I am a Classic Gamer

[Nz17]

I am not a "core" gamer. I am not a "casual" gamer. I am a classic gamer who likes "arcade-style" games from the beginning of this medium to today's games.

What I mean is, I like a challenge. I like action games, games that demand I pay attention and try my best, and improve myself to win.

It doesn't matter the age of the game. It can be 2D, 2.5D, or 3D.

What I don't like is "baby food" games which are so soft, homogenous, no-lose, and easy, that its "challenge" is the equivalent of watching a movie.

At the same time I don't like games that last for more than 10 hours. Yeah, I understand and respect those who like story-based games like RPG's - I get them. But for me, personally, I like games to be 5 hours or less.

To state things another way, if I had to choose between one 60-hour game or fifteen 3-to-5-hour games for the same price, I'd choose the fifteen shorter games.

Or to put things another way, I like to graze games. A little time here, and a little time there, but not too much time with any one game on any one day. And when I think about that, I realize that's the arcade approach, the classic gaming mentality: a bunch of fun, "little" game experiences with a lot of variety, real challenge, and a lot of experimentation in game creation.

I think that's why I like the Dreamcast so much and its "avant-garde" selection of games. Sure, they aren't always the highest caliber or most polished experience - but what you get with them are fun, challenging experiences with unique music and art styles.

[Aussie2B]

Honestly, I'm kinda growing adverse to the title "gamer" itself, since it's more and more being associated with a nasty, toxic culture that I want nothing to do with. But on the other hand, I can't think of any better term to describe the fact that I'm passionate about the hobby of video gaming. I mean, I could call myself a "video game player", but I see that as just beating around the bush of saying "gamer".

I still identify as primarily a retro gamer. I've never been exclusively into retro games, and I don't know if I ever would feel up for abandoning modern gaming. But it may be a disingenuous thing to say when I look at the games I've beaten in the last couple years, and it's mostly stuff released in the last few years. I also feel like my favorite genres are getting kind of disingenuous too, with how rarely I, say, play RPGs these days, but mostly it's just a lack of free time, or perhaps, rather, poor time management, that's keeping me away from gaming as much as I'd like in general, including playing retro systems as much as I'd like and playing favorite genres as much as I'd like.

Beyond that, though, I think I'm pretty open to all kinds of games, and I want different things out of different kinds of games. I have a general preference for short games, again going back to the limited gaming time, yet I'm often drawn to games that are really long. I like a healthy challenge, but depending on the game and genre, I can either look past a low challenge level or not even care about it at all. I used to feel that story was pretty insignificant to me, as even with RPGs, I generally felt the stories weren't anything to write home about, but now I've gotten big on visual novels, which I'm playing for the stories (obviously), and I couldn't care less that they're generally long and have little in the way of challenge or even interactivity.

[SpaceHarrier]

I'm an enthusiast casual. I love every tiny detail and nuance of games. Learning about who directed the project, their influences, as well as the composer and their inspirations, and the game's reception, back in its day, its general place in history, are of great interest to me. I listen to video game soundtracks constantly. I've made hundreds of sprites out of plastic beads (a decent amount from fairly obscure games). I want to try out as many games as possible, new and old. I don't care if a game is easy or hard, long or short, licensed or original.

But I rarely complete any game.

[Cornelius]

If I'm being completely honest, I'm probably the typical milquetoast sort of gamer that so many games aim at these days. I think a lot of that has to do with the available gaming time vs. reward for my/our? generation. I was born in '78, so I've grown up with a little 2600, a lot of NES, etc. These days, though, the type of punishing difficulty from the arcadey games Nz17 enjoys just doesn't offer the same appeal; it just takes too much time (for me) to get satisfaction in those games. Combine that with the availability of games with great story and or/amazing experiences, and I guess I'm more of a modern gamer now. I had a great time with Axiom Verge, which has a great old-school feel (it is a shameless Metroid homage), but adds a cool story. Or consider Journey, which has almost no difficulty, but is a great experience. I'd say SotC is similar in that way. I still love to pull out classic games on occasion, but I have little desire for mastery of them. Although now that I look over my 'beaten in 2017' list, I had a great time finishing some classics there. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can most definitely see the appeal of "baby food" games.

You know what, screw all that. I sometimes like a challenge, and I sometimes like something that plays itself if it offers a good experience. I played the hell out of Demons' Souls and love my Galaga cabinet (when it is working), had a great time with Golden Axe Warrior. I also loved my experience with Shadow of the Colossus and Journey and more recently, Thomas was Alone. To each their own, but I think it is a mistake to limit oneself to something of a certain difficulty. I am definitely not a grazer, though. If I start a game, I don't feel good about putting it away unfinished. This is not a good thing, as it tends to prevent me from starting games.

[Nz17]

It's not that I won't play games that aren't difficult. I've completed many lengthy and/or easy games. It's that I often find myself bored or distracted after a short time if there are too many words or the game is more than a few hours long in duration. So another way to phrase it is that these days I usually avoid games that don't match my usual criteria so that I don't walk away from them or never start them.

[YoshiM]

At this point I'm a "wish I could play" type of gamer. It's hard to carve out time to play games either at home or during a break at work.

At work I rarely take a full lunch. Maybe 10 minutes to eat but I'm typically working as I chew and I get an hour. I browse the forums for a few minutes at a time waiting for software to install or something but it's not enough to break out a DS and go.

Home I am busy with the kids, supper or my wife. She's not keen on game playing due to her ex-husband's addiction (one of his) and his outlook on a relationship ("you sit there and watch me do this") so I don't game when it's just us. When I do fire up a game system, I'm typically taking care of my 18 month old son as he tends to get clingy or wants to jump into the fray of controllers. Sure the kids will attempt to help out with the youngun's so I can get a chance but usually the help fizzles out quickly.

Could I make time? Sure...but there's a lot of others stuff I need to make time for too.

[Edmond Dantes]

Hi Classic Gamer, I am the Purple Guy.

[bb_hood]

I hate labels. I like video games.

[Nz17]

Without the labels, how do you know which game is which without trying each one? :P

[bb_hood]

Without the labels, how do you know which game is which without trying each one? :P

lol, good point

[Edmond Dantes]

Hell, I literally saw label-less NES carts in a pawn shop once. and like.. if I don't even know what game I'm buying...

I almost wish I had taken the plunge.

[WulfeLuer]

Somebody hates labels, so we should get 'em a DYMO for Christmas this year.

I'm an unabashed 'RPG nut,' with just enough taste for action-y stuff to keep my reflexes from ossifying. The 'style' doesn't matter all that much, the publisher or the dev matters a little bit more (ERAU QSSI DLRO WEHT) and I tend to stick to nothing newer than one generation behind modern ($$$). I don't graze all that much, though I get a bizarre fit of anxiety over which game to plug in next when I'm going into uncharted territory. Nerdiest commitment issues ever.

For me, 'gamer' means something different than the context seen here. Basically, I'm also loosely into the tabletop side of games; I have a circle of friends that's always doing some sort of pen-and-paper RPG, I have a horrible schedule overall so I mostly just hear AARs and try to dispense advice or ideas for campaigns. Not always good advice (the current group is doing Legend of The Five Rings and I'm randomly quoting Yoshimitsu when they talk about it). I even managed to somehow get a new Mage Knight group going. These people also consider that being a 'gamer.' I don't consider one better than the other, just different.