Last week you all cast your votes in the quest to determine which TV show’s season finale was truly the best. Heroes came up with a whopping 55% of the votes, with Lost in second place at 24%. I didn’t actually see any of the season enders other than Lost’s, and I imagine this is how it came down with the voting was most people really didn’t watch more then one or two of the shows listed. I say this factually, not because I couldn’t stand the sight of Heroes. Honestly!
If you do a shallow search on the internet you can come up with tons of lists online of the supposed different types of Gamers and what they mean, how to avoid them, or how to determine which group you actually fit into. There is really no definitive list unless you look at one quantitative factor and represent the differing levels of attitude along those lines, however it’s still pretty easy to tell if a person is most commonly a cheater, or a hyper competitive player. Things like that just don’t stay hidden for very long.
[poll=3]
Most of those listed above should be self-explanitory, but for the more vague few I shall define them. If there is one you do not understand, or even worse one that was left out entirely, please let us know!
Explorer / Achiever: They most likely tried to play Oblivion, but the simple fact that you can go anywhere at any time and do whatever you want made them have to change their pants three times before the game even finished loading. Even worse is World of Warcraft, when they find themselves completing level 3 quests with their full set of purples and an epic flying mount, just to get the story!
Cheater / Hacker: Like the smack-talker or hyper competitive gamer, except they can actually kick your ass because they don’t play within the rules. Neo was one of these, that’s why Agent Smith got so damned angry. If only he’d kept Arwen in as a child she’d stop running off with those damned humans.
Game-Snob: Someone who scoffs at being asked to play games like Risk, Scrabble, or Yatzee. Surely there are finer dishes on which they can sup. Why waste time with common triffles when caviar like Wits’n’Wagers and Puerto Rico are so readily available in his mint condition collection worth millions in Board Game Geek gold?
Dysfunctional Game Designer: They may no longer have genetalia, due to that gruesome playtesting accident years ago, but that doesn’t mean they have to enjoy anything they play. It’s their business, for the love of cheese, why should they enjoy it?
Recluse / Shut-in: You definitely know someone like this, or have at least heard about them. Much like I threaten when any new Blizzard game comes out, these people will not be seen outside their apartments/bedrooms for weeks on end (due to gaming). They typically have hair growing in funny places, unfettered by the grooming of a razor or even a comb, for all that is holy do they even bathe?
Hyper-Competitive: They can’t lose. They often will, and boy will you hear about it, but while in the midst of combat (or resource gathering, tile-placement, anything really…) they cannot possibly imagine what it’d be like to lose. Their world would collapse, and indeed their pride undoubtedly goes with it. At least until the next game starts.
Smack-Talker: “You don’t have @#$% on me, @#$%&!11!!” This kind of gamer can’t get through one sitting of Indian Poker without being damn sure that your 3 of hearts, 7 or spades, or even ace of clubs is nothing compared to that which they have no idea about. It doesn’t matter, the insults are the fun part of any game.
Hmm… well, when my sister and I used to play Dr. Mario at home all the time, we smack talked each other hard.
But, I guess I’m mostly an explorer/archivist becuase I am the kind of person who will talk to the same people over and over again just to explore all variations of the diolouge tree, I go everywhere to make sure i didn’t miss anything, and I back track often to be certain that my actions didn’t trigger any new quest or easter egg in an area i’ve been to already.
Its hard to choose between smack talker and Explorer. I def like to get the most out of my games but I really think my type isnt even up here.
What about the people who play games just to enjoy them? the kind of people who are out two weeks after a game debut and see it on the shelf and go “Oh hey I heard about this, heard it was good let me get it” take it home play it till its beat and end of story.
Case in point:
My purchase of WoW: 6 months after release
My Purchase of FEAR: 8 months after release
My purchase of WH4K:Dark Crusade: 2 months after release.
Theres gotta be a catagory for us types right?
Would you accept Casual Gamer? Enthusiast? Pick one or make one up and I’ll put it up so you can vote.
Every one plays games to enjoy them, but how does one enjoy the games the most?
By launching verbal assaults on your competitors?
By working out the exact best way to maximize damage or effectiveness of your character/weapons/etc to have the greatest chance of victory (only have fun when you are winning)?
By exploting bugs, maybe working arround some of the coding conventions, just becasue you can?
Do you just wander arround the map, pressing the ‘use’ or ‘talk’ key trying to see every last bit of the game world?
Do you do some or all of these things while holed up in your apartment with a jug half filled with your urine because you don’t have want to leave your seat?
I think that’s what this poll is addressing.
Very cool site! I’m not much of a gamer — only because I spend most of my time writing and the rest is on internet forums like Facebook, etc. But you’ve got some neat stuff here. Great intro for a newbie like me. Well laid out and very “morish”… 🙂
Thanks for the compliments! We try to balance gaming stuff with lots of other topics that interest us. Maybe another entry on the poll should be “I’m not much of a gamer”
I submit then for your approval:
“I enjoy playing” (with myself?!)
or
“Casual Gamer”
I voted for recluse/shut-in. Even though I can go months without playing a game for more than a half hour a week, when I get into a game, I really get into it. I’m also the opposite of the explorer, since I hate having too much to do. I especially hate it when I find out too late that if I talked to a certain person before an event, I’d get something great, but it’s now too late to do it.
I will refrain from voting for the time-being because I agree with Steve’s comment above. While I consider myself a casual gamer and love gaming, I only really do it as a break from reality and retain my sanity. The only choice from the current list that partially applies to me is explorer; the rest don’t match me at all.
I would say I’m very competitive. I won’t let them hear about it when I lose but I will become annoyed. I play a game and I want to be the best. I have played many games and have created a few guilds and I run the guild to be the best also. I have had success with each guild I have created. Now I’m already recruiting for a game called DarkFall Online and I’m way behind haha.
I went ahead and added a Casual Gamer answer for you (two) whiners out there. 😀
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I am definitely an explorer / achiever all the way, and the description of that choice above involving Oblivion and WoW are both pretty much about me. They’re embellished, but so is everything you read these days in those gigantic digital newspapers that are delivered to your bedside by robotic lizard paperboys.
thats cool.. too bad I cant revote!
I’m not claiming to be one of these, but there are people who are gaming geniuses/savants/whizzes/whatever you would like to call them. These are people who are naturally skilled at bending rule sets to their advantage, which in turn leads to many repeated victories. These players can often be bored with games unless they are playing others of their type since the outcome is in much more jeopardy.
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There are also gamers who think they are like this, but in actual reality just suck.
AKA “Good GameSeed”, which D once claimed to have.
“Hey baby, got any “Good GameSeed” in you?.. want some?”
gigity
So, would the line “you mom got good game seed” actually be a compliment?
I’m the only casual gamer so far? Did other people vote early before that option came up?
it came in late, see above posts…
blognooblet
I would have done Casual Gamer if it was there.
Casual Gamer does no necessarily fit in with the rest of the choices, as you can be a casual gamer while still being very much any of the other types listed above. I added it simply because there seemed to be demand for it, but we assume many of you are in fact casual gamers, we instead want to know more how you tend to be when you ARE in fact playing games.
in that case i stand by my original answer..
I voted for game snob because I felt of the categories above it was the best fit. However, I don’t consider myself a true game snob.
I also put casual gamer. I can be a recluse at times, like when I’m forced to have 3 weeks off of work.
I missed this one, on account of being on a mountain for the past week…definitely an explorer…I’m in the midst of a second run through twilight princess to try to nail everything…so many poes…uuuggh…