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Why is gaming so special to all of us? Why is it so addictive? Why do we spend all of our hard-earned (or in my case, easily-earned,) money on boxes with electronic stuff inside them, and CDs/DVDs/Catridges/Mini-Discs which generate simulations on our TV Screen?
I’m not going to say, “Oh, because it’s fun,” although it is, and I’m not going to say, “Oh, it’s a challenge,” or, “something to do when we’re bored.” These may be true, but it’s not what I’m really trying to say here. I think the word ‘Simulation,’ comes into play quite a lot here. Basically, most games are simulations of something-whether it be sports, driving, an Army simulation, God sims and even simulations of being some sort of Commander (real-time strategy games such as Command and Conquer.)
But some games don’t fall into any of those categories. Games like…well, quite a lot of shooters such as Metal Gear Solid and Red Faction, and also futuristic games like Zone Of The Enders, Metroid and Deus Ex. What simulations could these be classed as? Well, I guess there are a few stealth assassins out there like Solid Snake. Is there a name for that sort of simulation? A stealth-sim? Maybe, but there aren’t enough of these sorts of games to actually give it a name like that. But still, it’s a simulation of some kind. What would you class Perfect Dark as? Perhaps PDark, as well as other sci-fi shooters like Aliens vs Predator AREN’T simulations, as do you ever hear about people going round killing aliens called Elvis? Do you ever hear about hundreds of aliens with green blood, a strange, blood-crazy creature and some Soldiers battling it out? No, not really. These don’t happen in real life (although, you never know, do you? {)
But for the moment, we shall ignore those games. Put them to one side for a bit, and concentrate on games that are actual simulations of real life. Why do people love to play games? Because in a video game, you can be a Formula 1 driver! In a video game, you can be something many boys (and girls as well, no sexism on these forums,) have wished to be since they saw Manchester United take on Liverpool that day back when they were 3 years old-proffesional footballers. You can become a member of the Army in video games, taking part in wars and battles-in which you personally won’t be killed, but perhaps your character will. In a game, you can become mythical creatures, a manager of a football team, a Jedi Knight (okay, so perhaps there aren’t Jedis in real life, but it’d still be cool to be one,) a pilot, God, almost anything!
A boy loves Formula 1, and wants to become an F1 driver for Ferrari when he’s older. He can all he wants for it, but most of the time, he wouldn’t achieve this. Perhaps if he’s lucky, or very talented, but it’s not likely. What’s the closest he’s going to get without sneaking into Ferrari HQ and driving off in Michael Schumacer’s car? In my opinion, playing a Formula 1 game is the closest he’s going to get. Okay, he can drive karts, but the closest he’s going to get to being an actual Formula 1 driver, is playing an F1 simulation.
The same goes for most sports, with proffesional footballers being the most popular one. Only the very lucky and the very talented get to become players for their favourite Premiership club. Okay, you can play for your local team, but it would be nothing compared to the Premiership.
Are you ever going to get the chance to be God? Unless you create your own tiny intelligent species with your own hands, then the answer’s no. But with games such as Black and White, you can become God-at least to a reasonable extent.
I believe that most games are based on simulations. Creating an experience for the player that he/she is not likely to get in real life. In video games, you can become almost anything. And as technology continues to develop, and as most games become more and more realistic, hopefully these experiences will at some point be nearly as good as real life.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
I’m not going to say, “Oh, because it’s fun,” although it is, and I’m not going to say, “Oh, it’s a challenge,” or, “something to do when we’re bored.” These may be true, but it’s not what I’m really trying to say here. I think the word ‘Simulation,’ comes into play quite a lot here. Basically, most games are simulations of something-whether it be sports, driving, an Army simulation, God sims and even simulations of being some sort of Commander (real-time strategy games such as Command and Conquer.)
But some games don’t fall into any of those categories. Games like…well, quite a lot of shooters such as Metal Gear Solid and Red Faction, and also futuristic games like Zone Of The Enders, Metroid and Deus Ex. What simulations could these be classed as? Well, I guess there are a few stealth assassins out there like Solid Snake. Is there a name for that sort of simulation? A stealth-sim? Maybe, but there aren’t enough of these sorts of games to actually give it a name like that. But still, it’s a simulation of some kind. What would you class Perfect Dark as? Perhaps PDark, as well as other sci-fi shooters like Aliens vs Predator AREN’T simulations, as do you ever hear about people going round killing aliens called Elvis? Do you ever hear about hundreds of aliens with green blood, a strange, blood-crazy creature and some Soldiers battling it out? No, not really. These don’t happen in real life (although, you never know, do you? {)
But for the moment, we shall ignore those games. Put them to one side for a bit, and concentrate on games that are actual simulations of real life. Why do people love to play games? Because in a video game, you can be a Formula 1 driver! In a video game, you can be something many boys (and girls as well, no sexism on these forums,) have wished to be since they saw Manchester United take on Liverpool that day back when they were 3 years old-proffesional footballers. You can become a member of the Army in video games, taking part in wars and battles-in which you personally won’t be killed, but perhaps your character will. In a game, you can become mythical creatures, a manager of a football team, a Jedi Knight (okay, so perhaps there aren’t Jedis in real life, but it’d still be cool to be one,) a pilot, God, almost anything!
