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A few months ago, I wrote a post called “We’re never too old to play games!” It was about my wonderful dad, his loss against a boss fight with frontotemporal dementia, and how games helped him/could have helped him more. We played games together always, from my earliest childhood memories until very close to the end of his life. He would have turned 70 on December 15, and I still miss him (and playing games with him) every day.

So when I was asked to read the following article for a health science reading group I’m in, I read it even though I couldn’t make it to the meeting:

Millington, B. (2011). Use it or lose it: Ageing and the politics of brain training. Leisure Studies, 31(4), 429-446.

Abstract:

This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of promotional websites for three prominent ‘brain games’ – that is, consumer technologies designed to train and improve the brain through challenging cognitive exercises. The study was specifically designed to critically examine how brain training is promoted as a viable endeavour and how brain games are made to intervene in cognitive functioning. The analysis of online promotion revealed three overlapping themes: (1) the deployment of expertise in game marketing to make brain training intelligible; (2) the deployment of risk metrics in game software to ‘screen and intervene’ in cognitive health; and (3) the deployment of ‘third party’ sources to corroborate brain training’s value, especially for older adults. These findings are used as a basis to contend that brain training technologies are simultaneously enabling and constraining. Against the historical practice of seeing ageing and cognitive ‘decline’ as biopolitical threats, brain games imagine seniors as empowered and capable of sustaining their identity work into retirement. At the same time, these products invoke common anxieties surrounding later life and, in keeping with the politics of neoliberalism, exacerbate the pressure on older persons to demonstrate an obvious ‘will to health’ through ongoing consumerism.

If you can’t read that Academicese, don’t worry about it. I’m fluent in it, and although I don’t want to use that language in this post, the study made me think about a lot of things that exist outside the university. The message I took from this article is as follows: getting old can be awesome, but maybe only if you buy these games. A phrase at the end of the article summarized it well:

[W]hen it comes to questions of cognitive health, growing older is a matter of personal risks, to be addressed via choices made in the marketplace.

(subliminal message: buy these specific games.)

And no other games will help you, apparently. That’s the ridiculous part of it. The websites of the “brain games” the author studied – Nintendo’s Brain Age, Vivity Lab’s Fit Brains, and HAPPYneuron – all suggest that their products will help you train your brain to work better, remember more, and avoid the cognitive decline that we all could be at risk for. As watching the effects of my brilliant dad’s disease taught me, cognitive decline associated with the dementias is perhaps one of the most tragic ways to die. But is it really necessary to buy one of these games to fight it?

Research does support the argument for the health benefits of older people playing games. I’ve heard about the Wii being used for bowling in nursing homes. I read a study in which the researchers designed a “music creation” tool using a touch screen for people with dementia, and dementia patients benefited from using it. So I’m not completely dismissing or trashing the makers of these “brain games” at all, I’m just saying that there are a lot of games people could play to help their brain health. Honestly, I believe playing ANY game can benefit our cognitive functioning at any age, from Brain Age to Guild Wars 2 to playing keep-away with a dog.

Millington noted that the marketing of these brain games “exacerbate the pressures on older persons to demonstrate an obvious ‘will to health’ through ongoing consumerism.” Marketing by fear. Also, the ongoing message that “health is work” is wearing me out already, and I’m not a senior yet. It is strange how our society has taken to heart the message that you have to put in a lot of good ol’ fashioned hard work if you want to stay healthy. We could also blame the marketers for this. After all, they sell the idea that indulging in junk food, alcohol, cigarettes, and whatever else is somehow “rewarding yourself” when in fact it’s damaging you. (That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the occasional glass of wine or ice cream – but I’ll be ok since all the games I play will keep me healthy.) But seriously, given all the pressures and constraints on our lives, is it realistic to believe we can *make* ourselves healthy, and that our brains can only remain healthy into old age by buying these games?

