Whats happened to my favourite hobby? In between the fragfests, the lan parties, the $50,000 tournaments, the meaning of gaming was lost somewhere in time and really, this disappoints me.
I've been playing PC games for like 8 years. I played the Duke Nukems, the Commander Keens, Warcraft I and II, Kings Quest's, Police Quest's, Quake I and II, and in between there all sorts of oldies I can't think of at the moment (Oh can't forget Red Alert !!)
Gaming for me was, and still is, me going to my computer, loading up a game, playing the game itself, enjoying the game, and then when I got tired I'd do something else.
Today gaming is like a sport, people log on for 8-10 hours at a time, require bleeding edge hardware to help them rack up the best points, they put on their gamefaces and talk smack, and bash those who are inferior in the game. These are the gamers self-dubbed "hardcore" or "1337".
I mean, I'll admit, I enjoy playing multiplayer games too, I'll log in to a counterstrike server, I'll play Guild Wars with my online characters and guildmates, BF2 is really fun, and so on and so on. But in that same sense, singleplayer campaigns never lost their appeal to me ever. I mean, i played games before the internet became popular so singleplayer was all that really existed. I played through Starcraft's campaign, Warcraft's (all of them), Age of Empires III's, Quakes (all of them, including the latest), Half Life 2's (OH MAN AMAZING!!), and HL1's
and at the moment I'm playing through Jedi Knight II: Jedi Academy's campaign. I'm really enjoying it as well, its tonnes of fun killing imperial troops with my lightsaber and sniping mercenaries from half way across the map. Multiplayer is also great too, but lately the singleplayer has been pulling me in.
Anyways, I think I strayed a bit off topic. What I'm saying is that most of my friends who are also gamers don't appreciate the same things that I do in gaming. Like, for example I've been playing Guild Wars for a long time now, I don't play to get to level 20 or have all the sweet gear and items, I play so I can hang out with my guildmates and play through each mission and quest, enjoy the storyline, and ultimately this is what makes me happy. My friend recently bought the game, got to level 20 in a week (he got rushed around everywhere and etc..) and now he ridicules me for being such a "n00b." It's insane! He only played through like not even 1/4 of the games missions all so he can get to level 20 and "farm creatures" for items. I guess this makes some people happy but man, thats quite a competitive edge.
Another example, I bought Warcraft III back when it came out, played its singleplayer and then got into its multiplayer. All of it was really fun. My friends buy it, they don't even bother with singleplayer, they immediately jump into multiplayer, play hardcore 1v1 matches for the next month and learn how to beat lots of people in the game. Again, I'm dubbed the "n00b."
And my recent happening, I told my friend I'm playing through JA's singleplayer campaign and I'm stuck in a part of the game. He goes "Why are youwasting you're time in singleplayer? You're a n00b."
I don't understand. Why am I a n00b? I payed for these video games so I can enjoy them, and since I'm enjoying them that makes me a n00b? Video gaming somewhere got translated into a sport, which doesn't bother me really, everyone is different and enjoys different things, but this left a huge impression on the gamers of today and tommorow in the way they'll interpret gaming, not as a fun passtime but really, as a sport. It's no different then soccer leagues with the tournament matches and the famous gamer celebrities (Korea, *rolls eyes), it has TV channels, huge prize awards, and lets not forget "the hardcore 1337" players.
Yeah thats all I got to say.
I've been playing PC games for like 8 years. I played the Duke Nukems, the Commander Keens, Warcraft I and II, Kings Quest's, Police Quest's, Quake I and II, and in between there all sorts of oldies I can't think of at the moment (Oh can't forget Red Alert !!)
Gaming for me was, and still is, me going to my computer, loading up a game, playing the game itself, enjoying the game, and then when I got tired I'd do something else.
Today gaming is like a sport, people log on for 8-10 hours at a time, require bleeding edge hardware to help them rack up the best points, they put on their gamefaces and talk smack, and bash those who are inferior in the game. These are the gamers self-dubbed "hardcore" or "1337".
I mean, I'll admit, I enjoy playing multiplayer games too, I'll log in to a counterstrike server, I'll play Guild Wars with my online characters and guildmates, BF2 is really fun, and so on and so on. But in that same sense, singleplayer campaigns never lost their appeal to me ever. I mean, i played games before the internet became popular so singleplayer was all that really existed. I played through Starcraft's campaign, Warcraft's (all of them), Age of Empires III's, Quakes (all of them, including the latest), Half Life 2's (OH MAN AMAZING!!), and HL1's
and at the moment I'm playing through Jedi Knight II: Jedi Academy's campaign. I'm really enjoying it as well, its tonnes of fun killing imperial troops with my lightsaber and sniping mercenaries from half way across the map. Multiplayer is also great too, but lately the singleplayer has been pulling me in.Anyways, I think I strayed a bit off topic. What I'm saying is that most of my friends who are also gamers don't appreciate the same things that I do in gaming. Like, for example I've been playing Guild Wars for a long time now, I don't play to get to level 20 or have all the sweet gear and items, I play so I can hang out with my guildmates and play through each mission and quest, enjoy the storyline, and ultimately this is what makes me happy. My friend recently bought the game, got to level 20 in a week (he got rushed around everywhere and etc..) and now he ridicules me for being such a "n00b." It's insane! He only played through like not even 1/4 of the games missions all so he can get to level 20 and "farm creatures" for items. I guess this makes some people happy but man, thats quite a competitive edge.
Another example, I bought Warcraft III back when it came out, played its singleplayer and then got into its multiplayer. All of it was really fun. My friends buy it, they don't even bother with singleplayer, they immediately jump into multiplayer, play hardcore 1v1 matches for the next month and learn how to beat lots of people in the game. Again, I'm dubbed the "n00b."
And my recent happening, I told my friend I'm playing through JA's singleplayer campaign and I'm stuck in a part of the game. He goes "Why are youwasting you're time in singleplayer? You're a n00b."
I don't understand. Why am I a n00b? I payed for these video games so I can enjoy them, and since I'm enjoying them that makes me a n00b? Video gaming somewhere got translated into a sport, which doesn't bother me really, everyone is different and enjoys different things, but this left a huge impression on the gamers of today and tommorow in the way they'll interpret gaming, not as a fun passtime but really, as a sport. It's no different then soccer leagues with the tournament matches and the famous gamer celebrities (Korea, *rolls eyes), it has TV channels, huge prize awards, and lets not forget "the hardcore 1337" players.
Yeah thats all I got to say.
