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View Full Version : Video Games: Competition vs. Enjoyment


Mario15632
11th July 2009, 03:46 PM
Ahh, video games... They are the materials that liberated us from boredom and puzzled our brains for hours on end, the materials that let us have fun in defeating our friend in multiplayer competitions, or even collaborating to beat a level together. What would our past be without them? Such fun games to play by yourself or with a friend; they can be the most competitive thing in the world sometimes and at other times, they can seem just as casual as anything else.

What I am trying to get to here, is, how do you think video games should be played? Do you play them purely for the fun of it, or for the competition of playing with your friends and beating them in what you play with them? But before I leave this up for discussion, I am going to cover both sides of the video game realm.

"Hardcore"/Competitive Video Games:

These are the kind of games that tournaments are played on; such series like Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart Wii, and other games that support multiplayer. These games will reward the experienced player and destroy the other player who is not as competitive. When you play these games, you must be as competitive as possible if you even want to have a chance of winning. Personally I enjoy these games the most because the competition makes the game more fun. As you can tell, it is the competition that makes the inexperience player give up and say, "Why are you being so competitive? Video games are for fun!" Which brings me to the other side of the argument.

Casual Games:

This category is made up of those who really don't care if they win or lose; they just want to have fun so that they can wipe away their boredom. These games may include Wii Fit, Wii Sports, and other such family/casual geared games. Nintendo wanted to get close to the casual gamers with the Wii and increase their consumer base by doing the aforementioned. Casuals tend to hate the "hardcore" gamers because they play the game so much, they are just really good at it, so the casual gamer is saying that the "hardcore" gamer needs to relax.

So what do you think about these two categories, and which one best fits you? Middle ground? Feel free to share your opinions.

Chrisjh0223
13th July 2009, 07:18 AM
I'm sort of in middle ground. Over the past few years I have been playing some games (mostly SM64DS and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games) off and on. Meanwhile, I always do a few minutes of Brain Training each day on a daily basis.

About a decade ago I was a hardcore gamer, getting 100% completion in games like SM64, Rogue Squadron, Goldeneye, and Star Fox 64. I even played Command & Conquer games. If only I had a better Internet connection at home, I could play the latter against people from all around the world. Lance the Echidna at these forums once offered to go against me in Yuri's Revenge, but once I informed him of my Internet capability he said something like "sorry to hear that, that's unfortunate. If you ever get the capability to play in multiplayer of C&C games, how about we battle?" I would like that, to go against Lance in any of the C&C games as they're very competitive and rule on so many levels.

Now, I pretty much watch other people play games on Youtube.

Wait, doesn't a topic like this already exist, but with more replies? >_>

elvis1835
13th July 2009, 02:58 PM
Why hasn't anyone zapped the double post yet?