It’s unfortunate that we’re not always able to enjoy a healthy lifestyle that will lead us into a fun and relaxing retirement. Too frequently, our lifestyle choices (and, sometimes, genetic predispositions) cause our lives to be filled with chronic disease and too many colds each winter and the need for too many pill bottles when we get old. I live with a chronic illness caused by an autoimmune issue, but I’m taking every step I can to avoid living as a sick person; this means I’m subjected to the “work” of staying healthy. But I wonder if John Lennon could have imagined a society in which we all enjoyed taking care of ourselves – and we all played games, whatever games were fun to us, without worry about how much time they take out of our schedules or whether this is only something boys living in their parents’ basements should do or whether we’d chosen the “right” game to keep our brain active. Enjoyment and happiness are keys to a healthy life. So make sure you enjoy the games you play… every day.

tl-dr

I don’t feel well. I’m gonna go level something. And I’m gonna enjoy myself, dammit!!!

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Meghan Ralph is an Intuitive Healer and Alchemist and runs Soular Radiant in Denver; giving readings, guidance, and remedies to many. Meghan loves gaming as a form of meditation and relaxation, and even recommends it for healing.

What is it about fall that makes me want to RPG?

I’m serious! I won’t touch my system for MONTHS, but as soon as the leaves start falling, I crave it like a crackhead. Long Saturdays snuggled under the blankets with a controller in my hand.

I’ll watch leaves falling outside the window, and be reminded of that town in Fable where the leaves are falling, and I can almost hear the music. Or I’ll see the snow and remember I last left off on that frickin ice planet in Mass Effect and I want to kick it’s ass!

And yet I deprive myself!

Fall, for me, and many I’ve spoken to, comes with a great burst of energy. We know that the change is coming! Cold weather, short days, how will we get anything done?! So there is a rush to do, to gather, and to fix before you won’t be able to. Suddenly, everything around you looks wrong, feels wrong, and needs to change.

I had the impulse to paint my furniture and redecorate my bathroom.

This is why falling into gaming is so healthy. Generally, these impulses come because they have been ground into us through the centuries, but also with stories and fables as a kid. I remember one cartoon about the grasshopper that partied during the harvest and so had nothing left during the winter months and nearly died until some overachieving ants let him bunk with them. This is not the case these days. We don’t need to rush to stock up and store; most grocery stores are open 24 hours. We don’t need to tackle massive projects; there will be time for that.

I’m not saying ignore responsibility. Pay your bills and clean your room, people! But save the major projects for the months where you are pretty much stuck inside and about to go stir crazy.

There is a slowing down that occurs naturally after the holiday season. It gets dark earlier, it’s colder out, being up and active isn’t as easy as it was in the warmer months. These changes function as a built in excuse against productivity. Is this why more games tend to be released in the colder months? Smart move, Game Companies!

Til then, grab a controller and take a load off. Stock up on herbs, practice potions, and level up those combat skills! But don’t bust your chops to conquer too much in the “real world”. Otherwise you’ll wake up in a month and wonder why everything in your bathroom is purple…

tl-dr

When the leaves and snow are falling, fall into some game time. Relax and level up a few skills before the boss level of Holiday time rears it’s ugly head.

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This week, all the gamers who aren’t talking about good things like GW2 – or bad things like the latest Zynga “game” that invades my Facebook news feed until I hide it – are talking about the new World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria. I knew several days ago that I would have the first post-MoP post (that’s redundant, but it makes sense) on this blog, but I’m not playing it. Why not?

I could easily get on my late-night rant soapbox and talk about the silliness of a freaking panda and proclaim I’ll never sell out to Blizzard’s stupid idea. I’m not playing it because… well… I’m just not playing it right now. I’m flying out to present at the #influence12 conference today, and I knew that if I bought it now, I wouldn’t get all my work done before I left. So I will get it next week. Sorry for the lack of a highly principled soapbox.

I must sheepishly admit, however, that I logged into my boring Cataclysmic WoW tonight so I could at least say hello to my friends. The ones who were starting to level from 85 to 90 told me this unanimously: the scenery in the new areas is amazing, but it’s going to take them a while to level. I don’t remember the exact number, but I think just to level from 85 to 86 is something like 13 million XP, and if you’re doing a quest that’s only worth 120,000 XP, you’re gonna do a lot of quests. Try switching to dungeons or bgs, perhaps? On second thought, why do we bother leveling at all?

