Although Tom at Newbie Gamer Blog may be new to games, he’s quick to find my favorite theory behind fun:

“But when I think back on it, it wasn’t the games that made those nights so much fun. It was the fact that we were playing those games together.”

He’s got it exactly right. I’ve talked before on how identifiable characters can really improve stories. That’s amplified when those characters are real people.

I hate leveling in World of Warcraft, but I love playing with my friends and teaming up with (or against!) them. The fun comes from the stories–our triumph over a dragon, or our tragic death–we create together, not the tedious clicking on spider after spider. I stopped playing WoW a few months back because it was too hard for me to meet up with friends (most on different servers) to quest.

That’s partly why I’m so attracted to games like Myst Online: Uru Live. I also think it’s why I don’t see kids in the dorm rushing out to by next-generation consoles. We’re playing Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo64 and Guitar Hero on PS2. Because it’s the interaction with each other, not the console, that is fun.

I try to always play video games with friends. If I’m sitting in front of the computer for 4 hours by myself, that time has been wasted. How much of the time you spend gaming is with other people?

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 3rd, 2006 at 6:05 pm and is filed under Gaming, Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.