Challenge Draws Gamers, Not Gore

Posted by Nelson Williams | January 17, 2009

A study drawn out of the University of Rochester and Immersyve Inc., shows that gamers enjoy, not the gore of violence of games, but, well, the game part. The fun factor in games, especially those that layer on the carnage, doesn’t magically appear from a well-crafted arterial spray, but the challenge of mastering the game mechanics, overcoming obstacles, and discovering new tactics and strategies. Violence is, at best, window dressing and may actually turn gamers away from a particular title.

However, the study also mentioned a certain percentage of gamers do play for the violence, although this segment tends to be more aggressive overall than the typical player. Even for these aggressive gamers (you know who they are, they killed your poor level 35 character in Stranglethorn 20 times one day with their own level 80 draped in 2000 gold worth of player-killing weapons and enchants), violence and …

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Over Half of American Adults are Gamers

Posted by Nelson Williams | December 8, 2008

A brand-new study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project confirms what many of us here in the trenches already knew; there are alot of grown-up types hammering gamepads these days. According to the study, over half of American adults play video games of some sort, with roughly 20% lured to the screen every day by gaming’s siren song.

Of course, as a supposed adult myself, the only reaction I can offer is, “duh.” My generation grew up on video games, what with the Atari 2600 (I had the woodgrain one!), followed by the Nintendo and Sega, then the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis, then the almighty Playstation and the sad, outclassed Nintendo 64. Now, you can get console systems everywhere, I think I got an Xbox once for free with a pizza and a two-liter Coke. Not to mention the handheld …

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Gaming Addiction Isn’t, Gamers Are Just Really Bored

Posted by Nelson Williams | November 26, 2008

The BBC reports that Europe’s gaming addiction clinic has discovered that roughly 90% of their gaming addiction patients aren’t addicted at all, at least in clinical terms. Instead, these gamers, who spend more then four hours a day playing games like World of Warcraft, simply find a sort of escape and social life inside games that overpowers their ability to socialize in the real world. The end result is the same; they disappear into games while their real life crumbles.

Socializing is a skill, and one that must be practiced. Kids and adults who avoid social activities, have few local friends, or have been bullied and picked on in realspace tend to turn toward video games as a life and experience away from the traumas and failure of the real world. With the advent of the internet, this phenomena is becoming more common. Hell, …

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TED.com — Will Video Games Become Better Than Life?

Posted by Nelson Williams | November 3, 2008

It’s my belief that the future of humanity will be something like the Matrix with friendly AIs, save points, and porn. The reason why I think this will come to pass is I’m a gamer. So many people are playing games these days that the old media standbys — TV and movies — are strangling, starving for new viewers. There are enough people banging about in World of Warcraft that, if they voted together, would not only decide the presidential election but politics for decades to come. We are moving to an online world.

In this video from the TED Conference, David Perry discusses the implications of gaming and what the future may hold for those generations that grew up attached to online, social games.

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