We level in WoW because Blizzard keeps making us. They need a way to work in new content to keep us short attention span gamer types interested, so they throw in a new continent, new classes, new races on occasion. According to Scott Nicholson’s book Everyone Plays at the Library, one characteristic of a “game” is that it has goals. Video game creators set goals for us by deciding how many levels we need to go through, how many XP we need at each level, how many things we need to kill before we can get the XP for the quest… game creators give us goals, and we work to achieve them, regardless of whether we get frustrated or bored along the way. When you think about it, the goals are somewhat arbitrary, but we live and die by them in game. (Typically, I die more than I live in game, but I don’t want to lose my gamer street cred, so I won’t talk about that little issue).

But what motivates us to achieve those goals? Reaching level 90 in 12 hours (which some players did, according to the battle.net forums, if you want to believe them) won’t change your life in any real way. You won’t have more money, or more love in your life, or a cleaner apartment… but you will feel like you’ve accomplished something you’re proud of. And, despite the frustration of getting killed by the thing, or the fact that you got in trouble at home because you neglected to clean the bathroom like you promised your spouse you would because you were trying to kill 10 of the things so you could at least get to 86 on your main before the end of the evening… you will have enjoyed the process.

That is what gaming is about. Goals and fun. While not everyone claims to be a gamer, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like reaching goals or having fun, and that fact could take me on an entirely different tangent. But, back on the leveling issue, I must admit I’m a little frustrated with the MoP level increase. I’ve still got Cataclysm endgame content to play, and I would have been happy with only new endgame content for MoP, and maybe a new battleground and new dungeons, but I guess I’ll be leveling for a while again until I can see what the new endgame content is like. I can’t reach 90 in 12 hours of play, but I don’t want to… the fun would be over too fast!

A closing thought: somebody found this blog the day after MoP’s release by Googling “Wow, pandas suck.” I’m slightly proud of that.

tl-dr

A gamer’s relationship with leveling, and other goal-related gaming activities, is complicated – perhaps even codependent? What do you think?

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Before I start, I must thank Erik/Klaes for coining this post’s title. He coined it before I even wrote the post. He’s that good. Also, best wishes to him as he starts his new life as a university student this semester!

Next, to contextualize this post, I need to state that I’ve been very distracted by RL lately. Significant personal changes have occurred. (Note to self and to my readers: buying a new car, finding a new place to live, and changing your relationship status all within the course of a few weeks keeps you busy). Although I had a WoW toon hit 85 a few weeks ago, when all these changes were just happening, my mind has not been nearly as zoned in on games as it usually is. Instead, I’ve been thinking about things like which part of the city I want to live in, whether a 2012 Chevy Cruze or a 2012 Honda Civic would be the best choice (I picked the Cruze and I love it), and how to get rid of extra books without crushing my librarian soul. You know. The important things. Oh yeah, and I have a job, too… gotta pay for this stuff.

I’m happy that all these changes have gone smoothly thus far. But I’m writing this post late at night before the movers arrive in the morning. I’m wide awake with thoughts rushing through my head about whether the direction of my life is the most authentic one for me right now. Will I like my new home? Can I afford these car payments? Is it really possible for me to manage this much change at once? Is Guild Wars 2 as much fun as Ace and other gamer friends say it is? How should I spend my five talent points on my mage?

Oh… that’s right. Rule #32,767 in @infogamerist’s spellbook: RL comes first. Games come second. Especially in times like these. I was contemplating this fact last night as I was packing the items in my kitchen. Feeling jealous toward all the people experiencing GW2 while I wrapped yet another piece of packing paper around yet another plate, I wondered why we do anything. Then I remembered: oh yeah, we like to have fun. That’s why we show up to work on beautiful summer days, stay up until 3 am wondering about whether the old couch will fit in the new living room, and stay up packing dishes until past midnight. And what better way to have fun than play games? GW2, Frisbee, Monopoly, Pass the Pigs, whatever… we live for those times. But you can’t pass the pigs until you’ve packed the last coffee mug.

