For the past 10 or so years I've been running a series of experiements on myself to determine why I like to play videogames so much and what's it that I like so much about them. This post isn't about that journey as that would be too much too long and don't really feel like telling because honestly I don't remember the details very well since what really matters is the outcome, or rather outcomes.
First, I got exactly what I wanted, now I know why I like videogames and what I love about them, I know exactly what I want, and to figure this out I came up with this little system, it's like the political compass that you shouldn't use unless you really care about politics, but instead it's about games and gamers
Here's how it works:
- The Y Axis (Vertical) stands for "Performance" on the North (that's up) and "Progression" on the South (that's down). Performance stands for when you play that perfect run, you go for highscores, best time, etc, you want to get good at the game, that means if you go full North you are hardcore and probably a pro or a speedrunner, something like that. Progression is when you aim for completion, you get to the end that means you beat the game, that's it, maybe you are a completionist and do all there is to do and get all there is to get, and then that's it.
- The X Axis (Horizontal) stands as a "Narrative" meter, where going negative or positive is how much you care for the Narrative in games, some people believe a game without a good story will never be a great game, some people think it doesn't matter at all, you pick your side here.
As an example and the result of my experiments, I would put myself here.
The reasoning would be that as much as I like me some good RPGs and what not, I found out games where the experience keeps getting better and better the more I play them, where my score's keep going up, my time's go down, my skill shows, those are the ones that keep me hooked compared to heavily story based games, and even if the intended way to play a game is not necessarily to go hardcore like that I still tend to look for a way to play it like that. Now, I don't go full negative on Narrative because even if I don't care much about the plot of a game like say, Street Fighter Alpha 3 or something, I do think that the backgrounds each character has adds to the overall cool of the game.
And that's it, thats how it works, I've been wanting to post about this ever since I joined this forum but never managed to remember to do so when I was able to, it was always "oh man i forgot to post the thing... nah i'll do it tomorrow lol". So anyways, I'd love to hear what you think about it and if you want show me where you'd put yourself in The Gamer Compass or whatever, there might be a better name for this lol
First, I got exactly what I wanted, now I know why I like videogames and what I love about them, I know exactly what I want, and to figure this out I came up with this little system, it's like the political compass that you shouldn't use unless you really care about politics, but instead it's about games and gamers
Here's how it works:
- The Y Axis (Vertical) stands for "Performance" on the North (that's up) and "Progression" on the South (that's down). Performance stands for when you play that perfect run, you go for highscores, best time, etc, you want to get good at the game, that means if you go full North you are hardcore and probably a pro or a speedrunner, something like that. Progression is when you aim for completion, you get to the end that means you beat the game, that's it, maybe you are a completionist and do all there is to do and get all there is to get, and then that's it.
- The X Axis (Horizontal) stands as a "Narrative" meter, where going negative or positive is how much you care for the Narrative in games, some people believe a game without a good story will never be a great game, some people think it doesn't matter at all, you pick your side here.
As an example and the result of my experiments, I would put myself here.
The reasoning would be that as much as I like me some good RPGs and what not, I found out games where the experience keeps getting better and better the more I play them, where my score's keep going up, my time's go down, my skill shows, those are the ones that keep me hooked compared to heavily story based games, and even if the intended way to play a game is not necessarily to go hardcore like that I still tend to look for a way to play it like that. Now, I don't go full negative on Narrative because even if I don't care much about the plot of a game like say, Street Fighter Alpha 3 or something, I do think that the backgrounds each character has adds to the overall cool of the game.
And that's it, thats how it works, I've been wanting to post about this ever since I joined this forum but never managed to remember to do so when I was able to, it was always "oh man i forgot to post the thing... nah i'll do it tomorrow lol". So anyways, I'd love to hear what you think about it and if you want show me where you'd put yourself in The Gamer Compass or whatever, there might be a better name for this lol
