jayj
Banned
I say this because I notice how some people approach playing video games like it's a job, usually because they are taking it very seriously or have some sort of dedicated goal they're trying to progress towards. Such as people trying to be serious competitive gamers, it becomes a job for them to play a game in order to maintain their ability to play it at a seriously high level. Others I often see are the completionists, people who feel a need to 100%, platinum, or simply complete games they play for whatever reason. This seems like it can be more casual, but I have seen how some people can get really wrapped up in that, especially if it's a particularly long, deep, or difficult game. Then there's the backlog gamers, which I think can sometimes become an "experience everything" obsession where you get people trying to work their way through an entire catalog or stacks of games. It can definitely mean work for this one as well, as some people really seem to treat gaming like it's a job they need to clock in for in order to meet their goals.
Now as someone who has long been into video game collecting that played a few games competitively in the past, I have seen myself fall into that sort of behavior in a sense, but I could never keep with it for too long, real life responsibilities would take priority or I would simply lose interest after a while. At one point I think I had the intention of trying to work my way through my collection, playing through everything, but now that I'm older and new stuff keeps coming out as it always has, I think I realized how gaming shouldn't feel like a job or it loses it's fun, and I think the entire point of gaming in the first place has always been to simply have fun. When I keep this in mind I realize how the best way to enjoy video games is simply living in the moment, where you are in the mood for something and just play that until you lose interest or become fatigued or have something else to do and so on. The only drawback I have with this approach is the lack of completion, where I rarely beat a game unless it's something that I am really into, and even then, I find the only reason I got that far is because I eventually fell into the labor mindset of having a goal and working towards it.
So how do you feel about all of this? Do you personally enjoy treating gaming as a laborious activity, do you even relate to that, or is gaming something you never took seriously? Do you think games can be completed without labor, of do you simply consider it a labor of love? Can collections be enjoyed without eventually treating it as work, or is that a part of the fun? I think there is a lot to think about when it comes to what drives us to play games, and where we derive our enjoyment from them.
Now as someone who has long been into video game collecting that played a few games competitively in the past, I have seen myself fall into that sort of behavior in a sense, but I could never keep with it for too long, real life responsibilities would take priority or I would simply lose interest after a while. At one point I think I had the intention of trying to work my way through my collection, playing through everything, but now that I'm older and new stuff keeps coming out as it always has, I think I realized how gaming shouldn't feel like a job or it loses it's fun, and I think the entire point of gaming in the first place has always been to simply have fun. When I keep this in mind I realize how the best way to enjoy video games is simply living in the moment, where you are in the mood for something and just play that until you lose interest or become fatigued or have something else to do and so on. The only drawback I have with this approach is the lack of completion, where I rarely beat a game unless it's something that I am really into, and even then, I find the only reason I got that far is because I eventually fell into the labor mindset of having a goal and working towards it.
So how do you feel about all of this? Do you personally enjoy treating gaming as a laborious activity, do you even relate to that, or is gaming something you never took seriously? Do you think games can be completed without labor, of do you simply consider it a labor of love? Can collections be enjoyed without eventually treating it as work, or is that a part of the fun? I think there is a lot to think about when it comes to what drives us to play games, and where we derive our enjoyment from them.