Blizzard released its pre-MoP patch today. I downloaded it and went in game briefly on the evening of the patch release, but I was not able to focus on the changes in talent points, or on the fact that my mage’s weapon use is now more limited. (no wand if she has a staff – seriously???) Shortly after exploring the changes, I logged because I just didn’t have the mental energy to make those decisions, and I was feeling too overwhelmed with the world for them to have taken away my lovely frost mage specs. Everything changes, especially when the changes are as exhausting as they could possibly be.

So the movers come in the morning, but the Internet guy comes to the new place in the afternoon so I can be in game by… 7 pm at the latest? Or was I supposed to unpack or something? Maybe. But as I’ve learned from the last few days, it’s harder to handle the fun times when the real things happen, like when you spend the evening watching a dog chase after a horse toward the highway across massive corn fields.

I really saw that happen in July. And that visual summarizes my summer in a nutshell.

tl-dr

RL comes before games. Even if we don’t want it to.

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Welcome to an introspective post on a complex topic: gamers’ relationships with other people. For the purposes of this post, I’ll call non-gamers “muggles” – Jacob has used this term in our conversations, and it always makes me smile.

Way, way back in December, when Jacob and I had just started this thing called tl-dr, Jacob wrote a post on gaming with friends and family. When he posted it, it was the holiday season, the time of year when we’re supposed to be eating too much sugar with people we love. And playing games with them.

Conceivably, even the most hardcore video gamers are willing to put down their keyboards to spend face-to-face time with other people. But the time comes when we want to stop the idle, slow-paced Chatty Cathy kitchen table stuff and run some battlegrounds (or whatever). What does this do to our interpersonal relationships? I want to explore this issue from the two perspectives I can provide: our research and anecdotes.

The research that Caroline Whippey and I have started about MMO gamers’ thoughts about games and well-being showed us that the social aspect of games like World of Warcraft is very important to our participants. They discussed relying on guildies for escape, for grouping in game, and for sharing RL problems. They talked about playing with our RL friends and family when those relationships exist. Because in-game relationships feel so real, and because in-game relationships sometimes eventually extend out of game, Caroline and I have discussed where the line between virtual and real exists. Can any MMO player really say that in-game relationships don’t feel real – whether the relationship is a close friendship that develops, or anger toward another player for dropping the flag in a battleground?

From an anecdotal perspective, I’ve spoken with other gamers who struggle to figure out how to fit gaming into their lives and out-of-game relationships. I think the most frequent concern I hear is from gamers whose partners do not game. Just two nights ago, I was running dungeons with someone who had to stop; he said something to the group like “Gotta go. Wife is pissed.” I’m sure that from the muggle partner’s point of view, games pull their gamer partners too far away from the relationship… but they don’t understand that sometimes, when you’re on a battleground winning streak and you’re attempting to power level, you don’t want to stop. This concern also extends to parents. I don’t have children, but I know from conversations with other people that the conflicts between parenting and gaming are extremely real. How do you get the game time you want as an individual without missing out on precious time with your children? And I won’t even go far into the reactions that games cause for parents of all ages… I’m a 30-something professor with a PhD, but I still get looks of disapproval from my mom when she sees me playing games.

A recent Gamasutra article on shorter and/or mobile games attempts to address the time crunch issue for grownup gamers with busy lives. Are games that can be started and finished in a single afternoon a viable alternative to games that take that hours and hours to win, or to games like WoW that really never end? Many hardcore gamers (including Jacob and I) reject less complex games outright… I mean, seriously… what self-respecting hardcore gamer would choose Angry Birds over Guild Wars 2?

It is such an interesting paradox to me. Games make gamers feel included in a significant social realm, but they can isolate gamers from muggles. Gamer culture is also substantially different enough from the worldviews of muggles that it can make us feel misunderstood. I have an Epic Purple Shirt, and I always wonder what the rest of the world thinks when I wear it. Not that I have the luxury of worrying too much about what the rest of the world thinks, because that would make me feel quite lonely.

