Some things are worth not enjoying right away (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, March 23, 2015, 23:17 (3786 days ago) @ BeardFade

But it's not really. You should be having fun right away. If a game "doesn't get good until later" that means it's designed improperly. And why play a boring game to just have fun later, when you could play a game that's fun from the start?

Haven't you done anything in life that was really challenging, perhaps no fun at all at first, only to then reap the benefits and enjoyment of that work later? There is so much of life that works this way!

I can think of a lot of examples but I'll just share one. I'm a guitarist. It took me over 6 months to get a chord ring out easily as I developed the callouses and the hand strength. If I hadn't gotten through that, I would have never wrote a song and made a few albums. That was totally worth it. But I meet people every day who quit before they got through the first 6 months. It really saddens me.

I'm not saying games have to be that way, and frankly, far be it for me to try and say how to design a great game. I have no idea. But some things in life are enjoyable only after you've invested more time than any sane person ever would. Lack of hardship is not the cornerstone of a good game or a good life.

I think the distinction (at least for me) is that playing a guitar is a skill, an expression, an art form, a creative outlet, etc. Now videogames are of course many different things to each of us, but generally speaking, they are games. Activities that we engage in specifically to have fun. When I put thousands of hours I to learning how to play guitar, some of it was fun, some of it was very much NOT. But I was dedicated to it because I was learning a skill, something that would lead to a lot of enjoyment and creative expression for me.

Now Destiny is not like most games for me, because I've dedicated such a massive amount if time to it. It can be stressful or frustrating at times, but I stick with it because I'm progressing towards enjoyable goals. The only reason I put up with the brief lows is because the high marks are so damn fun, it makes it worthwhile for me.

But most games... If I'm not having fun RIGHT AWAY, I put them down. After all, I'm playing them to have fun. If I'm thinking to myself "I would be having more fun if I were playing Destiny or Titanfall right now", then I shut it off and go play Destiny or Titanfall.