Styles of Play
Posted on : 31-08-2009 | By : Alex Shaw | In : Articles
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Written By: Count Stex
After a good 35 years of life, and 25 years of gaming or there abouts, I still find plenty of time to spend with my games. Of course not having any children helps here, and as you know by now a girlfriend who games as much as I do. It has come to my attention however that I have become quite regimented in my game play make up. But I’m not here to tell you how I am going to mix this up, or ask for ideas of how to change it. Quite the opposite in fact. I thought it might be interesting to ask how everyone else plots out their gaming weeks, and how it works for them.
So I should start with the way things are working, and have been working for me, for some time now. Whenever possible I game 7 days a week, even if some nights it’s just the odd hour, or even just watching Linda play something. To my mind this is still gaming as whoever isn’t actively playing it always on look out for on screen cues the focused player might miss or overlook in the heat of play. However the part that I’m interested in here are the styles of play I partake in of a week night, as opposed to weekend play.
You see I’ve noticed my week nights, when time is more limited, and for that matter brain power is lower from a day sat idly at a desk, the focus is on the familiar. So there is likely to be some Gears 2 horde mode with friends, or left to my own devices of late a few [hundred] attempts at a new TRIALS HD record or achievement. These styles of play at very much in the drop in, drop out vein. Things that can be played for very short periods if required, or extended to longer sessions. This works great given the limited time available and interruptions for little annoyances such as having to eat.
Come the weekend however and this is when the more expansive gaming can take place. So I’m more likely to be marthoning through a single player experience, or continuing along on a multi-deca-hour RPG, games where retention of information plays a key part in the gaming world. The weekend is also when most new games will be properly tested out, having been started in a feverish rush upon receiving them in the post, or clutching them all the way from the local store.
So my question to you is this, am I unusual in this segregation of my play styles? It’s quite possibly not something you’ve really thought about, but when you look back at the past week or so can you see any patterns emerging?
Let me know your thoughts…
Steven Jones
There are no patterns in my gaming from over the last week, or month. What I have noticed that I have three passions in my life and they are Video Games, Football and Movies. I tend to divide my time very unevenly between those three. There are weeks when I will just go to the cinema, watch DVDs and SKY movies and not even think about picking up a game controller. Now this may sound odd but gaming is quite an active thing. I’m not talking about Wii Sports games but it is a mentally active thing. It is difficult to get to sleep after hours of gaming. So if I am knackered after a difficult day of sitting (at work) then sometimes I want to relax when I get in. Recently I have been getting very frustrated about the apparent unfairness of GOW2 multiplayer. Obviously I am crap at the game but not so crap that if I fire my Lancer from range before my opponent and they aren’t downed and then they fire at me with a shotgun (still from great distance) and I am crawling on the floor, it seems a little wrong. Anyway, the point I was making is that I will normally split my time between my three passions. I cant seem to keep them all happy at the same time so I dip in and out. I am into gaming at the moment so here I am. I’m looking forward to getting home to get hammered on GOW2 again.
As for types or styles of play. I play whatever is the game of my moment. I am really enjoying Shadow Complex so I will play that when no friends are online. My gaming will most likely revolve around whether my friends are online.
Your point about availability of friends is a good one, as I would quite happily drop out of a single player experiance with little notice to go join in some online play with friends. So that is probably a parrallel logic that overrides my standard play set as the need arises.