The topic of gamers and relationships is important not only for reflecting on our lives as gamers, but also for considering how games are accepted in society. Does the stigma surrounding video games cause certain muggles to look down upon us when we need some game time, or vice versa? I don’t think less of anyone for their interests… I mean, I don’t knit or scrapbook or watch bad TV, but I don’t give funny looks to people I know who do those things. (That said, I will never quit teasing Jacob for his love of exceedingly bad music).

There are points in our lives when gaming takes up more time; maybe we need more escape due to substantial RL issues, or maybe we just have more free time at that point. Sometimes we have to take a break from it, whether that break is chosen or forced. From a broader vantage point, is gamer culture any more differentiating than soccer mom culture or motorcycle culture or Belieber (Justin Bieber lover) culture or any other social group that is formed around life choices or interests?

Being a gamer has always given me a sense of identity that makes me feel like I have the privilege of accessing some sort of secret society, which I know is strange when I consider how many millions of people play video games. In some settings, my gaming isolates me; in other settings, it makes me feel at home. It doesn’t make me care about people in my life any more or less regardless of their gamer status. In the end, I think it all comes down to finding a balance that works for each of us.

I run WoW battlegrounds with another player who likes to say (sometimes several times) in almost every battleground, “go mid.” It’s become an inside joke with us. Of course, the idea of “going mid” doesn’t make sense in every battleground, but we all know what it means. If we’re in a BG without a mid, some players accuse him of trolling, while others laugh and play along. The key is that we all know what he’s talking about. If he were to randomly say “go mid” at Christmas dinner, there is a chance that his aunt would be a little more hesitant to pass him the green bean casserole, and he might lose a little Aunt XP for it if he said it multiple times. That is perhaps a life truism: you’ve always gotta watch what you say and who you say it to. Unless you are in game, in which case anything happily fits in. Now excuse me while I log in and talk to my mom on the phone at the same time.

tl-dr

Games and relationships with gamers and muggles alike lead to interesting dynamics in the life of a gamer. My advice: when in doubt, go mid.

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I’ve talked before about the negative side of video games: addiction and violence. I want to lighten it up a bit and talk about why video games are great and amazing. (Spoiler alert: yeah, they really can be good for ya)

I’m going to start this off with a link to an article from Cracked, and give a short list of the cool things that have come out of video games. They are all over the board, and all really cool. I’ll just leave them as a list, and you can read the details over there.

6) Multiple lives have been saved through community and friendships built on the internet.

5) A guy saved a life with his FPS Medic Training. (How cool is that?!)

4) A kid somehow fended off a moose thanks to World of Warcraft. (He must have been a Druid)

3) A web browser game helps explore the universe.

2) Video games help stroke victims recover.

1) Video games are creating a race of master surgeons. (That’s right. You better start screening your surgeon to see what his/her genre of preference is)

What other cool things have been done? I’m glad you asked.

In sports, football in this case, games are being used in non-impact, non-exercise training sessions to improve the mental agility of the athletes, which then improves their physical agility because of the added response time. I’d love to see this take off more; it has applications all over the place in sports, beyond just mental agility training. Take it as far as strategy and tactics for actual play situations, or dealing with pressure during games, and there could be a powerful training tool there. (I like to think that playing Mario Tennis on the N64 helped me out in my days of playing college tennis)

Good news for all you FPS fans out there! Playing FPS’s can help improve your eyesight.  So make sure you take two video games and call me in the morning. 

ur brain. make it better.

It’s a good thing that the Moose hero kid plays World of Warcraft, because he’s going to have an easier time of it when he’s older. It actually helps with improved focus and spatial recognition.

What about for mental illnesses like PTSD? Video games have you covered there too.

Relaxation time!

While video games may not help you get in shape, they are a great way to relieve stress. Both by playing them, and by watching others play. (Like this guy!)

tl-dr

Video games are great for living a happy life. And they get you all the girls (and guys too)!

Gamers Get Girls

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Three years ago, if someone had told me that I would be a World of Warcraft roleplay leader down the road, I would have laughed.  I would have laughed because, back then, I held the same standard view most outsiders to video games and roleplay have: that roleplay is a strange activity that strange people do to fulfill their strange fantasy needs.  And I’d never tried it, nor did I ever intend to!  It’s just way too “out there.”

