Hey.

[Surf314]

I think my view on the "gamer" classification is one who is open minded about playing video games. My problem is I feel like a lot of these "celebrities who are gamers" they keep showing off have just found their comfort zone and aren't interested in expanding from there. WoW is definitely a game but it is also very accessible to non-gamers, just like the Wii or DS. I wouldn't call those people gamers either, not out of elitism but out of my use of the word which is utilitarian in that to me it describes someone I can say "hey you should try this game" and they'd probably do it or already has.

On a secondary note: one’s introduction thread seems like a strange place to bring this up, no?

BRBU tends toward pub style, it's pretty common to turn intro threads into a way of talking to the person about something directly. You should see some of the others.

But if you ever do want something to stay on topic just note it in your original post and we will keep it clean.

Edit: check how fast my thread got derailed
http://www.brbuninstalling.com/forum/ind...opic=289.0

[Tricks]

I think my view on the "gamer" classification is one who is open minded about playing video games. My problem is I feel like a lot of these "celebrities who are gamers" they keep showing off have just found their comfort zone and aren't interested in expanding from there. WoW is definitely a game but it is also very accessible to non-gamers, just like the Wii or DS. I wouldn't call those people gamers either, not out of elitism but out of my use of the word which is utilitarian in that to me it describes someone I can say "hey you should try this game" and they'd probably do it or already has.

[quote author=Tricks link=topic=3912.msg127277#msg127277 date=1261061472]
On a secondary note: one’s introduction thread seems like a strange place to bring this up, no?

BRBU tends toward pub style, it's pretty common to turn intro threads into a way of talking to the person about something directly. You should see some of the others.

But if you ever do want something to stay on topic just note it in your original post and we will keep it clean.

Edit: check how fast my thread got derailed
http://www.brbuninstalling.com/forum/ind...opic=289.0
[/quote]

I think your point is well taken. It’s good for me to step back and see how other people see WoW. To me, WoW seems like the least accessible game I have ever played. I would define accessibility in terms of the player’s ability to accomplish objectives. I won’t argue that the majority of WoW’s tasks can feel like “kill 10 rats”. In that scope, the player’s ability to accomplish objectives is laughably easy. I do think the game scales exponentially to the point where you need a fundamental understanding all of game mechanics and items in order to exceed, and the moment you realize you spend equal amount of time calculating damage output in excel to gametime I think you have scaled beyond that point of easily accessable.

I completely agree that “WoW only” gamers are in general the worst gamers I have ever seen. They fumble around with no goal or direction, and are generally awful at anything they attempt. The majority of people I played with were CS vets or had several thousand hours of DoTA logged. I think high-end FPS play (hand-eye coordination) and mirco-managed RTS play both require much more skill then any MMO could possibly require.

As for de-railing, I don’t mind it, I’m just not used to it. I think it can be a lot more spontaneous and fun, but harder to find information if needed. That is an incredibly fast re-rail Surf, I think they were on to your coffee mug 5 posts or so in. I’ll get used to it.

[Professor Funbucks]

WoW doesn’t play nice with other games. It is all-consuming, all-demanding. I never found the $15 a month that prohibitive, especially considering I was getting in 250 hours a month. At six cents an hour, it was a bargain.

I play it like an hour a day, I don't really obsess over it.

[Luinbariel]

I think you are making some huge assumptions about what your average WoW player does and does not think. How do you know they only like WoW and are not open to other games? You don't.

Also I'm pretty sure I've heard that complaint, hot gamer chicks being only interested in WoW, elsewhere. What do you care? It's still a game and they still have some gaming skills.

[zaneyard]

see what i'm interested in a chick is that she can go grab her rig and play L4D2 with me without someone yelling has boobies

fixed that for myself

[Tricks]

I think you are making some huge assumptions about what your average WoW player does and does not think. How do you know they only like WoW and are not open to other games? You don't.

Also I'm pretty sure I've heard that complaint, hot gamer chicks being only interested in WoW, elsewhere. What do you care? It's still a game and they still have some gaming skills.

It has less to do about this intangible “average gamer” and more to do with incentives. Every one plays video games for different reasons. Player A plays for a sense of community. Player B plays video games for the challenge. Player C plays because they are bored. I don’t think any two people play for the exact same reasons. Gaming, in general, is a sub-culture of modern life where it is possible to gain happiness through achievement, entertainment, and a sense of community.

Namely, I am talking about theories advanced in Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments or the “Invisible Hand’. In short, rational human beings react to incentives. Whatever is the most effective system of delivery of the results you desire is what you tend to. If you liked praise and admiration for example, and there is a particular act you perform that gets that frequently, then you will tend towards those activities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand

I’ll stop the Philosophy 101 lecture and just say there is a type of person who is drawn to WoW, and sticks with it seriously. With 12 million or so people playing it, it is difficult to make any statement about “the average player” and have it be true.

