How do you play?

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I've been thinking recently about the idea that gaming's meant to be about escapism - you get into a scenario or a character, something other, and enjoy it a while like you would a film.

And then I thought about how I play the games I do. I like my sandbox sim games like the Sims, Simcity, Animal Crossing etc. And recently it occurred to me that I am an obsessive control freak! I make sure my Sims have good health and wealth, never go wanting, that sort of thing,

Why can't I let go and set someone on fire or let them die or whatever? Whats the point of the escapism if I'm forcing my characters to, well... be me?

How do you play your games? Can you let go and be something totally "other"? Or does your personality and your wants take over and run the show?

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 22 September 2006 09:34 (nineteen years ago)

i'm the same - i often end up playing "as myself", unless i make a real effort to roleplay it, as it were. in war/strat games, i always end up building and building and building, never making aggressive actions unless attacked. i try to keep my people happy and healthy, even in games like Tropico, where it's entirely possible to be a cruel-ass dictator and still win. I find it VERY hard to break away from my own moral standpoint in 'play as yrself' games.

when it comes to RPGs, however, it's a different story. any game in which i get to make my own character from scratch, i'll play it from the character's POV. so, if the game includes alignment, i stick to the alignment i choose, even if it makes the game 'harder'. a good example is my Good aligned Cleric character in Oblivion. She's a healer, a good person, a bit self-righteous, i guess. So in the game, I won't steal/pick locks/murder etc. This is just because i enjoy the Roleplaying part of RPGs, which is often sorely lacking. Which. incidentally, explains my hatred of MMOs.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Friday, 22 September 2006 10:31 (nineteen years ago)

I think the problem stems from not wanting to ruin all the hard work you've done in the game up to that point by just being crazy-I had the same issue with Sim City; I could never bring myself to unleash the fire or other disasters on my city, because I couldn't bear to see the thing I'd created (literally) go up in smoke.

Thinking about it, this seems silly, as I'm sure I would've got even more joy out of seeing it repair itself.

― steal compass, drive north, disappear (tissp), Friday, 22 September 2006 10:33 (nineteen years ago)

Kit its interesting that you only roleplay in actual RPGs. Thats the sort of thing I'm interested in. My bf is a games designer/programmer and he often asks me: as a casual gamer, what do I want? I find it an interesting question. Why do I like Sim games? I find myself building homes and making them snazz, am I acting out my wish fulfilment?

I too cant bring myself to wreck up my SimCities with disasters, even though thats a game play of its own. Hell, even in The Movies I found myself fussing over the lot, rather than directing the bloody movies themselves.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 22 September 2006 10:42 (nineteen years ago)

From the ZX Spectrum onwards, I've tended to prefer either (mainly) 1st person shooters - doom, quake, half life and so on, or follow the little person around and control their actions games - GTA3 onwards, basically. What I like about them is the exploring aspect, the sense of "place", which was especially strong in the GTA games. Other styles of game I either haven't really enjoyed, or can't get interested enough in to even try out. The only game I can think of that I really dug was "Dungeon Keeper", I really enjoyed the stategy apect of that - setting traps and building doors to defend your dungeon, whilst working out the best way to defeat the opposing dungeon. Dungeon Keeper 2 I enjoyed a lot less for some reason.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 22 September 2006 10:44 (nineteen years ago)

it's generally only in RPGs because of the character thing. If i get the freedom to set my character's basics such as name, age and gender in a game, i immediately begin thinking more about the character - where they're from, their personality and goals, etc.
if i'm given a set character to play, or i play as a nameless/faceless god/entity/king/whatever, i'll generally play from my own perspective.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Friday, 22 September 2006 10:56 (nineteen years ago)

eg. in Sim City, i won't dare harm my lovely city & its citizens, i'll keep them as safe as possible.
in the Sims2, i'll make a few sims, decide their personalities and stick to them. some will be nice, whereas i'll force others to perform "bad" interactions with other sims, some will strive for money and power, others will be made to be slacker types or "stay at home" sims.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Friday, 22 September 2006 11:00 (nineteen years ago)

I find myself building homes and making them snazz, am I acting out my wish fulfilment?

It's a lot cheaper to do it in a game than in real life!

