Tell me how you play computer games

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1826802]

Today's poll suggestion is courtesy of bracknellexile who will no doubt be mining the data to see if his thesis is correct.

Edit: Please take a look at bracknellexile's comment further down, as he'd really appreciate your replies!

Comments

[naath.livejournal.com]

I prefer puzzle games - like sudoku, and tetris, and minesweeper... I also like games that involve jumping up and down or doing music stuff. Really not a fan of most computer games though.

[lizzie-and-ari.livejournal.com]

Me too. I'm a classic Solitaire/Chips Challenge kinda gal.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

This. I used to play a lot of text and platform games (Lemmings, Zork) but lost interest when they moved from intellectual puzzles to shoot-em-ups.

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

SEWIWEIC - it depends on the game! When given a choice between first and third (eg, WoW) or third and isometric (eg, DA:O) I go with third person, but for the other questions it's really game dependent. I think mouse and keyboard is the One True Way for things like FPSs and RPGs, but that's because I never got the hang of an Xbox controller and when I tried to play Call of Duty on an Xbox it made people laugh until they cried. I like playing Rock Band with a rock band controller, but it would suck for Tetris.

I've played games in all variations of with friends/strangers/online that you mention, and again it depends on the game. I prefer not to play with strangers online because they are often dicks, but other than that all the variations have their place.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

As the kids are saying these days, "this". Different POVs/controls will suit different games, and I like games overall enough that I'm more drawn by the quality and context of the game than I am POV or control suite.

-- Steve can handle WASD+mouse and twin-stick controller with equal lack of facility, truth be told.

PS: I played Halo 2 at a LAN once where we handicapped the leading player by making him use a Guitar Hero controller. Hijinks ensued.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I play abstract games, because any of the other ones make me seasick. Not boats, just any of the 3D first-person shooter or over-the-shoulder stuff. If it's more sophisticated than Sonic the Hedgehog, my brain just can't.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

My wife has the same seasickness problem with first-person games. Ironically, put us both on a ferry in a storm, and she'll be the one guzzling greasy chips in the cafe while I'll be the one spewing over the side.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Sorry, meant to click on SEWIWEIC for the first question. Depends upon the game (and sometimes on the context of the game). For example in Skyrim, I will usually play in third person over-the-shoulder, but will zoom into first person for archery.

Very strong preference for mouse / keyboard for most types of game. I honestly don't know how console users can play first person shooters on a gamepad, but clearly the massive sales of Modern Warfare suggest that this is possible. I tried it once on XBox Halo and found it to be almost like playing left-handed. That said, I'm happy with a gamepad for stuff like FIFA or beat em' ups.

[kmusser]

I prefer strategy games (ala Civ or the Sim games), so they tend to not have characters, but I don't think of them as abstracts either. I also think you should've had games where my character is an @ symbol, though I suppose those would count as top-down :-) Regardless of type, they are played on a PC with mouse/keyboard. I do have a Wii, but it's mostly used for exercise.

[andrewducker]

I think of Civ as being top down/isometric. It's a bit abstract, I'll give you, but it's mostly considered to be a top-down view of the world that you're rampaging across.

[avatar.livejournal.com]

wow, interesting results

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

Cheers for posting it, Andy :)

To give a little context, the conversation that prompted this was based on a gut feeling I have that players on consoles tend to play third-person-over-the-shoulder view rather than PC/Mac players who go for first-person. I admit this is based on nothing more than seeing a few folks over the years playing Oblivion/Skyrim on different platforms where you have the option of both views but it piqued my curiosity.

From there it snowballed a bit into spatial awareness (or lack of - one friend gets horribly lost and disoriented when playing first-person RPGs but is fine if they can see over-the-shoulder) and possibly even a gender-correlation with the viewing preferences.

Do people have different preferences in different genres of first/third-person games - e.g. Fantasy/RPG (Skyrim, Assassin's Creed, etc.) as opposed to Shooters (CoD, Half-Life, etc.) as opposed to Racing games where the choice is usually in-car, bonnet-cam or chase-cam and does it depend on platform?

For example, as a rule, I generally play my racing games with either the bonnet or in-car cameras on the PC but if it's on a friend's console then it's more likely to be chase-cam. It's something about the "feel" of the car and where the back end is. I'm not sure why I get that feedback from PC games but need the extra visual cues when on a console controller.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

In my case, I'm primarily an Xbox gamer these days.

