fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2075 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2075 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Twilight]

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[Christian Bale, Scott Disik]

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[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

10. [SPOILERS for Misfits]

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11. [SPOILERS for A Song of Ice and Fire]

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12. [SPOILERS for the Vampire Diaries]

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[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]

13. [WARNING for rape]

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14. [WARNING for suicide]

[Truffaldino from Bergamo (1976)]

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15. [WARNING for pedophilia, rape]

[DC Comics]

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16. [WARNING for depression]

[Zac Little/AngryFilmsProduction (YouTube)]

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17. [WARNING for child abuse]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #296.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But people play for different reasons, and sometimes it's not "not caring" as much as caring about different things? Some people are interested in games as a challenge, and to them the best gameplay keeps pushing them to be able to do harder and harder things. Some people are interested in games as a new storytelling form, and to them the best gameplay is whatever would provide the best immersion into the story and tie in with the narrative. Some people are interested in games as fun, and to them the best gameplay is what keeps them consistently having a good time.

There probably genuinely are people who play games without really caring about them in any meaningful way, and I agree that dumbing down gameplay makes for shittier games. And that doesn't always mean that things should be crazy hard, but even an easy gameplay mechanic needs to be engaging and not just something that's there to fill time. For an extreme example, visual novels are the easiest form of game there is, in terms of button pressing, but you can have a visual novel that's just an easy trip from point A to point B, or one that requires the player to get engaged and think about the choices and/or time management, and how to line up all the plot points right to get the best end. It's about having to be present and aware versus getting to just sort of mindlessly have the game do everything for you.

But you can have someone play the Sims very mindfully. The game can be played in a half-assed way, but you also have people who put a ton of thought into their Sims, and try to manage everyone's goals and relationships, and lovingly build them the perfect house, etc. You can be very thoughtful about your Harvest Moon farm. You can be very thoughtful about your Pokemon team. It might be about fun and relaxation instead of skill building, but it's not necessarily just zoning out while aimlessly pressing buttons. Same goes with the story people, they're still paying attention and involved. As games have become more mainstream, you get a wider audience and different reasons for caring and different things people focus on. Skill improvement gameplay is where it started (unless you're counting some of the really old IF that sometimes went into story centered territory), but it's branched out since.

And some of these might feel like different hobbies altogether! Skill improvement/challenge gameplay is really important to a lot of people, and I think someone who plays games in part for the joy of getting better at games and accomplishing something really difficult might want to occupy a different space than someone who's trying to have the most fun or someone who's looking for the best stories in this medium, and that's totally okay. And I think it's a point of contention because that's what "gamer" used to mean, and the people working at their skill are going to take pride in it, but "gamer" as a word also sounds like it refers to anyone who's serious about games as a hobby. "You're not a gamer" can seem like it means "games are not an important hobby to you" with a side of "the way you're doing it is wrong".

Would be nice if there was a word for game enthusiasts in general, and another for game enthusiasts of the skill development and challenge variety. I'd be happy to say I wasn't a skill/challenge game enthusiast because, well, I'm not. I dabble, and sometimes I'm driven to get as good as I can at a single game, but I'm much more on the story side personally and I'd be happy to leave that word to the people who it accurately describes. But I refuse to say I'm not a game enthusiast at all. Games are an important hobby to me, and I don't like the implication that engaging with them in the "wrong" way means they're not.

[ SECRET POST #2075 ]

Re: can we just ban "hardcore" from the gaming lexicon already