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Gamers: are you specialists, or generalists?
shutz
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I tried to hint at my problem in the "Games you wish for" thread, but it seems it wasn't the right thread for it, so here I go with my very own thread.
As a gamer, I'm a generalist. I play almost all game genres, and while I'm slightly better at some genres than others, I rarely kick ass at any games, because I don't invest the same amount of time that other gamers invest in the games they play.
I know other gamers who are specialists at one or two genres, for example, FPS, RTS, TBS, Survival Horror, 2D shooters, 2D platformers, 3D platformers, and so forth. They might play the other games once in a while, but they spend at least 80% of their gaming time on the one or two genres they're good at.
My problem is that most of the games that are being released that are aimed at hardcore gamers are becoming harder and harder, and are forced to follow the rules that have "crystallized" in the years since each respective genre first appeared. For example, there are two branches in the RTS genre: one is the "traditional resource-gathering style" and the other is more tactical, with little or no resource management apart from managing your troops themselves. In each genre, the controls now vary only rarely, the ways used for balancing the games are similar, and even the major winning strategies tend to be repeated from game to game. The gamers who specialize these genres gradually get better and better, so they need the games in the genre to become harder so they might still get a challenge.
This leaves generalists like me in the dust.
So, which are you, and do you have the same problem I have? What solutions would you propose (except for STFU noob! and similar useless replies...)
I know that with the current wave of casual games, hardcore gamers are already starting to feel like the current wave of games is too easy, so I expect to hear something like that, but clearly, hardcore games are not gone, and are not going away for a long time yet, so this subject is still very relevant.
As a gamer, I'm a generalist. I play almost all game genres, and while I'm slightly better at some genres than others, I rarely kick ass at any games, because I don't invest the same amount of time that other gamers invest in the games they play.
I know other gamers who are specialists at one or two genres, for example, FPS, RTS, TBS, Survival Horror, 2D shooters, 2D platformers, 3D platformers, and so forth. They might play the other games once in a while, but they spend at least 80% of their gaming time on the one or two genres they're good at.
My problem is that most of the games that are being released that are aimed at hardcore gamers are becoming harder and harder, and are forced to follow the rules that have "crystallized" in the years since each respective genre first appeared. For example, there are two branches in the RTS genre: one is the "traditional resource-gathering style" and the other is more tactical, with little or no resource management apart from managing your troops themselves. In each genre, the controls now vary only rarely, the ways used for balancing the games are similar, and even the major winning strategies tend to be repeated from game to game. The gamers who specialize these genres gradually get better and better, so they need the games in the genre to become harder so they might still get a challenge.
This leaves generalists like me in the dust.
So, which are you, and do you have the same problem I have? What solutions would you propose (except for STFU noob! and similar useless replies...)
I know that with the current wave of casual games, hardcore gamers are already starting to feel like the current wave of games is too easy, so I expect to hear something like that, but clearly, hardcore games are not gone, and are not going away for a long time yet, so this subject is still very relevant.
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Check out my new blog: http://50wordstories.ca
Also check out my old game design blog: http://stealmygamedesigns.blogspot.com
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You must love Plasma Pong, then.
Check out my new blog: http://50wordstories.ca
Also check out my old game design blog: http://stealmygamedesigns.blogspot.com
I can't real offer any kind of "solution" though, as I've just accepted that it's just how I roll. I'm usually in the lower ranks of multiplayer games, have difficulty maintaining interest in SP campaigns to finish them entirely and generally just lack skill. I have good fun while tooling around in them though, and do savour the only genre I'm at least half-decent at (flight sims).
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My 360 collection comprises of the following.
PD0
GRAW
GoW
PGR3
DOA4 (or three I can't remember what number it is, you know the DOA game)
SC: DA
NHL 07
Saints Row
All fairly varied genres of games (Though most of them seem to involve acronyms and guns)
In short, I play fun games.
Satans..... hints.....
I'm pretty good at 2d fighters and shooters/shmups though. I used to be amazing at twitch-fps games, but I've grown tired of that genre, and I only play FPS games every once in a while now.
I guess you could say I started out as a 'specialist' in certain genres, but I expanded my horizons and now I'm a 'generalist' that is awesome at certain things.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I tend to congregate in a couple of Genres, however, and play those games seriously. Everything else gets played through once or twice and ditched after that, even if I liked the game as much or more than it's rival in the opposing genre when I first got it.
For example, I love shooters. Absolutely. I'll play a hundred rounds of Halo/Newest Shooter here with my buddies. When they leave, or when the game gets old? I'm done with that game. I'll never play it again.
On the other hand, strategy games will suck me in forever (and ever, and ever, and ever). I've been playing Starcraft on and off since it came out, and I was good enough at Rise of Nations for a while to compete fairly decently in tournaments (but now I struggle against the harder computers).
I've played at least four hundred hours of Heroes III, and at least a hundred and fifty of Might and Magic VII (and considering it's a 15-30-hour long game...). I've played probably fifty games of Company of Heroes in the last two weeks.
So yeah.
Games I specalize in:
RTS. CRPG.
Games I play a Holy Crikey Wow lot of but still suck at:
Turn-Based Strategy.
Games I'm pretty good at but don't play much:
Action (God of War, DMC III).
Shooter.
Platformers (Oh, how the Genre has declined...)
Games I don't play much and suck at:
Everything Else
Adventure (The genre is dead, sadly.)
Anyways: OP, I recommend you take a look at Company of Heroes. It's a hybrid of the two RTS systems you've mentioned above, and it's somewhat new and refreshing (and really painstakingly detailed/awesome.) Check it out.