- Racing games; prefer in-car for Forza; the only other racers I play are arcade titles with fixed POVs, usually chase-cam

- Shooters: I'm big on Halo and enjoyed Half-Life/Portal (FPS) but also play Gears of War, Fallout, Mass Effect (3PS)

- Platformers: I like sidescrollers fine but also enjoy 3PS and FPS too. (I'd love to see a sequel for Mirror's Edge.)

- RTS: though I enjoyed Halo Wars, I reluctantly agree that no interface yet developed trumps mouse+keyboard in the genre.

-- Steve also plays board and card games as well as strategy titles on various platforms.

[khoth.livejournal.com]

I SEWIWEICed the first option because it depends on the game, but with a first-person/third-person choice I generally go for first person. I think it's because it makes targetting easier to have a clear, straight-ahead view of where I'll shoot.

(I play on a PC, with keyboard and mouse, unless the game says otherwise)

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have a favorite POV, but if I did, it might not fit neatly into any of the categories you suggest. Lemmings, for instance, is arguably 'third person' except that you are not following any of the particular lemming-creatures, you're deploying them. So is that really first person? Only, there's not really anything in the game to indicate that you, as a player, are 'in' the game. Sim City doesn't have characters at all except in aggregates, though I guess you would call it top down. I think your categories particularly fall apart with what you're calling "abstract" because lots of games aren't abstract at all, they are clearly representational of something: tiles, cards, tumbling solids, et cetera, they just don't have any anthropomorphic *characters* in them at all.

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

I tend to play games by myself, but I prefer playing games with someone else - ideally on the same machine. Coop titles are few and far between though.

[andrewducker]

Ditto.

[lpetrazickis.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly a strategy gamer, which pretty much means top-down/isometric.

OTOH, Minecraft only works as a first person game. If it were top-down, then the gameplay would have to be a lot more like Dungeon Keeper, which would make it a very different game.

[andrewducker]

If it was side-on it would be Terraria.

[skington.livejournal.com]

I find myself playing games mostly on the iPad these days - although that will change when the next expansion comes out for Civ V, and when Sim City comes out.

I haven't been able to play FPS type things well since Quake - I just can't get used to the mouse + keyboard combo. (I found some of the later levels in Portal difficult for that reason - difficult to move quickly and accurately.)

I'll generally prefer the keyboard when given a choice on a PC, although that's probably due to having been using the keyboard to play games since the BBC Model B.

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

haven't been able to play FPS type things well since Quake - I just can't get used to the mouse + keyboard combo. (I found some of the later levels in Portal difficult for that reason - difficult to move quickly and accurately.)

They actually took these kind of puzzles out of Portal 2. They were in one of the first trailers, but they cut them before release.

[laplor.livejournal.com]

My family has decided that I am controller-impaired.

I just could never get the hang.

[pigwotflies.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've played enough games to have a favourite style or type of controller, though most of the games I do play, are on a PC.

There ought to be an asterisk to part 3, as the true answer is often on my own, but with Rob shouting instructions over my shoulder. Especially if the game in question is Star Craft 2. :)

[pigwotflies.livejournal.com]

Sorry, terrible comma usage there. I'm tired.

[spacelem.livejournal.com]

I enjoy FPS games (e.g. Quake, Half Life), and have been using WASD/mouse since forever (I used to be extremely good at them, but lately they seem to have been giving me motion sickness). I suppose Minecraft kind of fall into that category too. Point and click RPGs like Neverwinter Nights are fun. Not sure which category Plants vs Zombies falls into, but I like that too.

However I also love 2d and 3d platformers (e.g. Mario, Zelda, and Metroid). My favourite ever controller was the GameCube controller, followed by the SNES controller. I'm growing to enjoy Skyward Sword, but in general I'm not hugely impressed by all these wands, remotes, and hand wavey things. It seems a bit gimmicky to me, and I don't think it's improved gaming for me (although maybe okay for games where you shoot things, because analogue controllers are passable at best for FPSes). I also used to like racing games, like Diddy Kong Racing, but I don't really play a lot of those.

So I split my time between PC gaming and console gaming, but I couldn't definitively tell you which I prefer. Games where the music is good is usually a good start (good music >> graphics any day).

