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"Antisocial Gameing"

Do video games make you antisocial? In my school, most people own a games console. However, most of these people are casual gamers, and own PSXs. They will only play the ‘cool’ games (Tony Hawks Skateboarding), and ignore pieces of brilliance like Final Fantasy. I had an argument the other day with a guy, after I overheard him saying Zelda was pants. I asked him why he thought that, and his response was ‘I couldn’t finish it over my mates house’. And this guy actually considered himself a gamer. I then told him he couldn’t finish it over his mate’s house because Zelda would take 40+ hours. He then said that anyone who finished it must be an antisocial geek with too much time on his or her hands.

This comment got me thinking. Are games antisocial? Zelda, despite being thought of as THE greatest game of all time my many people, has sold significantly less than pathetic games like FIFA. This is because FIFA is thought of as a cool game. But is playing FIFA less antisocial than playing Zelda, because you can talk about it with other people?

I sometimes stop playing games because I feel I am being to anti-social playing them. I have stopped playing Perfect Darks single player because of it. I have stopped playing emulated MD games because of it. But, I have never stopped playing WWF No Mercy because of it, or never stopped playing PD against Sims because of it. Is that because I can play multi-player on those games, so I stop feeling like a geek?

Oh, this is so confusing, I bet this post makes no sense to anyone.

With all the emeralds, Grix?

Yeah, I suppose it is possible to finish Sonic in an hour, but how are you gonna do that first time? Raceing along takes all the fun out of the game.

Single players seem antisocial but they are not, just don't play it with friends round!

I can do Sonic in an hour.

(Good job we're all mature beings on here...)

So you're saying you managed to finish the dungeons in Maggie Mask in under 20 mins?

And that you completed the marathon Gran Turismo races (can't remember the proper name) in under 20 mins? You're saying you finished Sonic the Hedgehog in under an hour?

I think that the difference between a social and an anti-social gamer lies not in the games which they play, but the way in which they play them. Zelda and Final Fantasy are obviously not designed to be completed in one sitting. As far as I can see, the most rewarding way to play them is to take a very long time - however, this doesn't have to be in the same week, month, or even year. I have only just completed final fantasy 7 and 8, despite having had them since they came out. I have clocked over 100 hours on each, and not because I am useless, but because I enjoy playing the game rather than rushing through it. I never play a game for more than about an hour at at time, and rarely for more than twenty minutes. Any game can be played like this, and this is the way in which I enjoy playing. It means that the game cannot take over your life, and there is plenty of time for other activities.

Whether gaming is antisocial, it depends on the player. Just because you play an online game, it doesn't make you a social person. I'm sorry, but PKs [Player Killers] are not sociable; they're rather antisocial and to a level that most people probably will never understand.

As for how people see videogames: It's beginning to change and will continue to. Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton are now producing videogames. These are two fairly well respected authors, and they're turning to gaming because of the financial merits involved. Gaming took in 8.8 billion U.S. dollars in 1999, and it's only growing.

Also, it's important to mention that, as has been stated, gamers have now grown up and they'll get their kids into gaming. In the future, everyone will be involved in the hobby; it's just inevitable. Films, for a time, were considered a fad or obscure hobby--look what happened there.

OF course you would say multiplayer games are social but it ain't really because you glue your eyes on the TV so long!

New Jimmy wrote:
> In my opinion the Final Fantasy games are definately Antisocial!
> Theres no variety in the games and they're !20 hours +
> long.
However Zelda is a class game, with alot of variety and
> gameplay and is not antisocial!


Finally... Computer Games and Sit-Coms are one!

In my opinion the Final Fantasy games are definately Antisocial! Theres no variety in the games and they're !20 hours + long.
However Zelda is a class game, with alot of variety and gameplay and is not antisocial!

they are some classic games