How demanding are you with games?

[avrame]

For me, multiplayer is a must for any game I'm willing to touch nowadays. I don't find much joy in playing a game by myself, esspecially if my wife doesn't find it interesting and won't watch me play it.

2 player co-op or online multiplayer allows me to enjoy games with other people. Aside from together retro's and stuff, not many other options.

[Original_Name]

Well, I disagree with the sentiment that video games are exclusively for fun. The games I respect the most do their damnedest to try and elicit other profound emotions as well.

I have relatively high standards with my games, but at the same time I tend to have a bit of a completist streak in me as well. My Dreamcast collection, for instance, has become so robust that I've started to collect just about any game which appeals to me, focusing my resources there when there are massive, gaping holes in my paltry PlayStation collection, for instance. I still don't own relatively well-known games that massively appeal to me on PlayStation such as Silent Hill, Suikoden II, Intelligent Qube, Parappa the Rapper, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Mega Man Legends, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, or Einhander, yet I do own more obscure games such as Lack of Love, Frame Gride, Segagaga, Cannon Spike, Roommania #203, and Rent-a-Hero no. 1 (and I've got my eye on Napple Tale) on the Dreamcast, simply 'cause I'm so close to having every game I've ever wanted on that console.

For the most part, my tastes come in extremes -- either something is an incredibly prestigious title, both in terms of reputation (Ocarina of Time, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario Bros. 3, et cetera) or in its high-brow content and presentation (Shadow of the Colossus, Fallout, Xenogears, and Deus Ex are major examples) I will go out of my way to experience it. I also have a penchant for games which ignore the standards of becoming "high-brow" or "classic" and focus on taking some concept (preferably a bizarre one) and totally blowing it unbelievably over the top (DoDonPachi, Power Stone 2, and Crazy Taxi on one end, The Typing of the Dead, LSD: The Dream Simulator, and Octodad on the other).

So I'm as interested in the history of classics, the musings of high-brow titles, the kinetic fury of a million arcade quarter-killers, and the overwhelmingly bizarre. My favorite types of games are those which combine as many of those elements as possible, such as Rez, Ikaruga, Psychonauts, Portal, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Shadow of the Colossus, and Killer 7. Also, many of my favorites are games that satisfy most of those criteria, such as Shenmue, NiGHTS into Dreams..., Seaman, Snatcher, Metal Gear Solid, Half-Life, Jet Set Radio, Lack of Love, EVO: Search for Eden, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Skies of Arcadia, and Metroid. At the very least, a game should make for a good toy, as is the case with puzzlers and you-be-the-creator games.

What I don't like are games which fail to balance these elements, or to do any single thing well. For instance, many Western, Hollywood-inspired games completely fail to resonate with me in that their approach to action seems stale and their stories are not only mediocre, but shoved down your throat at the same time. If something just feels contrived, I won't give it the time of day. A game can be below average in some respects and still be deserving of my time (and even designation as a favorite), but if a game is average in all respects, then I would literally rather play a bad game so that I could at least laugh at it.

[Zing]

I've been playing less and less games as my interest in the video game world has wavered in recent years (and my interest in board games has risen, accordingly)

Intriguing, since I have the opposite effect right now. I have a relatively large board game collection, but have been spending more time with my SNES and PS1 instead. I still play a few times a week, but I have eliminated my once standard "12 hour saturday gaming".

You can find me on BGG with a different username, but the same avatar. Up until about a year ago, you would see that I was extremely active on the forums there. I also uploaded a large amount of info and photos when VGG opened. I have almost completely stopped posting and don't plan on uploading anything further to VGG. The user collection interface and data sorting is just not there yet, and I feel like it is a waste of time.

[Gamerforlife]

I just play whatever catches my interest. I don't put too much stock in reviews or popularity though I do use reviews as a way to find out what's getting a lot of buzz and get a little info about a particular game. I may play what others view as an average game that is great to me

What I usually don't play:

Sports(unless it's something accessible to a non-sports fan like myself like SSX Tricky, Sega Soccer Slam, etc.), multi-player centric games of any genre(for me, multi-player is like an extra feature, not something to completely build a game around), most first person and third person shooters(unless something makes them stand out from the fifty billion other ones on the market today), fighting games(I did once love 2D fighters though), MMORPGS(They just seem pointless to me as anything other than a social experience, which I don't really need video games for), western style rpgs unless it's by Bioware(because theirs seem to be more accessible), sandbox games, periphal based music games(nothing against them, I just find other games more interesting)

[Key-Glyph]

Honestly, I have pretty much no standards.

Bahaha! That amused me.

Right now I'm interested in pursuing classic games from what I'm calling "a historical perspective." What I mean is that I'll play anything for the Genesis, NES, and SNES that 1) had an intriguing advertisment in an old gaming magazine but I never got around to playing, 2) is renowned for being either really good or really bad, 3) had a great soundtrack, 4) did something innovative...

...so maybe that means I don't have any standards either. I'm sticking almost exclusively to 8-bit and 16-bit systems though. Maybe we can say "We just want to research it all" as opposed to "We're not very picky."

[BoringSupreez]

Interesting topic. I've been playing less and less games as my interest in the video game world has wavered in recent years (and my interest in board games has risen, accordingly),

I knew that was you on BGG, sporting a K instead of a C

Why am I not surprised you two are on there?

[Haoie]

No sports or racing.

I like weird/obscure things aside from my usual genres.

[pakopako]

Games where I can beat them once a year and still be surprised.
(Basically, if I can squeeze water from the carts/discs, I'll take it.)

[Balasubbie]

I've been thinking about this the past few day. I think I'd honestly give anything, and I do mean anything, about an hour to impress itself upon me. The ratio of titles that continue to be picked up after said window is dwarfed in comparison to those sent straight back out to be traded for something more engaging.

[Gunstar Green]

I can find something to like in most games that aren't terrible. I tend to stick to titles that focus on arcadey action and such and games that don't require a lot of time and dedication. As such I don't play a lot of RPGs.

Anyway, games that interest me personally with their style or mechanics or genre (give me giant robots or cool spaceships and you're bound to attract me) are more important than general consensus and popularity.