Why Play

Okay so you tried a game, and you didn't like it....

But why?

I think it is important to experiment, but it is also important to think about what works and doesn't work for you.  It is important to figure out what you get out of gaming.  Do you enjoy organizing things, playing dress up, smashing things, being covert?  Do you play for interaction with others, or are you playing to get the hell away from others.  Do you like being part of a team, or do you like destroying the hopes and dreams of others.  For each person for gaming to be useful you need to be able to get something out of it.

Play some games, figure out a couple you like, then maybe sit down and think about, write about, why you liked it.  You may find you learn something about yourself.  Likewise maybe think about a few of the failed experiments and write out what you don't like about them.  Doing this, if you look at the similarities, and themes, you can find out why you game.

I for instance am an escapist gamer.  I game to be somewhere someone that I am not.  As such I tend to enjoy relatively immersive RPG type games.

I am also a collector, I like the challenge of figuring out the system, and getting all the things I want.  Finding more efficient ways to do it.  I want to have the matching set, I want to catch them all, I want to find ways to get what I want.  So games that have collections, drops, or a range of items to get work for me.  For instance the Diablo series, CCGs (collectible card games [both real and electronic]), and those silly little games like Dragonvale, Farmville, etc.

I like to take quick breaks.  I enjoy games that I can pick up and so something with whenever, but don't require a huge time sink to be productive.  Mobile platform games, phone/Ipad games fit this well.  I can be sitting in a train play Zombie Jombie till the next stop.  Or I can be waiting for food at a restaurant, and go hatch my next little monster in my little monster shop game.  Some read on the toilet, I hatch dragons.

Simulation games bore me once I have everything I want, games that developers walk away from cease to grow and get stagnant for me.  Games that require loooong patches of time to continue on in, Like World of Warcraft.... Well while I enjoy them they aren't good for me.

To maximize your gaming experience you have to figure out what makes you tick.  Games are only fun if well they are fun.  And fun believe it or not is a relative issue.  Here is an example, someone writing about where Blizzard went wrong with Diablo III Why Diablo 3 is less addictive then Diablo 2.  While I totally understand their logic, it doesn't seem to hold true for my urges to play or not.  This is exactly why you have to figure it out for yourself... What kind of gamer are you, and why do you play?

Paint a pretty picture

Customization is a big thing now a days...

Everyone wants to put their personal touch, their little flourish on something, and in video-games it isn't any different.  Almost any game you can choose now a days will come with some degree of customization.  In some it might be just picking a group affiliation, with aesthetic changes that may only be in color.  In others you can pick races, where statures and shapes are vastly different.  Or maybe you can choose your gear, make gear, or even dyes and colors.  In yet others you can go as far as to determine to the millimeter how high the cheek bones will sit.  All in all you better be ready.  With all the time you have already invested up to this point in your new gaming identity, the one most visual aspect of you is yet to be done... How will you look?

Male/Female, Human/monster/animal/other, tall/short, skinny/fat... scars... freckles... hair... It can be quite a ordeal.  I had a room mate once that literally spent over 4 hours getting the perfect face for a character using slider bars in a game.  Is that necessary, no... is it how you will do it, maybe.. but either way you should be prepared that there are options ahead.

Going back to a previous post one of the things to consider is why you are gaming.  Is this representation one of you?  or who you wish you were? or just the most bad-ass looking thing you could come up with?  Are you picking based on aesthetics or practicality?  Is this character going to look different then the last game, or are you going for the same thing?

I personally always shoot for a redheaded female in any game when possible.  I typically try to make them attractive, and "ladylike".  I do this as a representation of who I wish I were, a continuation of a virtual identity that I have created.  I sometimes will even make major choices such as race/class/ armor selection (all choices that have vastly sweeping game play impacts) based on what I think looks best.  It was every wow players worst nightmare when you got a wonderful new drop that looked just abysmal.  Did you want the stats, or did you want to not look like a walking circus?  That of course is assuming you are playing a game where you don't have to make some of the heavy choices before you start.  If you play Mass Effect, the you that you make in one game, will be the same you that you play in the next, and the one after that.  That means you might not want to skip over that character customization screen using the random features choice, because its a mug you will spend a long... long time looking at.  Here is a jump-off to a video showing just a small handful of the millions of different looks you can get using the class, and character creator modifications for Skyrim, all choices you make before you even get to get into playing the game.  Then you have Diablo 3, where the only customization you have is sex, and then the gear you wear, as well as dyes you can apply to it.  Then you can get into games like the Sims, and Second life, where customization is the name of the game!

Are You in Yet?

Okay looks like most people are able to log in now, lets talk about the next step, picking your play style.  You know your handle, we have a game in mind, but now you need to pick your character.  Many games in the RPG (Role Playing Game) genre as well as quite a few games in other genres will require you pick a distinct class/race/role/type.  While you can just go with what looks interesting and see how you like it, it is often good to realize first how you play games, so that you can minimize time spent playing the way you do not like.  This may or may not reflect how you operate in the real world.  For some virtual representations are just more extreme representations (the guy with anger issues that can let them all out), for others it can be a chance to be someone/something completely different (the quiet meek girl in the back of the room bashing in some skulls, or the fraternity bro tossing out epic heals).

