How can a person possibly play the same genre non-stop?

[Original_Name]

I'm trying not to come across as a pretentious "hardcore gamer" or anything, but the other day I went to my friend's house and he had an Xbox 360 with 14 games... half Multiplayer-Oriented FPS's (he says he almost never pays attention to the first-player campaigns, except for practice) and half "Guitar Hero & Friends" games. I'm not one to say that someone can't enjoy these games, but I don't understand how a person could manage to play games from the same couple of genres over and over, non-stop.

He professes to be obsessed with video games and has had a 360 for about four years. This is all well and good, but when I first started to get really into video games, I remember I bought games from as many different genres as I could with just a few mainstays that I knew I could fall back on. I tried everything from shoot-'em-ups to fighters to RPG's to survival horror to platformers to graphic adventures to super-realistic simulators to arcade games to mature-content to juvenile-content and everywhere in-between -- just to see what was out there... I knew I liked video games, but I wanted to gauge my tastes

Some of the greatest video games of all time have been FPS's -- Half-Life and BioShock are two of the best games I've ever played. And I'd be lying if I said I haven't had tons of fun with Samba de Amigo... but to play games from those or ANY genre EXCLUSIVELY for such an extensive amount of time is just crazy to me. I mean, Strategy RPG's and Shmups are really cool genres which I could play for a good while -- but if I played nothing BUT Strategy RPG's and Shmups for four straight years, I would probably just lose interest in gaming entirely.

Any thoughts on this? How can people bear to play just one or two types of games, exclusively?

(And no, I wasn't a jerk to him about it. I'm a Racketeer, we don't do such things. )

[MidnightRider]

Almost hard to take you seriously on this when you have 2 Panzer Dragoon games in your backloggery.

I dunno, it's all about what one finds to be fun. You can't play the same few games, but your friend can. Might be interesting if/when he starts to branch out.

[swiftzx]

Almost hard to take you seriously on this when you have 2 Panzer Dragoon games in your backloggery.

I dunno, it's all about what one finds to be fun. You can't play the same few games, but your friend can. Might be interesting if/when he starts to branch out.

Yeah, but both those Panzer Dragoon games are different genres

[Breetai]

How can people bear to play just one or ... clusively?
No idea.

My first games that I really owned (the old TI-94/a doesn't count, as I wasn't really into it at the time) was Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. Then I got Metroid, followed by Mega Man 2, Donkey Kong Classics, Zelda 2, Rad Racer, Blades of Steel, Zelda 1, Castlevania, Dragon Warrior, Mario 2, Double Dragon 2, Ninja Gaiden II, Super C, Mega Man 3, Castlevania II, Mario 3, Final Fantasy, Base Wars, etc. (Nintendo, Capcom and Konami all the way!). I used a combination of paper route money, birthday money and Christmas wish lists to get them. Except for Zelda II, Castlevania, and Castlevania II, those are all games I can beat without thinking about it much.

I'd say that is a pretty good bit of diversity. There's a few platformers, a few adventure games (Metroid, Zelda II, Castlevania II), a racing game, old school arcade game, a few action platformers (Ninja Gaiden II, Super C), a beat 'em up, RPGs, etc. I definitely think diversity is the right way to go! Having the same sort of game all the time would just be boring.

[Ziggy]

but the other day I went to my friend's house and he had an Xbox 360 with 14 games... half Multiplayer-Oriented FPS's (he says he almost never pays attention to the first-player campaigns, except for practice) and half "Guitar Hero & Friends" games.

I just stopped reading right there.

I bet he's the kinda guy that thinks he's so great online, while he crouches behind the bushes or snipes from a vantage point. Then proclaims "yeah that's right! Look at my kill to death ration, I'm the best! most kills!" but meanwhile he was playing capture the flag (or something similar) and didn't score once.

It's his fault the single player modes in FPS are getting worse. Because the makers know most of the kids are buying the game for the online multi and wont even play single player. And now the online experience is bad because all these people who are obsessed with the game are really obsessed with the online status. It's all about who's the best and whatnot.

Not that I'm bashing FPS games, I love them myself. But I kinda fell out of touch with it since this whole scene came about. At work, I was sick of hearing about Call of Duty 4. Especially when I started to hear people say they're going home and playing "COD 5". And I don't mean saying each letter, they say "cod" and in "cod fish." Grrr, that annoys me! lol

Don't even get me started on Guitar Hero. I know a lot of people like it, but some people just like it too much. Maybe it's because I started (and I'm not trying to brag here or anything) playing guitar when I was young, but I never saw what was so fun about Guitar Hero to begin with. People who spend countless hours getting good at Guitar Hero could have spent the same time practicing a real guitar and then have something they could take with them the rest of their life. That and the time Dead or Alive came on at work and the kid started singing along with it. I was like, "Oh, you like Bon Jovi?" and he was like "Nah, I just no it from Guitar Hero." Ya ever see the cartoons when the flames are in their eyes and the smoke comes out of their ears?