A boy loves Formula 1, and wants to become an F1 driver for Ferrari when he’s older. He can all he wants for it, but most of the time, he wouldn’t achieve this. Perhaps if he’s lucky, or very talented, but it’s not likely. What’s the closest he’s going to get without sneaking into Ferrari HQ and driving off in Michael Schumacer’s car? In my opinion, playing a Formula 1 game is the closest he’s going to get. Okay, he can drive karts, but the closest he’s going to get to being an actual Formula 1 driver, is playing an F1 simulation.
The same goes for most sports, with proffesional footballers being the most popular one. Only the very lucky and the very talented get to become players for their favourite Premiership club. Okay, you can play for your local team, but it would be nothing compared to the Premiership.
Are you ever going to get the chance to be God? Unless you create your own tiny intelligent species with your own hands, then the answer’s no. But with games such as Black and White, you can become God-at least to a reasonable extent.
I believe that most games are based on simulations. Creating an experience for the player that he/she is not likely to get in real life. In video games, you can become almost anything. And as technology continues to develop, and as most games become more and more realistic, hopefully these experiences will at some point be nearly as good as real life.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
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Darkness_2K wrote:
> Ant wrote:
>And that comes from a PS2 owner. ;D
Oh, and who aorund here
> owns a GBA? You do? Who makes it? ;)
Yes, I do have a GBA, but it hasn't impressed me all that much yet. We'll have to wait and see.
Anyway...anymore replies?? Anyone??
{:(
> Ant wrote:
>And that comes from a PS2 owner. ;D
Oh, and who aorund here
> owns a GBA? You do? Who makes it? ;)
Yes, I do have a GBA, but it hasn't impressed me all that much yet. We'll have to wait and see.
Anyway...anymore replies?? Anyone??
{:(
Ant wrote:
>And that comes from a PS2 owner. ;D
Oh, and who aorund here owns a GBA? You do? Who makes it? ;)
>And that comes from a PS2 owner. ;D
Oh, and who aorund here owns a GBA? You do? Who makes it? ;)
Darkness_2K wrote:
> Ant wrote:
> Do I not get any more replies?? I think myself, Darkness and
> The Game have
> brought up a rather interesting topic here...
We have?
> *Wipes tears from eyes* I'm so proud!
Anyway, yes Ant, i see what you mean,
> With advancing technology, gaming may be indistinquishable from real
> life.
>But I fear that this is when gaming becomes 'dangerous'.
Yes, I agree. This is the one problem which will deter people from video gaming-and in some respects, still does now. Some people spend ALL their time playing games, and therefore become unfit.
People will
> say 'no, I don't wanna go and play football - I'll do it over the interent in
> VR'
This way, people will be very unfit, and may begin to ignore the better
> things in 'real' life.
But for the moment, in the light that Ant is a
> Sonyphile, and I'm a Ninty, I can't agree with everything he says so:
And that comes from a PS2 owner. ;D
Metal
> Gear Solid is not a simulation. If you were to go that far, Red Faction would be
> stretched to a simulation - 'well somebody has led some sort of revoloution in
> the past 2000 years' and so would Perfect Dark 'There are people that kill in
> cold blood, or for their country' I mean heck, so could F-Zero 'Well it could
> happen, and if it does, its a sim'
Perhaps. As I said, MGS is not a true sim. I believe it is partly a sim, as I expect there are people out there a bit like Solid Snake. Okay, perhaps it's nothing like the plot in MGS, but I'm sure there are some stealth assasins out there somewhere, at this moment in time. Where as Red Faction is more of a futuristic game, as is PDark.
So there. I have mostly agreed, but so as
> not to be unusual, I have also argued.
And so have I. {:)
> Ant wrote:
> Do I not get any more replies?? I think myself, Darkness and
> The Game have
> brought up a rather interesting topic here...
We have?
> *Wipes tears from eyes* I'm so proud!
Anyway, yes Ant, i see what you mean,
> With advancing technology, gaming may be indistinquishable from real
> life.
