Why We Play Games, Part 1

There exists some ephemeral quality that separates gamers from the rest of humanity, some thing that makes us, us and them, not us. I've never been able to quite put my finger on it, but it is inescapably there. Today, in hopes of moving closer to that essential quality of gamerosity, we examine part of what makes us tick. In particular, we take a look at what draws different types of gamers to the hobby. Every gamer plays for different reasons, but there are common threads that tie the experience together.

Many gamers are motivated by the challenge a game can present. Success in a game may be governed by any of a wide variety of abilities. A First Person Shooter requires twitch reflexes, a steady hand and the ability to remain calm under pressure. A word puzzle game may require an extensive vocabulary and the ability to rethink the uses of old words, but no measure of speed. A sports simulation might well require an in-depth knowledge of the topic, in addition to arcade skill, but is unlikely to have terribly much concern for linguistic acumen.

The common thread is that all of the games challenge some subset of a player's abilities. This challenge can be a powerful motivator. The Challenge Motivated gamer is drawn to a game that tests their skills, preferably one that tests them to their limits. The gamer may also be motivated by the natural improvement that comes from working at peak. They are driven then, not only to excel, but to improve. Challenge Motivated Gamers thrive whenever a game pushes their skill set of choice, but may be disinterested in games that fall too far away from the target.

Competition is a close cousin of challenge. Many gamers are driven by the need to prove they are the best, to be pitted against their fellows and come out on top. Competition minded gamers range from those looking for a challenge in a fair fight to the sort of win-at-all cost leet speaking infants that give us all a bad name. Competition can be easy to take too far. There is nothing inherently wrong with being driven by competition. To some extent, competition is merely challenge taken to the extreme. It is only when it leads to mistreating your fellow player that it begins to become less a motivation and more an unfortunate personality quirk. Competition Motivated players thrive on those games where they are pitted against one another with the outcome dictated by skill at playing the game. They will often wane in those environments that either require cooperation, such as many MMORPGs, or in games where skill plays a much smaller role, such as in less sophisticated card or dice games.

Next week we will take a look at some other common gamer motivations, including Creativity and Escapism.

Steve is a member of the GrandMatrix team. They provide a broad range of games articles and reviews. Read more articles, download and play the latest PC games for free plus enjoy thousands of user submitted puzzles, quizzes and word games at GrandMatrix Free Game Downloads

---

Ingredients For A Great Game

There are millions of computer games out there on the... Read More

Review - Sony PSP

I'm fairly certain there are folks at Nintendo feeling some... Read More

Laying Smart Dust With Smart Munitions

We believe that we need to make the Smart Munitions... Read More

Guns Dont Kill People - Videogames Do!

"Ban these evil games", "Videogame violence corrupting our nation's youth",... Read More

A Look at the Sony PlayStation 3

At the recent E3 gaming Convention, Sony gave the world... Read More

The Game Tester

It's not easy to be a hardcore gamer. It's hard.... Read More

Flying an MAV Through Fan Blades to Attain Target

Flying an MAV Through Rotating Fan Blades ? It maybe... Read More

Drawing Hand Held Surface to Air Missile Fire at Night Using UAVs

One of the easiest ways to draw shoulder launched missiles... Read More

A Comparison Of the Next Generation Gaming Consoles (Part 2)

Arguably Microsoft can attribute a great deal of its success... Read More

Playing Games Like Its 80s

Do you miss the good old 80's Amiga and Commodore... Read More

Indie Games that Made It to the Tops of the Charts this Year

Platypus is one of the most unique looking games ever... Read More

A Comparison Of the Next Generation Gaming Consoles (Part 1)

It's been about 5 years since we have seen a... Read More

Rent Games Online

Renting video games online has exploded in recent months! I... Read More

Sega Dreamcasts Cause of Death?

What ever happened to that game console we used to... Read More

Sapphire Tipped UAVs for Midair Collisions to Defeat Enemy UAV Swarm Threats

Defeating enemy UAV Swarms will be a challenge for our... Read More

Computer Game on Mars; Design for Communication Device

Powering up hand held wireless devices in the field for... Read More

UAV Swarm Reconfiguration for computer war games

The modern battlespace is changing in the real world and... Read More

$20 Buys a Lot of Game These Days

Watching the evolution of sports games has been like watching... Read More

Securing Your Accounts With Well-Crafted Passwords

In the past I've never really paid much attention to... Read More

The Future of Submarine Games

In the last six months, the demise of sims has... Read More

Counter Strike, The Beginner of Broad Band PC Gaming

This is the world of 21st century, the century of... Read More

Cloud Laser Art

A new art form in the future will be CLA.... Read More

Why We Play Games, Part 2

Last week we started to get into the motivation of... Read More

Why We Play Games, Part 1

There exists some ephemeral quality that separates gamers from the... Read More

Free Games For Your Pocket PC

Admit It-You're Often BoredA pocket pc has about a million... Read More

Computer Traumas

It has happened! Computer games have started to control my... Read More

Go Digital and Groovy... and Save Trees!

Have you inherited your Dad's trading card collection - ie.... Read More

RPG: Table and Computer

It's not a secret that table RPG games are not... Read More

SMS Gaming - Text Paging Games that can be Played by Anyone

Using the Physical World as a Game Board: This is... Read More

How To Save Time, Energy, and Money by Renting Your DVDs and Games Online

As a bit of a movie buff I recently discovered... Read More

Virtual Wrapping Paper and E-Gifts- Is There Really An Online Santa?

The internet has proven to be an amazing delivery conduit... Read More

Best of British: Gizmondo Doomed To Fail?

The Gizmondo combined media player, phone and gaming gadget went... Read More

Downloadable Game Review: Diner Dash

Playvue.com Editor's Rating: 8.0StorylineDiner Dash brings us the story of... Read More