- Joined
- July 31, 2007
- Messages
- 6,383
OK, I'm 90 hours into Witcher 3 (started the game over, since my last attempt at finishing it), and am amazed by the consistency of content. It's chock full of stories and interesting quests. And I realize something. Something I kind of knew for some time, but I guess I just now game myself the time to think about this. I love games mostly for story and narrative context. This is a must for me, for 90% of the games I play. I don't play for gameplay. I play for stories, lore, world building. Kind of escapist I know, but so it is. I'm not saying I don't like gameplay, some games I play mostly for gameplay. But those are very far and in-between.
So I started thinking about how much time do I spend gaming, and how much of that is actual stories/lore/world-building in most games. It's mostly rpgs that have stories/lore/world-building. And even those, you usually have to play through the gameplay, and in most cases it's not really stimulating. I have to admit it, but even in the witcher, while gameplay is decent, it's nothing to write home about. I mostly don't even notice it, except for some highlights when I pull out of a situation where I keep dying and keep having to try again and again. And that also leads me to frustration, when I'm fighting the controls.
So, my conclusion: even for narrative heavy games, I probably spend a considerable time going through mechanics and gameplay, mostly to get at the narrative content. And this realization also comes at a time when, again, I realize how much time I spend gaming. And is the time investment worth it. The games that are absolutely must plays are probably in the 1-2 dozens, at most.
So then I went back to what other activity satiates that narrative need of mine, and of course dropped on books. Now, I know what you're thinking. Why don't I just balance my time between games and other activities. And that's the hard part, at least for me. I have a very obsessive personality, and I like to deep dive and fully immerse myself into what I'm doing. I'm not really a person of measure and balance. And while I realize that's not good, I find it hard to control.
So, I'm currently considering this. I'll give it some more time and thought, and probably want to at least take witcher 3 to its end. At least once. And after that, I'll see where that takes me. But I'm seriously considering this.
Plus, there's loads more of must-read books that have been on my backlog for ages now. But for some reason I keep going to games. I think the fact that games have a way lower barrier of entry, than books. It's a lot easier to be constantly stimulated by all the artifacts in a game, than in a book.
So, anyone have any feedback on this? Anyone do something similar?
So I started thinking about how much time do I spend gaming, and how much of that is actual stories/lore/world-building in most games. It's mostly rpgs that have stories/lore/world-building. And even those, you usually have to play through the gameplay, and in most cases it's not really stimulating. I have to admit it, but even in the witcher, while gameplay is decent, it's nothing to write home about. I mostly don't even notice it, except for some highlights when I pull out of a situation where I keep dying and keep having to try again and again. And that also leads me to frustration, when I'm fighting the controls.
So, my conclusion: even for narrative heavy games, I probably spend a considerable time going through mechanics and gameplay, mostly to get at the narrative content. And this realization also comes at a time when, again, I realize how much time I spend gaming. And is the time investment worth it. The games that are absolutely must plays are probably in the 1-2 dozens, at most.
So then I went back to what other activity satiates that narrative need of mine, and of course dropped on books. Now, I know what you're thinking. Why don't I just balance my time between games and other activities. And that's the hard part, at least for me. I have a very obsessive personality, and I like to deep dive and fully immerse myself into what I'm doing. I'm not really a person of measure and balance. And while I realize that's not good, I find it hard to control.
So, I'm currently considering this. I'll give it some more time and thought, and probably want to at least take witcher 3 to its end. At least once. And after that, I'll see where that takes me. But I'm seriously considering this.
Plus, there's loads more of must-read books that have been on my backlog for ages now. But for some reason I keep going to games. I think the fact that games have a way lower barrier of entry, than books. It's a lot easier to be constantly stimulated by all the artifacts in a game, than in a book.
So, anyone have any feedback on this? Anyone do something similar?
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2007
- Messages
- 6,383