>But I fear that this is when gaming becomes 'dangerous'.
Yes, I agree. This is the one problem which will deter people from video gaming-and in some respects, still does now. Some people spend ALL their time playing games, and therefore become unfit.
People will
> say 'no, I don't wanna go and play football - I'll do it over the interent in
> VR'
This way, people will be very unfit, and may begin to ignore the better
> things in 'real' life.
But for the moment, in the light that Ant is a
> Sonyphile, and I'm a Ninty, I can't agree with everything he says so:
And that comes from a PS2 owner. ;D
Metal
> Gear Solid is not a simulation. If you were to go that far, Red Faction would be
> stretched to a simulation - 'well somebody has led some sort of revoloution in
> the past 2000 years' and so would Perfect Dark 'There are people that kill in
> cold blood, or for their country' I mean heck, so could F-Zero 'Well it could
> happen, and if it does, its a sim'
Perhaps. As I said, MGS is not a true sim. I believe it is partly a sim, as I expect there are people out there a bit like Solid Snake. Okay, perhaps it's nothing like the plot in MGS, but I'm sure there are some stealth assasins out there somewhere, at this moment in time. Where as Red Faction is more of a futuristic game, as is PDark.
So there. I have mostly agreed, but so as
> not to be unusual, I have also argued.
And so have I. {:)
Ant wrote:
> Do I not get any more replies?? I think myself, Darkness and The Game have
> brought up a rather interesting topic here...
We have? *Wipes tears from eyes* I'm so proud!
Anyway, yes Ant, i see what you mean, With advancing technology, gaming may be indistinquishable from real life.
But I fear that this is when gaming becomes 'dangerous'.
People will say 'no, I don't wanna go and play football - I'll do it over the interent in VR'
This way, people will be very unfit, and may begin to ignore the better things in 'real' life.
But for the moment, in the light that Ant is a Sonyphile, and I'm a Ninty, I can't agree with everything he says so:
Metal Gear Solid is not a simulation. If you were to go that far, Red Faction would be stretched to a simulation - 'well somebody has led some sort of revoloution in the past 2000 years' and so would Perfect Dark 'There are people that kill in cold blood, or for their country' I mean heck, so could F-Zero 'Well it could happen, and if it does, its a sim'
So there. I have mostly agreed, but so as not to be unusual, I have also argued.
Darkness
> Do I not get any more replies?? I think myself, Darkness and The Game have
> brought up a rather interesting topic here...
We have? *Wipes tears from eyes* I'm so proud!
Anyway, yes Ant, i see what you mean, With advancing technology, gaming may be indistinquishable from real life.
But I fear that this is when gaming becomes 'dangerous'.
People will say 'no, I don't wanna go and play football - I'll do it over the interent in VR'
This way, people will be very unfit, and may begin to ignore the better things in 'real' life.
But for the moment, in the light that Ant is a Sonyphile, and I'm a Ninty, I can't agree with everything he says so:
Metal Gear Solid is not a simulation. If you were to go that far, Red Faction would be stretched to a simulation - 'well somebody has led some sort of revoloution in the past 2000 years' and so would Perfect Dark 'There are people that kill in cold blood, or for their country' I mean heck, so could F-Zero 'Well it could happen, and if it does, its a sim'
So there. I have mostly agreed, but so as not to be unusual, I have also argued.
Darkness
Do I not get any more replies?? I think myself, Darkness and The Game have brought up a rather interesting topic here...
That's what I pointed out in the topic-not all games are simulations.
Also, yeah, non-simulations are a lot of fun, probably more so than any simulation.
BUT, what I am trying to point out is, as I said in my last paragraph, imagine what it will be like as technology develops...as I said, some sims such as Metal Gear Solid and Operation Flashpoint is something you're not likely do to in real life, but most sports you can.
However, once we get more into virtual reality systems, you could be stepping out onto the pitch at...well, I was gonna say Wembley, but the Millennium Stadium will do for now. Or, (sorry non-wrestling fans,) imagine walking/dancing/running towards the ring to your favourite entrance theme, with thousands of screaming/booing fans, just like in the real thing!
Hopefully technology will develop this much, and although it still won't be as good as really playing for England, or really being a WWF star, it will be rather close.
Also, yeah, non-simulations are a lot of fun, probably more so than any simulation.
BUT, what I am trying to point out is, as I said in my last paragraph, imagine what it will be like as technology develops...as I said, some sims such as Metal Gear Solid and Operation Flashpoint is something you're not likely do to in real life, but most sports you can.