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

I love the concept of FPS, but get motion sick rather too quickly. Over-the-shoulder just feels weird. So given the option I play pretty much everything like a Diablo clone.

Mouse and keyboard, strictly single player.

[erratio.livejournal.com]

1. Strong preference for top-down/isometric except that I have weird little islands of other preferences all over the place. eg. I hate playing FPS games in general but enjoy playing them with friends in the same room, and when I do that I prefer first-person and can't imagine enjoying it any other way. Similarly, for racing games it's better in first person.

2. Depends too much on the game. For strategy, mouse and keyboard all the way. For rhythm games, appropriate dance mats/instruments/etc create a large portion of the fun (ever tried Stepmania for the PC? It's not completely awful but it's about 1000 times less fun). For the rest, traditional controller.

3. For strategy/puzzle games, by myself. For everything else, with friends in the same room, preferably on the same device simultaneously if possible (rhythm games, co-op platformers) but otherwise on separate ones (Diablo 2)

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

1: I like different kinds of games to have different kinds of perspective. Something that is all shooting all the time, I much prefer first person view. For games where your character matters, I like third person.

2: I like using mouse and keyboard, except for driving games and brawlers which only crazy people play with KB&M.

3: I guess I like shooty games that friends don't often play on the same platform, or big RPGs that are solo play only. In theory I'd like to game with friends (and enjoyed, for example, brief forays into Borderlands co-op, and lengthier playing L4D and L4D2) but there aren't that many good co-op games, and people tend to have very specific preferences for more competitive shooters, or play on different platforms.

I wonder if solo gaming will become more social. The Modern Warfare games, for all their explosions, have a strong linear narrative content. If you were watching someone play them (particularly if they were good, or playing on a less difficult skill level so they could talk more easily during it and distractions wouldn't matter), it'd be much the same as watching an OTT Hollywood blockbuster. Hell, if Black Ops or Modern Warfare were films, they'd probably have less awesome set pieces. I enjoy watching other people play games.

[cobrabay.livejournal.com]

As I only play computer games on my phone now, my preferred control method is tilting the phone, plus some screen fondling. I like racing games which seem to favour accelerometer based controls.

[davidcook.livejournal.com]

My SWEIWEIC for Q1 : First-person or isometric, but never over-the-shoulder if I can avoid it.
I play all sorts of games, FPS, RPG, strategy, RTS, the above is true for most ...

[steer.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, the only time I think the 3rd versus 1st person view was important was when I spent several years obsessively playing the realisitic-to-the-point-of-being-near-impossible 60s F1 simulation Grand Prix Legends the "in cockpit" versus "behind cockpit" debate was rampant. This was an obsessive detailed simulation so most people played in cockpit. Some people played "behind cockpit" and this sometimes gave an actual advantage as you can get a clearer view of a pass maneuver. Then some purists cried "foul" and hilarity (OK, months of tedious debate) ensued.

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

I have zero preference for viewpoints. It's a functional thing. I like all kinds of games, it comes down to execution. When there's a choice of viewpoints in a game (like, say, Skyrim), it still comes down to how well the viewpoint is executed (I play Skyrim 1st person).

Interesting that there's no choice for "side on" view: pretty much all my favorite games growing up were plaformers or side scrolling shooters like R Type.

I have some preference for gamepad over keyboard and mouse, and I can't stand PC FPS Nazis bemoaning the lack of accuracy when playing on games consoles. FPS's on consoles feel different: not better or worse.

But liking gamepads probably comes from liking everything else that comes with the console gaming experience: A big TV and kickass 5.1.

I tend to play games by myself. But the most satisfying gaming experience I've had this year was Journey on the PS3 which is played with strangers.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to go with "it really depends on the game." The game I play most is WoW, wherein I prefer mouse/keyboard and 3rd-person-following, on another system from the other people playing (including my wife on a nearby computer, who uses similar perspective but adds a gamepad to the mix.) With WoW, I play with an assortment of acquaintances, friends, and strangers online; with other games, totally offline.

We also have a PS3, meaning handheld controllers on a shared device, and perspective really depends on the game -- I enjoy the first-person perspective of Portal 2, the side-scroller view of Little Big Planet, and the in-vehicle or chase-vehicle view of whatever racing game.

In short, *shrug*. :)