So what you should do is first have a sit and think about why it is your gaming.  Is it for stress relief, to pass the time, to escape reality, for fun, to explore, for story-lines, or to be someone you are not.  Knowing this can be a great first step in picking your character.  For instance if its stress relief, venting anger, picking a passive healing type character might not be as rewarding as a big warrior/barbarian.  On the other hand if you are playing for story, intrigue, and or finesse, maybe a rougeish character or brooding mage would be more up your alley.  Some people want to be right in the middle of the action, some people want to "melt faces" from a safe distance, and you can't do any of that for long without the supportive healer types.  Here is a series that has you look at your real life through the lens of RPG's, which might help you figure out what kind of character you are in real life.  Think about whether its who you want to be online or not too!

An important note though is to even after you make your choice, somewhere down the road, experiment, you might be surprised what you like.  I started out playing video games liking the distant mage types, dark brooding, powerful and frail.  I have discovered however as much as an affinity as I may have to these types, that I enjoy playing archer/hunter type characters better, and even sometimes big beefy tanky ones.  As much as I may love reading about mages I just don't play them that well.

Error 37?

Speaking of creating the right character handle.  We have now seen the release of the much awaited Diablo 3.  There has been a incredible media storm surrounding the game, with much to talk about.  Some love it, some hate it, others have trouble trying to play it.  These issues have even made it as far as Conan Team Coco talks about Diablo III with a list of top error 37 messages.  Error 37 being an error that occurred due to to many people trying to log into the servers at once.  There were other error messages too, character creation, server authentications, etc.  But this was the most often seen and most dreaded.  37 meant you couldn't even get into the game to have the game fail.  Blizzard decided for the sake of authentication, keeping duped/hacked items down, and making a working auction house that playing even the single player would require logging in online.  Especially in line of the problems that many have faced logging during launch, I can see the frustrations.  I however for the sake of longevity of the game, will happily deal with this as opposed to players with hacked/duped items running around ruining game-play, making items worthless.

Hey you know you didn't spell "Days" correctly right?

ME: Right... It is not a typo, it is quite purposeful you know.  This is a blog that is going to talk about the world of gaming.  Something that eats up more of my life then... well lets face it is is my life, or a large chunk of it.

You: Ya but what does you playing video games have to do with your inability to spell the word "days" correctly... are you trying to say the games have melted your brain or something?

Me: Well one could indeed argue that, as well, I am here having a conversation with someone that doesn't exist to save them the effort of having it when they do.  But, in short No video-game brain melt is not the reason that I have spelled "Days" "Daehs".  I could continue to go on in some quite cryptic manner for the Luls (Laughs for you non internet nerd types), but I'm to lazy to type it, and you probably would grow weary of it before it got good...

You: Hey you trailed off there, so are you going to tell me or not? *starts to walk away*

Me: Okay fine... come back, man you aren't any fun are you!  In many of the games I play, my gaming handle (the online moniker or name that you go by) is some variant of Daeh______.  Particularly in games for which you have a static char over the course of the game (Like RPGS).  Due to many incarnations being difficult to pronounce or type, most people settle on just calling me Daeh.
My default one typically being Daehdera, I'll give you a moment to see if you can figure it out.

You: Hmmm.... Well, *sigh* just tell me I'm sick of playing games here.

Me: But games is what this is all about! Man you really are no fun, I don't know if this is even the blog for you, but I guess if I run you off there will be no one here, okay I surrender you got me.  Daehdera, is aredhead, backwards.

You: So wait you are a redhead?

Me: *Sigh* unfortunately no.  You see while a gaming handle is supposed to represent you, it doesn't have to represent "You".  The internet is a place where you can be who you "really" are, or would want to be, or just feel like right now.  I personally picked a moniker that I use reoccurringly, so that people who might play a game and know me, know how to find me, or know that I am me.

You:  Okay  your title makes even less sense, you said its the name you always use, so how does it go by?

Me: I'm going to have to spell everything out here aren't I?  Fair enough, it would be stupid to think I could write a blog that wasn't explaining things right? I mean what else are they for... You see I don't stick with a game forever, I think the longest any single game has lasted in my repertoire is like 8 years maybe (and that is forever in the gaming world).  As such different "Daehs" have come and gone.  Different gaming handles, characters, persona's in different universes have come to life burned bright, and faded.  Here I am going to talk about games, all of which that someday sooner or later I will retire, retiring with it another bit of me.

You: Ohhhhhhh, so it's one of those crafty play's on words linking you, video-games, and the passage of time together.  You are soo smart, I don't know why I didn't see that sooner.

Me:  Why thank you!

For your viewing pleasure, here is the thought process of others on their gaming handle:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1097110
AND
An article on the importance of picking the right name:
http://voices.yahoo.com/how-select-online-gaming-handle-6557838.html

Daehdera Out!