This, my friends, is what I call “Roleplay Phobia”, and I was guilty of it.  Many, many people are; gamers and non-gamers alike.

For anyone completely unaware of what Roleplaying is, in its most broad defining sense, it is the act of pretending to be one’s character.  Roleplaying (RP for short) has a lot of forms, everything from LARPing (Live Action Role Play), to tabletop RP such as in Dungeons & Dragons, to video game RP, all of which have social stigma surrounding them, a stigma that is completely and utterly wrong.

Nonetheless, I had a bad case of unwarranted Roleplay Phobia; I would see people LARPing at an anime convention and automatically assume something about them, and I didn’t think much better of people doing it in games, though I had never even really seen it.  My “social rules” simply dictated that it’s not what people are “supposed” to do, because it was “weird”, regardless of the fact that they were having fun, and not affecting me in any way, and regardless of the fact I myself was not a terribly conventional kid in many ways.

So what happened?

Well, first I started playing World of Warcraft.  Mind you, this was before I met my current guild Vanguard Gaming, I was simply roaming the world of Azeroth without the slightest inclination to RP.  My character, an elven rogue, was passing through a small town to gather quests, and as I walked into a small inn I unwittingly found ten or so other characters discussing their plan to poison a nearby dwarven water source.  They were all speaking 100% in character (IC), some drunkenly, some with a bit of a “ye olde english” lilt, and all contributing to a complex and interesting story they were making up on the spot.

As I had walked into the small building, I had hit my stealth spell to go invisible, which is the proper reaction for a rogue caught off guard by something disturbing.  Yet, from my hidden position, I continued to watch the conversation with piqued interest, simply because for all my judging, I had never really watched RP.  Then, perhaps out of raw, un-pressured curiosity, I did the unthinkable; I un-stealthed.  I had my character greet the others warily, and started asking a few questions as I idly walked over to the tavern bar for a drink.  The up-to-no-good group went on the defensive suspecting me a spy, but I convinced them I could be trusted, and I later left the inn belonging to an RP guild that now intended to use me as a pawn for their evil deeds.

It felt epic!  We, a small group of characters, had just created the beginning of a completely awesome story.  Better than a story; a narrative.  A fictional event only possible because of all the different aspects of our characters coming together at that time and place.  My character’s emotional depth and subsequent actions would affect not only my story, but the story of others, and vise versa for their characters as well!  And it suddenly hit me that this epic feeling was roleplaying, which I had previously stuck my nose up at, and rudely dismissed.

Since then, I joined my current guild, and hesitantly volunteered to take on some of the story-crafting responsibility for the guild’s RP events.  I ended up a RP administrator paving the narrative flow of those stories!  I could (and will in the future!) talk about this aspect of RP alone, the part that involves crafting roleplay; the characters, the story, and all the elements that go into this improvisational imaginative story telling medium.   But right now I just want to address the stigma around roleplay, and why it is so so so so so dumb.

Fantasy roleplay lets the player express their self beyond the limiting parameters of the game.  Sure, WoW is an MMORPG (*cough* Role Playing Game *cough*), but it’s only called that because it lets players express themselves by choosing what they look like, what skills they use, and what quests they do.  The game provides no emotional depth to the player’s character whatsoever, as is the case with most western RPGs simply because they often trade a sense of “immersion”; the feeling that the player is existing in an alternate world, for the ability to tell the player’s own unique story. Some games have moved towards giving the player some more thoughtful, self-defining power, but the only way to really expand fully on who a character is, without the game telling you who you are (see: JRPGs) is through roleplay.