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I never have been a generalist and I don't think I will ever be. None of the other games I find interesting, case in point God of War. I have it (on a recommendation that its like Prince of Persia (which I do enjoy)) and playe dit and finished it. I found it extremely basic, bare-boned story line and such.
I just went back and started Shining Tears and find that I am happy.
This is more true for competitive type games though - I love adventure games, and don't necessarily need gameplay innovations to really enjoy them.
Specifically, I play a ton of SRPGs and 2D fighters, which is more my forte. It comes down to how much I play a game and if I play it with other people. The more I play of a game, the better I'll get at it, especially if my mates are good at it and it fosters competition.
Except for Smash Brothers Melee. I was great at the first one and while I can hold my own in it, I can't win consistantly to save myself.
No racing games. No sports games (I'm looking at you, Madden). No fighting games post Eternal Champions.
Anything else is fair game really. I just suck hard at the above and I don't really enjoy them.
I play all games, but I put time into those three genres much much more so.
I mostly play action/adventure games, platformers, and especially RPGs. Thanks to the Wii, however, I might start playing sports games.
I am however, a collectionist, since I prefer collecting games more than I like playing or finishing them.
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I'm not very good at most fighting games, but the only game I consider myself really good at is Soul Calibur II (Talim FTW), and I'm sure that if I were to play against a real pro, I'd get my ass kicked.
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I'm curious about why you picked Eternal Champions as your cutoff point here. I prefer older 2D fighters because the later ones (say, SF III onwards) had too much depth. Like, you need to specialize in a character and there's too much going on for their own good. But there are plenty of easy to play 2D fighters made after Eternal Champions.
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Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
But with now having a job and such, I'm able to afford all sorts of games. The only genres I'm not all that into are racing games and sports games, but even then I suppose there could be exceptions.
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Eternal Champions was the last fighter I bought. I had Street Fighter II for the SNES (not the turbo, the first one) and MK for the Genesis (I asked for a Genesis that year because I didn't want my MK to be the pansified SNES edition
In my opinion, if you have to "specialize" in a specific genre of game to be able to play a certain game to any degree of competency, then the game is a bad game.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Right now, I'm a sucky specialist when it comes to the PS2 because I'm not as handy with the thumbsticks as some games want me to be. I'll get you yet, Gitaroo Man! o9
However, once I settle on a game I have to keep my concentration on it and learn it as best as i can, conquer it to my satisfaction, then leave it, probably never to play it again. So in that way im a specialist.
Anyway, I dabble in most genres, with Third Person Action, JRPG and Strategy games being my preferred genres.
Then again, maybe thats just because I tend to be really good at some shooters(Like BF series, especially BF2. It was uncanny). Hmm.
The thing is, I tend to get really good at any game I play for a decent amount of time. Whenever me and my friends get into a game, especially one with multiplayer, I tend to come out on top. I just inherently am better at video games, I think. Again, uncanny.
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I used to never go near sports games, but the Wii may change that.
There are lots of genres (FPS, strategy, stealth) that I play only occasional standout titles.
RPG, adventure and action games and anything really oddball are what I normally gravitate toward.
RPGs and third-person actioners are the only ones where I'm developing any kind of hardcore mindset, though.
Oh, yeah, any anything artistic I'll jump on, just for rarity value.
And I never play GTA, or any other game that obliges to to play modern gangster stereotype people. They annoy me. If I'm going to play a criminal, make it Garrett.
Dude, That rocks hard. thats one of the neatest pong varients i've ever seen.
I haven't really come across an FPS that has challenged me for awhile... I just played through the entirety of FEAR and Extraction Point on insane with just hand to hand moves (well the dreadnoughts required guns). That was awesomely tense in parts!
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has also been a decent challenge, but really it just took an hour or so to get the shooting mechanics and now Master level is a bit of a joke. I remember raiding a spetnaz depot with just a pistol and shotgun because I was bored... by the end I was knee deep in the dead. I am about to raid the monolith base... after having dealt with the Freedom faction 'problem' that duty was having.
Armed assault was harder, but once again proper stealth technique, good reflexes and aiming turned the tide.
I once held the #4 global ranking in BF2 when it first dropped... medic's upgraded rifle was godly!
My favorite genre is usually the rhythm/music kind, since it's the only genre I've played where every single game requires a completely different learning experience to master it. (SC5, Rez, Frequency, Guitar Hero, Technic Beat, UNiSON, even DDR: all one-of-a-kind.)
fucking awesome. I just took places 2, 4, and 5.
It makes things very stressful, but satisfying in victory.
I suppose I take a generalist attitude towards what might be deemed 'special'. I don't discount entire genres of games, and it generally depends on what I'm watching/reading/feeling nostalgic for at the time.
That said, when it comes right down to it the games I find myself sticking with most are RPGs. It probably has something to do with the fact that they encourage a long-term investment. Games that allow me to play casually tend to get left by the wayside as I jacknife from iceberg to iceberg on this crazy boat-ride we call life.
fake edit: I also seem to find a time for Star Wars games. Republic Commando was the last one to demand my attention (despite only lasting two play sessions).
And when RPGs and Star Wars combine? Boy howdy! I lost a fair few weeks on the Kotors.
real edit: Star Wars and RPGs... I am like, so cool, you know? I am currently feeling a strong urge to name-drop as many things from 'respectable' branches of gaming (and related activities) as possible
Specialist by default, then?
I'm very much a generalist of games; the only real genre I avoid is RTS, but aside from that I'm up for anything. I do consider myself as a Gaming Liberal Arts major with a minor in rhythm gaming, though.
Can't stand sports games, RTS's, and most turn-based RPG's.
Of course, I can get rolled by just about anyone in multiplayer as a result.
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