Once again, Mr. Miller has it backwards

by thebruce , Ontario, Canada, Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 07:47 (4240 days ago) @ Kermit

I also have free will. I can choose not to pursue rewards that are not fun for me to pursue. That's why the only Halo game in which I have all achievements is ODST, which, interestingly enough, doesn't have any competitive multiplayer achievements.

I might be stepping in it, but, like I asked above, does everyone have the maturity to act on their desires - to make decisions for themselves?

This thread keeps reminding me of my wife's mother's boyfriend's son. He's... like what, twelve? Anywho - he bangs on about how we never play any fun games (spoiler: the games he likes are more or less loathed in places that end with bungie.org).

Sure, maybe he's just a kid, and he'll grow out of it. Maybe he won't. Have I? Have you? Are we sure?

Fair point. As a kid, I didn't have access to a computer (personal computers didn't really exist) or a console (unless you count Pong). VCRs didn't exist either, so I was really into books and music. I was interested in the arcades, but never spent enough time there to call it a hobby. (For whatever reason, I was into vector arcade games.) I played several early Mac games later, but Marathon was what motivated me to buy a computer capable of color. But I digress.

In regards to this issue, I can't say I've grown out of a habit I formed when I was young. I do have a compulsive streak, though, and the argument here seems to be that rewards tap into motivations that have nothing to with having fun. I can't tease it all out. I can say I have a stack of games I haven't finished because at some point I wasn't having enough fun to continue. The reward model has never interested me much because that seemed to involve time or skill I didn't have at age 30, which is when modern gaming began for me. I have coveted some rewards, though, like the Recon helmet (which this community helped me get), but for the most part, I'm aware I'll never be broadly competitive, so never imagined I'd get all or even most of the rewards a game had to offer. Why lust after a Maserati when you know the career you've chosen (and that you're happy with) will never allow you to own one?

Saying all this makes me realize how far I may be from the average gamer, so I think I'll just shut up now.

Ditto.
Also, define "gamer" :P
But really, what is an 'average gamer'? In what context? In a way, I don't think you're far from an average gamer; I think, as with many things online, there's a lot of people out there than we think associated with something we think is less significant. It's a small fraction of the whole who speak up the most, and if a subject encourages more passion on one end, then there will naturally be more voice on that end, even if there is more quantity on the other.

How do we know who the average gamer is? I suppose we could look at sales figures. And that may be why "player investment", or even online multiplayer (which I like you typically avoid) is so much more prevalent in 'modern gaming' now than it used to be; because the shorter-term passion is higher in that context. There end up being more sales there, causing developers either to think that is what the majority wants, or just that that's where the money is.

Maybe the average gamer doesn't care for that class of game. But if those gamers never make their existence truly known, then we're in a downward spiral losing out to the more vocal, visible, lucrative demographic. =/

In short, don't shut up ;)