Choosing a New Game
I want to talk about how we choose a new game from the countless titles that are currently available. I am going to be candid about how I do this as well as my own personal biases and prejudices. Because I am not open to playing any type of game. Like so many other aspects of life, I have very clear likes and dislikes that can only be tempered so far with logic and rational thinking. Video games as far as I’m concerned are supposed to be engaging, entertaining and inherently enjoyable. I don’t mind a degree of challenge and I’ll grind to achieve a specific goal, if I feel the reward to effort ratio is acceptable. I will on occasions attempt to step tentatively out of my comfort zone. However, there are some things that I simply don’t like, so they will not be considered. I think the best analogy for this is food. There are certain meals that I have tried (sometimes several times) and disliked, so they won’t ever be eaten again. Then there are other meals that contain ingredients I dislike or that are cooked in a style that I don’t enjoy. These are also off the proverbial table (no pun intended).
So what games do I like? Well both the NES and SNES have had an impact upon my tastes. I consider the Mario Kart franchise to be nearly perfect. It is accessible and yet challenging. It also makes competitive gaming far more palatable as it is not bombastic or bellicose in either defeat or victory. I also enjoy a well balanced FPS and will certainly recommend CoD Warzone as the epitome of encapsulating that genre well. But my heart belongs to narrative driven RPGs and MMORPGs. I like involving and challenging stories, set in detailed worlds. I also like to have access to games based around major franchises that I revere, which is why I enjoy Star Trek Online and the Lord of the Rings Online so much. I’ve also dabbled with the strategy genre on occasions, along with deck-building games and point and click adventures. I even have a few simulator games in my extensive game selection. However, it should be noted that possibly 80% of said collection remains unplayed.
I can be just as specific about the game genres that I don’t like as I am about the ones I do. I am not a fan of PVP. Although I enjoy the FPS genre as this can be a far more balanced PVP environment. However, too often PVP is predatory and an uphill struggle for new players. I pay money to game developers to be entertained and not to be served up as canon fodder for established players. I don’t care for the mindset and elitist culture that also goes hand in hand with PVP and many other competitive games. Games that are couched in self aggrandisement and vanity are often breeding grounds for the most toxic aspects of gaming culture. I also eschew certain games on aesthetic grounds. The human experience is driven greatly by visual data and the way we interpret the world by how we see it. So to deny that we make decisions about games based upon how they look and the way they’re visually presented is crass. Hence I don’t like the isometric style. Nor do I like the anime visual aesthetic found in many games. I broadly prefer realistic graphics over cartoons, although stylisations can be very appropriate at times.
Therefore, when trawling through YouTube videos advertising forthcoming game releases, it is quite easy for me to quickly and efficiently assess what is and isn’t of interest to me. Plus its important to add that all the above rules are open to occasional contradictions. Hand of Fate and its sequel drew me into a genre that normally I wouldn’t have considered. More interestingly, sometimes there will be a new game that is broadly outside of what I like but it is getting a lot of traction among my peer group. So despite being a mature and grounded 53 year old, I am not immune to FOMO and a lot of other curious psychological phenomena. Naturally, there is an allure to joining your friends and being part of the current “in thing”. I recently succumbed to this and bought Cyberpunk 2077 and the reality of the game quickly shattered the hype and mystique that had prevailed up until launch. I have also written before about how odd it is to have missed the entire World of Warcraft “boat” over the years.
Earlier on I used a food based analogy to describe my likes and dislikes and equate this to video games. Once I have established that I don’t like something it is added to a prescribed list. However, most analogies don’t hold up to close scrutiny and although the part about my process for establishing a preference is accurate, I am far more willing to try new foods than I am video games. Upon mature reflection we all have our own bespoke assessment of what we want and don’t want from a video game because we all have a subjective definition of what actually equates to a game per se. I broadly agree with the notion that it is good to challenge yourself and step outside of one’s personal comfort zone. But you don’t have to do this habitually or else you’ll end up playing more games you dislike than like. I think it’s important to be self aware of one’s tastes and to be realistic about them. Yet the vast amount of free of heavily discounted games available do allow for greater experimentation. As ever there is a middle ground for each of us to find that offers us the best path forward.