― steal compass, drive north, disappear (tissp), Friday, 22 September 2006 11:08 (nineteen years ago)

Bad all the way baby! I always go for the bad guys in RPG's and in sim games I love abusing power. KOTOR I played through as bad and it was a hell of a lot more fun than the good path.

― Darramouss (Darramouss ftw), Friday, 22 September 2006 12:19 (nineteen years ago)

yes, but why am i not surprised?

― teh_kit (g-kit), Friday, 22 September 2006 12:21 (nineteen years ago)

I always feel like the new sandbox games are about cathartic urban release-- if I actually played like myself, in the moral universe I live in, I don't think I'd have nearly as much fun playing them. Steven Poole's article about the Spider-Man the movie game's really good on the subject of conquering the urban landscape in this way. But did anyone ever see someone play a GTA-type game whose neuroses from the real world transfer over? It's hilarious. My friend Ben actually parallel-parks in the GTA games. He can't stand to watch me play them, smashing up cars and running red lights. He jackknifes over with anxiety and frustration. It's really something.

― antexit (antexit), Friday, 22 September 2006 13:12 (nineteen years ago)

My friend Ben actually parallel-parks in the GTA games.

i'm not THAT bad.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Friday, 22 September 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

I'd like to know what FPS and other games you were playing on the speccy!

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 22 September 2006 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

I get the occasional pang of guilt when I run the pedestrians over in GTA, but generally I just barrel around everywhere at top speed, and if the car blows up (it usually does), jack another one.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 22 September 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

i had a western FPS on the speccy. fucked if i can remember the name, though. there was no movement, obv, just a crosshair that floated around the screen.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Friday, 22 September 2006 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

Haha, I added the speccy bit in after I'd written the rest of the post! The speccy games I liked were ones with exploration of the location as a major part, though. My favourites were Dun Darach, Knight Lore and Dragontorc of Avalon.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 22 September 2006 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

Man I screwed up that hijacking mission so many times in GTA:SA that I wish had practiced parallel parking!

I tend to play games that I get completely absorbed in, I definitely take on the characteristics of the characters. I've never enjoy FPS as I like to take in the surrounding environment and have more of a feel for what's behind me. I'm definitely a builder, I hate fighting in MMO or RTS but when I must I do. I dunno, games are great to escape with but I'm really enjoying we heart Katamari and pyschonauts because they are so easy to walk away from.

Part of it is that I'm new to consoles so it's very refreshing to not have to wait ages to boot something up :)

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Friday, 22 September 2006 13:42 (nineteen years ago)

Pashmina you are so prog.

― steal compass, drive north, disappear (tissp), Friday, 22 September 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

Sometimes in GTA, I try to observe the rules of the road, e.g. stopping at red lights, staying in the right lane, and so on. Then I got impatient with the jerk in front of me and waste him with a Desert Eagle headshot.

― c('°c) (Leee), Friday, 22 September 2006 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, i've done that a few times.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Friday, 22 September 2006 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

if you obey the rules of the road in GTA it takes you forever to get anywhere! I think they must have made it like that deliberately so you'd wind up driving like a mentalist.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 22 September 2006 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

i spent hours the other night playing San Andreas and riding my bike off the skyscraper. then i would sit atop whatever skyscraper roof i'd landed on, firing at vehicles with my bazooka. that can't be right, can it?

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Friday, 22 September 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

OTOH, with games like The Sims where I "become" a character that I can build from scratch, I invariably choose a female avatar and then cohabitate with another woman (Boston marriage ahoy hoy), but you see, not for reasons lascivious or titillating. Instead, I can't bring myself to reproduce heteronormative male/female relationships in this idealized space, and I suppose I identify myself at some obscure level of consciousness as a femme lesbian. OK, I've said too much.

I never "identify" with Tommy Vercetti or CJ in the GTAs, though I do quasi-identify with Snake when I play Metal Gear, because mullets are inherent feminine.

― c('°c) (Leee), Friday, 22 September 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

I don't mind fucking shit up in GTA/Sim games, but that's partly because I get easily frustrated with the main objectives (never been good at those particular series).

I was seriously shocked to find that I didn't like playing an asshole in KotOR, for the short time that I played it. It made me really uncomfortable.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 22 September 2006 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

Nah it's fun you can choke people and ruin families and stuff. And FORCE LIGHTNING!

― Darramouss (Darramouss ftw), Friday, 22 September 2006 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

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