtered everything".

Of course, I pay more attention to games than most people...I've been told to go into designing them.

 

[htb]

Rarely do I end a multiplayer session considering where I could otherwise have spent the time, though I often question the investment after playing a game alone.

With Halo, where I interact with most of my online acquaintances, I dislike custom games, preferring to compete as a team, formally and seriously against strangers. Pickup games don't "count."

And, too, in team games I am compelled to keep the group coordinated by requesting updates on location and intention, and even issuing directives as politely as one can do with friends.

What that says about my E/I dichotomy, I don't know.

 

[The Ü™]

I think SPs gravitate towards console gaming while NTs gravitate towards PC, simply because they are entirely different experiences. Console emphasizes hand-eye coordination and tactics while PC gaming is about precision and strategy. Not to mention PC gamers have a stronger reputation for being geeks, going back to that NT stereotype.

But as far as E vs. I, I would imagine that the main difference is degree of obsession. But in S vs. N, I would imagine motivation matters more (what they want their game experience to be like); for the S, it's probably more about the gameplay and being skilled. For the N, it's more about following the story and being immersed in a fantasy world which isolates them from reality.

As for the SJs and the NFs, they make up the anti-video game groups who force their significant others to put their gaming systems in the basement. (Yet they will spend hours playing Windows Solitaire for hours and not even know it...)

 

[substitute]

Yeah Uber, I would tend to concur with a lot of what you say there.

I often play console games, but it's when I'm with many other players in the same room, so it's easier to sit around the TV screen with a control pad each, than crowded around my desk at the PC. If it's just me, or me and one other, I always prefer the PC and I've got dozens more PC games than console ones. I keep the consoles in the kids' rooms most of the time cos I don't use them that much since I got the projector for the PC.

But yeah, I've never really known an extravert to be as obsessed with gaming as some of the introverts I've known have been - one guy I know, probably ISTJ though not sure, definitely introvert though, has spent about the past 18 months holed up in his room playing WoW, while the world's passed him by. I can't imagine an extravert ever finding that at all tempting or appealing. Mind you I'm sure many introverts wouldn't find it appealing either, that degree of obsession, but even so, I still think the need to get out and do things and be with people would be an effective curb on that for an E.

I actually known an INFP who is a serious gamer - she spends large amounts upgrading her PC all the time to cope with the game specs and she plays those MMORPG's as well that I can't stand

 

[Varelse]

Heh...I do not have the money for a fancy PC, therefore I have a console.

 

[Metamorphosis]

Hrm, for some reason I thought this would be about something totally different.

 

[substitute]

Heh...I do not have the money for a fancy PC, therefore I have a console.

I haven't either - I just play the older games or the new ones with the settings turned down!

 

[Athenian200]

How does this compare to the experiences of others:

Typically, what I do first is try to go through normally without a walkthrough. Then I'll be a little confused after the first level or so because I missed some things the first time through, and I'll start a new game to catch them. Then I'll usually get to the last few stages or so, and get so frustrated by something that I finally read a walkthrough, or else I manage to finish without one. Then I go back and read a walkthrough, and start a new game to get/do as many of the things I missed the first time as I can.

If there are several mutually exclusive ways to do something, I'll play through as many times as I must to experience them all. Although I never actually impose artificial limitations on myself, or deliberately raise the difficulty settings. I don't use cheats unless I've already done all of the above, and just want to see what it's like to go through virtually unimpeded.

 

[Atomic Fiend]

As for the SJs and the NFs, they make up the anti-video game groups who force their significant others to put their gaming systems in the basement. (Yet they will spend hours playing Windows Solitaire for hours and not even know it...)

Not really. While I can't speak for SJs, my ENFP friend has owned every system since NES, and probably will continue to buy every single one till he dies. I think now his game of choice is probably a toss up between Guitar Hero III and Halo 3. He plays competitive bouts with friends all the time. It can be a bit draining with him grabbing a large group of friends every other week to play against, and is annoying when he proceeds to decimate us because of his greater experience.

The only one who can stand against him is the ISTP friend, who spends his time divided between Mass Effect and, once again Guitar Hero III

I don't play games as much as they do, the games I play are 2D fighters, 3D fighters, Zelda games, and the more recent Final Fantasy games.

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Man do I love playing video games. I wish I could spend more time and money toward it than I do. When I was younger I used to spend many hours every day playing video games, and I would still do so if I didn't have all these responsibilities and time commitments that I now do.

I tend to like most kinds of video games, but competitive games are my least favorite. I don't really like fighting games or first person shooters. I do like lots of different console type games like platformers, adventure, RPG's, etc.... My favorite games are probably MMORPG's. In general I've always liked cooperative games the best, which is one thing I like about MMORPG's, and also they tend to be large with lots of different aspects to explore, a variety of players, complex economy, etc....

I also like games which are fun while being fairly challenging. I don't like using cheat codes, and will only look at a walkthrough as a very last resort. My wife by contrast (INFJ) likes to download cheat codes immediately for every game she plays.

 

[substitute]

How does this compare to the experiences of others: ....

actually, reading that reminded me pretty accurately of my approach to the Baldur's Gate series.