What kind of gamer are you?

[Wolf Kanno]

In your own words, how would you describe your gaming style or preferences to other people?

[Del Murder]

There are no wods to describe my style.

[Wolf Kanno]

There are no wods to describe my style.

Tired and somewhat apathetic dad gamer who is simply seeking some form of mental stimulation to tear him away from his daily duties, but can just as easily be put down when said daily duties take priority?

[Del Murder]

Woks for me.

[Pumpkin]

I like cute things and dressup. I learn towards RPGs. I play games often but I'm not hardcore, I play for enjoyment. I don't care about completing things or being the best or overcoming hard challenges. Strong characters are important to me

[Darth Ganon]

Lazy.

I'm trying to play more games when I have time, the interest is there, but the passion is gone (outside of Zelda). Maybe if my energy wasn't always running on fumes I'd get more done.

[Colonel Angus]

Lazy.

I'm trying to play more games when I have time, the interest is there, but the passion is gone (outside of Zelda). Maybe if my energy wasn't always running on fumes I'd get more done.

This

[Night Fury]

don't play a lot or a big range, but when I find a game I love I go really hard and get way too into it.

[Fynn]

Almost exclusively RPG-gamer. Not a fan of modding and player-crafted narratives (with the exception of the Sims). I get super into games but I wouldn't say I'm terrible good at playing them.

[Rez09]

I'm basically a classic gamer -- the majority of the games I play are on the PS1 and before, though I have nothing against more modern titles. I just prefer to spend my free time relaxing with simpler, familiar experiences.

[Karifean]

There's three distinct aspects for which I love the games that I do - the narrative, mindless gameplay, and game design.

Narrative is what leads me to read visual novels more than playing anything else, cause that's all they have and that's all they invest into. Though it does get me hooked on RPGs every now and then. When I'm looking for a 'good game', really, I'm looking for a good narrative.

There's a reason I put 'mindless' gameplay because gameplay that's not mindless is another form of narrative to me. Games I like for mindless gameplay are the kinds of games I can boot up and play a few rounds of just to pass the time and enjoy myself, like Touhou. I have a couple of these at any given moment, though finding a new one to enjoy usually pushes an old one out of the picture.

And then there's game design, which is where my creative side comes into play. I've been a huge fan of level editors for as long as I can remember and the prospect of having tools to mess with inner workings of the game just excites me. Warcraft III is my most played game of all time and that's *only* because the game gives you an all-powerful World Editor to make entire games of your own in. It's what got me re-hooked on Super Mario World, and Final Fantasy VII as well. I simply love tinkering with games, and in turn also examining how games are designed from the outside, to learn something new.

I struggle to think of any games that don't fall into one of these three more or less distinct buckets. It's also very hard for me to compare these to one another, like yeah I can point out my individual favorite games in these categories, but I get completely different things out of them.

(I suppose there's also the fact that over 90% of the games I play originate from Japan, go figure)

[Lyndis Highwind]

I'm almost an exclusively RPG gamer. JRPGs especially. Although I do like to play fighting games and racing games as well. Those are the only types of games I'm good at. Good characters and story are very important to me as well.

I wouldn't say I'm hardcore as I don't go for completion, just enjoyment.

[Formalhaut]

Good question!

I'll try and copy Karifean's 'bucket' analogy because that'll make this go a lot easier than me trying to summarise my gaming pattern:

1) Strong Characterisation and Narrative: I really like games that have a rich cast of characters and a good story, though empahsis is more on the characters because for me they're what drive a story. I also specified 'cast of characters' because more often than not I prefer games that give you a range of playable characters or A.I companions. The reason for this is I love the interplay between characters, the team dynamic and any deconstruction or subversion of that dynamic, along with the usual drama that goes with it. Rarely do I play games where it's just a strong solo protagonist, but I'm not averse to those games. I just find myself drawn to ensemble cast games more, like Tales games, Final Fantasy, pretty much every BioWare game ever, etc.

2) Fun Customisation: I love character creators and am bitterly disappointed when they aren't up to snuff (ANDROMEDA). There's something about designing your character, giving them a face and a name that helps me bond them better. It's hard to really tack it down. I could spend hours creating characters and breathing life into them and watching them come alive and be the hero (never the renegade). Bonus points when I get to change not just their appearance but other details, like their backstory, skill points etc. Those things also matter and help flesh a character out. It goes without saying I love The Sims.

3) Well-defined Morals: This one's a little abstract and is probably related to no.1 but I like it when games set out a message they want to tell. Tales games are good for this, with the characters encountering a problem and seeing where philosphies and ideologies diverge, converge, conflict, and how they can reconcile, if at all. I usually like a well-balanced portrayal of religious themes in video games because I find the subject personally interesting, and I'm not going to lie and say a game will register lower on my list if I feel LGBT representation is disappointing or even harmful. This bucket perhaps isn't the most obvious one or the most important one, Persona has (in my opinion) some dodgy LGBT themes but the games are still great, but it can definitely can elevate a game for me. I like games who wear their emotions on their sleeves, and do so proudly. If that makes sense.

I suppose overall then, I'm a gamer who loves to explore people's lives and experiences in as rich an emotional range the game can throw at me. For me character is more important than story. The journey is more important than the destination (so ME: 3's ending didn't ruin things for me, for example). RPGs are awesome. The Sims is awesome. Complex themes are encouraged. All three of those buckets probably feed into that particular mindset I take. Sorry if I've gone on too long!

[Del Murder]

To elaborate on WK's description of me, I generally prefer hand held games and RPGs since I play mostly on the go and need to be able to put it down in a moment's notice. I like any sort of RPG as long as it is well-written, has interesting battle mechanics or customization, or has lovable characters. It needs at least one of those, preferably two. I like almost any style of game though (except multiplayer and most FPS), but tend to stick to the more highly rated popular games that aren't RPGs simply because they are of a high quality and my game time is too limited to try every obscure (though potentially good) title. However, I'm pretty open and like innovation so if an indie game gets a lot of buzz and good review scores I'll check it out.

My other favorite genre of games is 'Nintendo'. If Switch and 3DS only had Nintendo-developed games I would still buy it. I started my gaming career with the original Super Mario Bros. and I've been loyal to them ever since. Proud Nintendo fanboy 4 lyfe.

In one sentence I would describe myself as:

On-the-go dad gamer who loves RPGs, games from other genres that are highly-rated, and anything Nintendo.

[Bubba]

I play games from the SNES era in a desperate attempt to return to my youth. I sneer at modern games. I wave my cane at them saying things like "it just doesn't have the magic like it had in my day!" I then grumble incoherently with the odd phrase like "mode 7" or "parallax scrolling" filtering through.

After this over-exertion I then go for a nap.