In player-created roleplay, the player gains an active role in who their character really is, who they are fighting for, what they love and hate, who they betray and save.  It is a compelling, exciting, and captivating story.  And, it’s spontaneous and unscripted because each character is played by a real person.  It’s your favorite improv TV show like “Whose line is it anyway” but filled with every aspect of creative force; comedy and drama alike, and you, the player, are the one on stage!  This is why roleplay should be celebrated!  Not stereotyped, ridiculed, or even disdained.  Roleplay is an artistic expression; it can be complex or completely gooftastic, but it is always imaginative and freeing as people shape their experience together.  You create something totally new every time you participate, something that can never again be experienced in exactly the same way.

tl-dr

Roleplay isn’t weird, it’s misunderstood.  It’s often judged as a social oddity, when in reality it’s both incredibly socially engaging, and a fantastically compelling way to bring a fictional world to life.

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Welcome to Gamer Classification Week! This week, Jacob and Diane are providing a 5-part series on the categorizations related to gamers and gaming. Understanding these many aspects of gaming is essential to helping you understand games, gamers, and the information with which we collide. Today, Jacob provides a look at how gamers are viewed – what a bunch of nerds! See Part 1: Casual, Hardcore, and Professional Gamers, and Part 2: Geeks, Nerds, Dorks, or “Others?”

The format of a game means a lot to a gamer. The platform defines the game in many ways. For me, the platform that I choose to play on has to do with two main factors: community and use.

Let’s start with the big daddy of community gaming:

Facebook

Facebook is considered the place to go for casual gamers. It is defined by the community. Playing Farmville by yourself is possible, but playing with friends is where the rewards of the game come into play. The sharing, helping, and community building among Facebook friends is what helps to define Facebook gaming as a platform. While this platform is not really considered to be the realm of “gamers”, it now holds a sizable portion of the community that plays games online, so it cannot be discounted from the race. This is different than enriching the community, like hardcore gamers are more likely to do, because there is no involvement with the community outside of the game. This is just participating with the community while playing the game.

In terms of use, Facebook is very limiting for the type of games that can be played. It requires internet access, subscription to the Facebook service, and a group of like minded people to fully be able to play the game. The development platform for the game is also limited because making more complex and in depth games is not always possible. Imagine trying to play Mario Kart or Dance Dance Revolution on Facebook and you’ll start to understand what I mean.

Console Gaming

Console gaming used to be very simple and straightforward. There was a tv, the console connected to it, and the controller connected to the console that controlled what happened on the screen. The use was very simple, but very effective (and still is). Community was the same. It used to be that the community revolved around single player games, or how many friends you could fit in your living room (and argue over whose turn it was). (Check out this link for a great evolution of the different gaming consoles)

Console gaming has now evolved into advanced online multiplayer networks. Being able to play with upwards of 8 or 16 players at the same time in the same game from different rooms is astounding. This was the dream back in the early ’90s, and it has come about. You can sit on your couch holding a (wireless) controller, wearing a headset, and talking to your friends across the country while you all play the same game. This is the reason (I believe) why people who play Facebook games are not considered “gamers.” Facebook games cannot reach this level of depth for community or use. Not even close.

Community and use for console gaming has even gone a step further in recent years, morphing into a hybrid of PC gaming.

PC Gaming

When looking at this short list I have compiled (Facebook, Console, and PC games), the list has continuously become more deep in terms of both community and use. Facebook has a very large community, and many users, console gaming less so, but in a much richer way, and PC games continue this trend (except perhaps in terms of total numbers).

PC games provide the largest breadth and depth for use in gaming because of how the platform works. Games can be designed specifically for the pc, can run on other programs that run on the PC (like Facebook, which runs in a browser on a PC), or can even be emulators of console games. You can even use controllers that mimic console games on the PC. The downside to PC gaming is the complexity; it is hard for new gamers to start playing many PC games because of their complexity.

So why even play on a console if the PC exists? Because of the community. If you have 4 people sitting in the same room with 1 computer, how are you all going to play the same game? It’s possible, but difficult. It’s much easier to play Rock Band or a game on the Kinect though. The PC may win for the most in depth and broadest use platform, but the console will always have the advantage of in person community. Unless you want a good ol’ fashioned LAN party!

Do you agree with my assessment? Are use and community good ways to measure different gaming platforms?

tl;dr

Facebook, consoles, and PCs are the gaming platforms of choice, but each have their own advantages of use and community.

Ding! You’ve leveled up! Please see your local librarian for training.

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