However, once we get more into virtual reality systems, you could be stepping out onto the pitch at...well, I was gonna say Wembley, but the Millennium Stadium will do for now. Or, (sorry non-wrestling fans,) imagine walking/dancing/running towards the ring to your favourite entrance theme, with thousands of screaming/booing fans, just like in the real thing!
Hopefully technology will develop this much, and although it still won't be as good as really playing for England, or really being a WWF star, it will be rather close.
Yes, I think that to a certain extent, simulations style games can be reasonably fun.
SSX is a simulation, yet it is fun, because it is not dead serious. However, I find MS Flight Sim to be very boring, as it is too realistic.
As for going as far as saying most games are sims, I'd say no, they are not.
To a certain extent, maybe, but games like Red Faction, Perfect dark, Cokers bad fur day, all Star Wars games etc are not.
I think it is games that are non-simulations that provide the most entertainment levels.
If a person can go Snow boarding in real life, they may prefer to do that than play it in front of a TV screen.
But on the other hand, how many peope get to go aroun shooting Datadyne shocktroopers?
I think it is the 'being in a virtual world that is completely unlike the real one' that makes games such an addictive pass time.
I'd prefer to go out and play football or basketball for real, but I can't go out and lead a revoloution in the mines of mars can I?
SSX is a simulation, yet it is fun, because it is not dead serious. However, I find MS Flight Sim to be very boring, as it is too realistic.
As for going as far as saying most games are sims, I'd say no, they are not.
To a certain extent, maybe, but games like Red Faction, Perfect dark, Cokers bad fur day, all Star Wars games etc are not.
I think it is games that are non-simulations that provide the most entertainment levels.
If a person can go Snow boarding in real life, they may prefer to do that than play it in front of a TV screen.
But on the other hand, how many peope get to go aroun shooting Datadyne shocktroopers?
I think it is the 'being in a virtual world that is completely unlike the real one' that makes games such an addictive pass time.
I'd prefer to go out and play football or basketball for real, but I can't go out and lead a revoloution in the mines of mars can I?
I've been told by Ant to reply to this:
What's a simulation?
What's a simulation?
Yes, I'd agree with your points, but most games (okay, not most Nintendo ones perhaps,) but most games are a simulation of some kind. There are the dull, realistic ones like MS Flight Sim or whatever, but when you think about it, games such as Operation Flashpoint are sims as well. Very realistic, and a lot like being in the army (or whatever you are in Flashpoint.)
That's what I was trying to bring up, that most games are simulations, but some are not so obvious.
Also, yes, there nothing compared to the real thing, but still, in games you can become almost anything, like I said. You can sort of have that with books as well, but in a different way.
That's what I was trying to bring up, that most games are simulations, but some are not so obvious.
Also, yes, there nothing compared to the real thing, but still, in games you can become almost anything, like I said. You can sort of have that with books as well, but in a different way.
Simulations are crap... the ones i've played anyway... fancy pretending to be a race driver! How old are you all!
Unrealistic games are great, because we can't criticise the game for what it should be, especially seing as we don't know!
You're right though... games seem to be there to take the place of real life things. But do we want them to.
Hands up; who wants an X-Box simulation sky-dive? I see FM, Pb and New Jimmy.... okay what about the real thing? Everyone else!
Gaming cannot take the place of real life stuff... it isn't even a suitable alternative... gaming should be a means of escaping to another world, relaxing, having fun, and enjoying yourself... Not pretend to be this, pretend to be that, please put a monkey in the old man's hat! What crap!
'Simulations' suck... they're no good... sure flying about in MS Flight Sim 2002 is quite fun, but it isn't really an alternative for real life.
I'm all for gaming, and the geeks... i mean nerds, I mean uh people that love it... But really, whan companies take a lisence of an idea and run it into the ground, it sucks.
So there...
Great topic though Ant, you should get quite a response over time.
Game
Unrealistic games are great, because we can't criticise the game for what it should be, especially seing as we don't know!
You're right though... games seem to be there to take the place of real life things. But do we want them to.
Hands up; who wants an X-Box simulation sky-dive? I see FM, Pb and New Jimmy.... okay what about the real thing? Everyone else!
Gaming cannot take the place of real life stuff... it isn't even a suitable alternative... gaming should be a means of escaping to another world, relaxing, having fun, and enjoying yourself... Not pretend to be this, pretend to be that, please put a monkey in the old man's hat! What crap!
'Simulations' suck... they're no good... sure flying about in MS Flight Sim 2002 is quite fun, but it isn't really an alternative for real life.
I'm all for gaming, and the geeks... i mean nerds, I mean uh people that love it... But really, whan companies take a lisence of an idea and run it into the ground, it sucks.
So there...
Great topic though Ant, you should get quite a response over time.
Game
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