Edit: Sorry Zaneyard.

[zaneyard]

i would have been able to read that better if you hadn't striked out an entire paragraph

most of us here are intelligent enough to understand basic philosophy just fyi

[Surf314]

I think you are making some huge assumptions about what your average WoW player does and does not think. How do you know they only like WoW and are not open to other games? You don't.

Also I'm pretty sure I've heard that complaint, hot gamer chicks being only interested in WoW, elsewhere. What do you care? It's still a game and they still have some gaming skills.

It's honestly just a pet peeve and has more to do with word usage than elitism. I think the best way to put my point is when I was rock climbing I would only gym climb and even in the gym I'd really only boulder. So I only had a very narrow experience with the entire set of activities that is rock climbing. If I called myself a rock climber though people would expect for me to be familiar with all of rock climbing, and especially have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the equipment used outdoors (which I didn't). So if I met a real rock climber and I said oh I'm a rock climber too they would probably be disappointed when almost anything they wanted to talk about I would have absolutely no knowledge of.

It's the same thing with the gamer label, it's not that I feel like it should only be worn by the elite it's just when I hear gamer I want to be able to connect with them as a gamer and since I don't really have much WoW knowledge and they don't really have much knowledge about anything else there really is no connection. Then I'd be kind of disappointed because being able to relate to other people about my interests makes me happy.

[Luinbariel]

i would have been able to read that better if you hadn't striked out an entire paragraph

most of us here are intelligent enough to understand basic philosophy just fyi

Yus.

It's the same thing with the gamer label, it's not that I feel like it should only be worn by the elite it's just when I hear gamer I want to be able to connect with them as a gamer and since I don't really have much WoW knowledge and they don't really have much knowledge about anything else there really is no connection. Then I'd be kind of disappointed because being able to relate to other people about my interests makes me happy.

Be careful not to confuse your own standards with those of others. What you feel a gamer is may not be what others agree a gamer is.

[Tricks]

[quote author=zaneyard link=topic=3912.msg127316#msg127316 date=1261074731]
i would have been able to read that better if you hadn't striked out an entire paragraph

most of us here are intelligent enough to understand basic philosophy just fyi

Yus.

It's the same thing with the gamer label, it's not that I feel like it should only be worn by the elite it's just when I hear gamer I want to be able to connect with them as a gamer and since I don't really have much WoW knowledge and they don't really have much knowledge about anything else there really is no connection. Then I'd be kind of disappointed because being able to relate to other people about my interests makes me happy.

Be careful not to confuse your own standards with those of others. What you feel a gamer is may not be what others agree a gamer is.
[/quote]

Doesn't that just come down to semantics then? He is talking about a gamer as somebody who shares a similar paradigm or social outlook, not a literal definition of the word.

[Surf314]

[quote author=Luinbariel link=topic=3912.msg127321#msg127321 date=1261075324]
[quote author=zaneyard link=topic=3912.msg127316#msg127316 date=1261074731]
i would have been able to read that better if you hadn't striked out an entire paragraph

most of us here are intelligent enough to understand basic philosophy just fyi

Yus.

It's the same thing with the gamer label, it's not that I feel like it should only be worn by the elite it's just when I hear gamer I want to be able to connect with them as a gamer and since I don't really have much WoW knowledge and they don't really have much knowledge about anything else there really is no connection. Then I'd be kind of disappointed because being able to relate to other people about my interests makes me happy.

Be careful not to confuse your own standards with those of others. What you feel a gamer is may not be what others agree a gamer is.
[/quote]

Doesn't that just come down to semantics then? He is talked about a gamer as somebody who shares a similar paradigm or social outlook, not a literal definition of the word.
[/quote]

Wow your two sentences covered what my 2 paragraphs I was about to post were about. Good show. The only thing I should add from my original post was that maybe I just need another word to mean what gamer used to mean since gamer now covers a much broader group of people I'm not used to it covering.

[zaneyard]

well, simply, there's different types of gamers

[If-I-Die-Its-Lag]

Hi, I play Gaia Online.

[backfire]

*late response*

Welcome! And you're an awesome medic. ;D

[Neonie]

Hi, I play Gaia Online.

It's cool. I have a friend or two I can only talk too threw Gaia. Ironically their both friends I met IRL who refuse to get real instant messenger programs.

[SBCrystal]

How's Tricks? Do you get that? Am I not the funniest person in the world? Welcome to brbu, I love you.
No worries on the debating that's going on, it's just what happens around here, except with me because I usually counter every argument with another, more nonsensical one...and cat macros.
Dragon Age is super fun, you should play it.