I'm writing a book about Why We Play, and I've been a fan of your blog (though only as a reader) for some time now. Number 3 on your list speaks to me very deeply, especially now that I've been working on this project daily for well over a year.
I intend to start publishing essays and excerpts soon - I'll be sure to share them back to you if you're interested. Thank you for your time and energy in the blog.
----
The first three lines of my draft, if you're curious: ;)
I've played a game called RuneScape for 5000 hours and I don't know why.
Was all that time wasted?
Was any of the experience valuable?
And for this not to seem like shameless self-promotion, I am always interested in an individual's answer to this question. Comprehensive or not, to anyone reading this: why do you play?
Didn't think I'd see RuneScape on HN today. As someone who plays and has since I was around 10, I often think about that same question. Sometimes I think of myself as being from the early 2000s Internet, rather than my hometown. Being online was where I felt like I belonged. RuneScape was like going out to play in the woods. I grew up there.
For me most of that play time has been worth it. Games and wanting to make them are what got me interested in programming. Now I'm a software engineer. People worry about kids' screen time, but I spent most of my time as a kid in front of the computer, programming and gaming. Far beyond acceptable amounts of screen time for a kid, but without that I don't know what I would've been interested in. Certainly there were different kinds of games back then. No ads, short gameplay loops, or microtransactions. From games I learned how to find information online, not many wikis then. I got better at reading, typing, and socializing through online games and forums. I set my own goals and achieved them. I was able to gain more confidence about myself. Games gave me a safe, small microcosm of the world to be excited about.
I could ramble on, but I'd definitely be interested in reading your thoughts about games and play.
I don't think OP is the blog author. The post title is just the original title from the blog. If you follow the link and leave a comment on the blog post, the Addict himself will see it and probably respond.
> Prior to 2010, my CRPG addiction was a solitary, lonely, shameful experience.
Exactly feel for this part. I do not let people know that I play games (rpg, online competitive, etc) as a hobby, except for few friends I have known since school.
It is a mental image in which playing video game is not socially acceptable for a young male in United States. But I do not think it really matters - instead of impressing other people, having a hobby is to create room for myself.
As mentioned on that page, he is playing them in chronological order, although he frequently has to go back to earlier years to fill in games that were missing on his original list (he also expanded his criteria to include platforms other than IBM PC).
To be clear, that's a list of games that have been covered in the blog. He has played plenty of more recent games. Amusingly, he covered both Skyrim and Dragon Age: Origins when they came out, and actually spent several posts reviewing the former. But he doesn't include them on his list of played games.
[+] [-] DiggyJohnson|4 years ago|reply
I intend to start publishing essays and excerpts soon - I'll be sure to share them back to you if you're interested. Thank you for your time and energy in the blog.
----
The first three lines of my draft, if you're curious: ;)
I've played a game called RuneScape for 5000 hours and I don't know why.
Was all that time wasted?
Was any of the experience valuable?
And for this not to seem like shameless self-promotion, I am always interested in an individual's answer to this question. Comprehensive or not, to anyone reading this: why do you play?
[+] [-] nnadams|4 years ago|reply
For me most of that play time has been worth it. Games and wanting to make them are what got me interested in programming. Now I'm a software engineer. People worry about kids' screen time, but I spent most of my time as a kid in front of the computer, programming and gaming. Far beyond acceptable amounts of screen time for a kid, but without that I don't know what I would've been interested in. Certainly there were different kinds of games back then. No ads, short gameplay loops, or microtransactions. From games I learned how to find information online, not many wikis then. I got better at reading, typing, and socializing through online games and forums. I set my own goals and achieved them. I was able to gain more confidence about myself. Games gave me a safe, small microcosm of the world to be excited about.
I could ramble on, but I'd definitely be interested in reading your thoughts about games and play.
[+] [-] SL61|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] muthdra|4 years ago|reply
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-game/id303688916?i...
[+] [-] LambdaTrain|4 years ago|reply
Exactly feel for this part. I do not let people know that I play games (rpg, online competitive, etc) as a hobby, except for few friends I have known since school.
It is a mental image in which playing video game is not socially acceptable for a young male in United States. But I do not think it really matters - instead of impressing other people, having a hobby is to create room for myself.
[+] [-] JohnJamesRambo|4 years ago|reply
http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/p/index-of-games-played-by-ye...
[+] [-] djur|4 years ago|reply
To be clear, that's a list of games that have been covered in the blog. He has played plenty of more recent games. Amusingly, he covered both Skyrim and Dragon Age: Origins when they came out, and actually spent several posts reviewing the former. But he doesn't include them on his list of played games.
https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2011/11/too-much-of-good-thi...
https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2011/11/skyrim-mid-game-revi...
[+] [-] ofrzeta|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] steve_avery|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lalaland1125|4 years ago|reply
Baldur's Gate 2 is the defining example.
Top down party based story focused games.
[+] [-] steveklabnik|4 years ago|reply