How Do You Play Games...and Why?

Dyre Straits

I've noticed a lot of gamers posting how 'short' or 'brief' certain games are. It got me wondering just how and why gamers play the games they do the way they do. Here's what I mean:

1. Do you play to see how quickly you can get through the game? Is it some kind of competition to do it as fast as you can?

2. OR, do you try to milk the game for all its worth? That is, explore every nook and cranny, take the sneaky way through rather than with guns a'blazin, or how?

3. OR, do you have a different tactic and method?

Check the poll and let us know.

BlueMak

I almost never play the game to finish it. I play the game to explore and to have fun doing. The fun for me is in the trip, not the destination.

That's one reason why for games with a story or a clear end, I rarely finish them. For example about FPS games, I finished Duke Nuke em 3D back in the day, and the next FPS that finished was Ghost Recon.


Not the same though when talking about strategy games. There I finish them most of the time. Still, I don't go in for the kill/win. But to enjoy the game first and everything else second.

EZero

It really depends on what kind of game it is. For example, if I am playing a traditional RPG, (think Final Fantasy) I will try to explore and do as much as possible in the world before I finish the game.

On the other hand, if I am playing an action game and the only "hidden" things are easter eggs that are there just because they are, I won't even spend a second hunting them down unless I happen to bump into them on the way through the story.

In order to motivate me to find hidden items in games, these items needs to give me some kind of reward when I find it, such as better armor, better weapons, etc.

Da_Jewish_Fonzy

For the most part I like to play through semi-quickly the first time though and if I thoroughly enjoy it I will play through again and really explore and try different techniques. Some games I will play through many times ie; HL2, HL1 and MGS games.

If the game is crap though I won't even bother wasting my time finishing it.

starfury6

I tend to play games for the enjoyment while playing rather than having a 'completion' in mind. I have 2 small children and tend to play after they have gone to bed and all the housework is done, then get an hour in before bed.

I'm playing NFS: Carbon, BF2142 and WoW at the moment and playing not every day and only an hour or so generally when I do, it takes a while to progress very far so I make sure I enjoy it to the max when I do get time. Average games I don't tend to play very long cos my time gaming is precious.

I think the only games I've completed have been the Sonic games on Megadrive (and they WERE very easy), Diablo 2, Quake 2 and WH40K: Dawn of War.

Never made it to Elite status on the BBC Micro

mkk

If I feel that the game is good I can take a lot of time with it and turn the difficulty up a notch if applicable. If on the other hand the game is a bit dull but has some storyline I'll turn down the difficulty in favor of just going through it, and not necessarily to the end. If the game's worth going through twice I enjoy trying a very different approach and try to make use of methods I didn't use much before. I don't feel too compulsed to finish a game unless there's a good story to follow. In most RTS games I usually end up playing skirmish or multiplayer instead of finishing campaigns.

niceguyrichy

I play for escapism, plain and simple.
the last game i tried to play all the way through with a real vengence was Far Cry, but these days I'm not that bothered about finishing a game so long as i have fun

Vikingod

I really just play at a regular pace. i try to get through alot of the game (side quests ect.), but if things get boring, I finish it up. i trypically have an FPS or RPG that I play offline, with Guild Wars to fill it when things get stale.