Bah, I'm pouring too much of my own personal opinions into this, but do you get my point? Seems like your friend is just one of those generic 360 kids. Guitar Hero and Call of Duty. That's all the 360 is good for. Trade in the last CoD for the new one that came out, no one is playing the old one anymore. Gotta stay up late to rank up.

(And no, I wasn't a jerk to him about it. I'm a Racketeer, we don't do such things. )

OK, OK, I did scan threw the rest of the post. We're allowed to talk negatively about it amongst ourselves though, right? I was gonna say, don't even bother trying to enlighten him with other genres. He's probably much too involved with his FPS. We know the great games that are out there. I had to bite my tongue so many times listening to these people go on and on about CoD4 when that was big. Luckily, I don't hear much talk about the new one that just came out. Also reminds me of the time I was talking about video games with a coworker and I'm like, "What about Mario 64?" and he says, "I don't like RPGs."

[Original_Name]

Almost hard to take you seriously on this when you have 2 Panzer Dragoon games in your backloggery.

I dunno, it's all about what one finds to be fun. You can't play the same few games, but your friend can. Might be interesting if/when he starts to branch out.

Yeah, but both those Panzer Dragoon games are different genres

Winks all around! Haha, and to further clear my name, I'm also playing Snatcher and BioShock right now... and just beat Shinobi III and Thunder Force IV this past Wednesday EDIT: I'll edit that My Backloggery "Now-Playing" is never too accurate since I have such a scatter-brained approach to playing games. That may feed into your point though, MidnightRider... I have a scatter-brained approach to lots of things... if I focus on one thing for too long, I start to get paranoid about all the things I'm missing elsewhere. Others like to lock into one thing and completely master it... I don't think I've "mastered" any video game other than the first Sonic the Hedgehog. Plus the first cartridge I ever owned was the 6-Pak on the Genesis, so there was no reason to be afraid of branching out from the get-go, 'cause it was all already there.

@Breetai -- Yeah, the games I tried in my youth (although I'm a bit younger than you) were similarly varied... NiGHTS into Dreams, Half-Life, Shenmue, Final Fantasy VII, Ecco the Dolphin, Daytona USA, Gran Turismo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy Tactics, Thunder Force IV, Panzer Dragoon Zwei, Shinobi III, Seaman, Toy Commander, Virtual ON, The Typing of the Dead, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, PaRappa the Rapper, Xenogears, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Chu Chu Rocket!, Virtua Fighter, ET CETERA... all over the place. When I bought Sonic Spinball, for instance, it wasn't 'cause Sonic was on the cover, it was because I'd never played a pinball video game before and it seemed interesting. I almost said that may be in part because back then the consoles were more oriented around such diversity, so my buying habits were just a product of that -- but then again, I didn't see many modern FPS nuts trying out Halo Wars just 'cause it seemed different and interesting. I wonder if a game like Metal Gear Solid were just now coming out for the first time today if people would pay much attention to it?

@Ziggy -- Haha, yes, you can say whatever the hell you want about them. The wink makes my statement just as flexible as you want it to be. Racketeers do seem to be nicer than most other forumers, but that doesn't mean we're not entitled to a rant here and there. I agree with your sentiments about how his attitude towards gaming is killing developers' incentives to be original and challenging in meaningful ways... besides that though, even if he played only the MOST INCREDIBLE FPS's or RPG's or Rail-Shooters or anything else, I'm shocked that a person could be content playing JUST THOSE genres EXCLUSIVELY for such a long amount of time with such consistency.

Hahaha, Super Mario 64 has so much grinding... and jeez, all that text! I wanted to play a video game, not read a novel!

[Ziggy]

Hahaha, Super Mario 64 has so much grinding... and jeez, all that text! I wanted to play a video game, not read a novel!

I know, right!? I went to race Koopa the Quick and was like, "Bah, I can't be bothered figuring out this puzzle!"

[Original_Name]

I know, right!? I went to race Koopa the Quick and was like, "Bah, I can't be bothered figuring out this puzzle!"

Hahahahahaha, that actually did make me laugh out loud. "How do I equip this FUCKING HAT!?"

[loganm187]

I have beaten snatcher and panzer dragoon saga along with policenauts in the past year and they beat out any new game i have touched in years......well, donkey kong returns is fucking amazing right now..lol

[JordanPlayer]

Seems like your friend is just one of those generic 360 kids. Guitar Hero and Call of Duty. That's all the 360 is good for. Trade in the last CoD for the new one that came out, no one is playing the old one anymore. Gotta stay up late to rank up.

I cannot stand this type of "gamer". I had someone ask if I had gotten CoD: Black Ops and I promptly replied no... and if I did it would have been for PC due to mouse + keyboard being better. He gave me an amazed look and asked how I could call myself a gamer; felt like busting that kid upside the head for not knowing what a real gamer is and being a poser. These kids need to learn a lesson and go play some great multiplayer FPS games such as Unreal Tournament, Quake, etc before thinking that the latest CoD is the shit