What's 'fun' for you?

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Uh-huh.  And in Braben's defence, the way I worded the question was along the lines of "Why spend so much money on making games that aren't fun?"  Which was a bit unreasonable.

This in the super-secrets thread got me thinking. Now, I don't really give a fuck about most Mario games, I quite like hopping about on Super Mario Land on the Game Boy from time to time, but platformers really aren't my thing, and never really have been. Thus a disproportionate amount of Nintendos/SEGA's 90s output isn't that fun for me. It's not about the superb pick-up-and-play values, or the purportedly ingenius level designs, I just don't extract that much pleasure from side-scrolling platformers. The only reason I played Sonic was because he went quite fast, and because of the IMO cool '3D' bonus level with the rings.

I'm not sure how much of it is cultural either- being a PC man rather than growing up with consoles (with the exception of BBC Micro and some Amiga action, which are about as PCish as consoles get anyway) I suppose perhaps I'm conditioned in a certain way. I dunno. But I rather like strategy games- the notion of there being no major immediate threat, and the prospect of slowly, patiently investing time and grinding out an absolute victory. The idea of open space appeals to my creativity. The fact that so many strategy games have periods where you can actually sit back and admire your work.

I suppose what I really don't like is dying and having to start over. Or being involved in ever more tedious trial-and-error scenarios that just bring into focus that I'm not learning the game much.

I also find racing games fun- the same principle applies to nearly all of them. First place, first place, first place. So that sort of competition I do like. Likewise sports games. There's no dying in these (unless you buy wacky ones), just losing, which I can hack.

I like RPGs so long as they don't have other people from the outside world in, so long as they're not constantly taking me through dark scary labyrinthine dungeons and so long as they don't leave me up shit-creek without a save point.

---

The exception here is Fable which I thought got considerably worse when they allowed you to not die, but respawn with reduced skill points. Not only did it make it too easy but it changed the gameplay so you didn't have to explore the new combi-weapons they'd spent about 4 years creating, or bother with strategy. Just hack hack hack away. Dull.

[small_world]

I like 'being a girl'. Or that's what my girlfriend calls it anyway. She thinks a lot of the games I like are similar to playing with doll's houses.
I love games like Settlers, Theme Park, Theme Hospital and The Sims (all the earlier ones.) Maybe I like the earlier ones, because there was less competition to them. You could, as you mentioned, just sit back from time to time and admire your work.
I like longer games, right now I've got a game on Settlers II that is just getting exciting after 4 hours.

I also like strategy war games, with bases. Things like Command and Conquer, my favourite being Total Annihilation.
TA was so in depth, that you would be constantly battling with your enemy. You would first start out fighting with small basic units. You'd then build strong defences creating a no-mans land. And finally after a good few hours you'd both advance into nuclear powers.
It isn't just a case of building a load of units and flooding a base, the enemy could rebuild far too fast, you really had to have a long term plan. Maybe clearing one area and advancing your long range units to prevent your opponent from re-building.
I have a save game that-s over 15 hours. And the mini-screen is full of little x's indicating fired nukes and anti nuke missiles.

I also like open games. Grand Theft Auto being one of the best. Although I never really enjoy the main game. I only ever complete it to unlock all of the map and to allow me to use the best vehicles and guns. I can happily spend hours messing around, making my own challenges. See also flight sims.

On games like Oblivion and Fallout, I like the main game, but my favourite part comes close to the end, when I will collect the rare items in the game and make a 'My house' type set up, showcasing all of my stuff... Weird.

[Garfield And Friends]

I like games with people in them. It's fun to control a human character and do things one couldn't or shouldn't do  it real life. Like throw your skateboarding character off a ledge and watch him ker-smash into the concrete below!

[Mister Six]

I can't stand real-time strategy games. The constant pressure is overwhelming and I only end up creating a tank rush (with maybe some jeeps and things for colour) anyway. Actually, most games with time limits turn me right off. I like to play at my own pace, exploring every nook and cranny and making up little stories about what's happening in the world around me.

For that reason I completely lose myself in RPGs, whether they're open-world behemoths like Fallout: NV or slightly more linear ones like Dragon Age. A strong story[nb]Strong, that is, not 'original' or 'brilliant', if anyone wants to moan about DA and the like.[/nb] or an interesting universe will do a lot to keep my attention. Give me both and I'm in heaven. As I mentioned in another thread, even if the gameplay isn't doing much for me, a strong storyline or immersive world will distract me from that.

Other than that, action games with plenty of carnage do it for me - the more outlandish GTAs, for example, or Just Cause 2 or Borderlands. Fling enough easily-exploded villains at me and give me fun weapons to do it with and I'll happily waste hours on it. Especially if it's open-world, again feeding into my enjoyment of exploration.

Basically, I need a sense of progression and immersion, which is why I just can't get along with racing games (unless they're OTT and explody). Trying to beat my best lap or save up for a Mini GTI or something just doesn't do it for me. Likewise online games like Counterstrike - after a while it just feels pointless. I kill you, you kill me... what's being achieved here? Even saving a fictional world means more than that. My interest in multiplayer games increases enormously if I'm in a room with the people I'm playing against but I just can't get over how alienating and pointless online multiplayer feels.

I suspect an exception to that rule would be MMORPGs, which I've avoided aside from a month's stint on City of Heroes thanks to a trial CD. That one was fun, largely because it fed into the exploration-loving side of my personality but also because there actually is a narrative there, albeit a crude one. Grinding puts me right off, though, so I imagine WoW and the more hardcore games wouldn't interest me at all.

[Neomod]

I do like just arsing around in open world games, especially if they are nice to look at.

A sunset over St Andreas from the mountain in San Fierro
The sound of wind through the fields of Far Cry 2
Azure blue waters lapping against the shore of Wake Island
Night time helicopter rides over Liberty City
The wonderful scenery in Red Dead Redemption.

I have a girlfriend.

[Yusuf Mohammed]

As Garfield And Friends said

I like doing something that i can;t make it in the real life.
i.e killing peoples in Crazy Taxi
Also i like being someone not me or being a character of a cartoon.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Must have missed this thread first time around.

I have a distinct tilt towards RPGs and actually like micro managing so I do enjoy The Sims (my current game has gone a bit mental after installing the Master Controller mod[nb]basically lets you do anything you like editing the people and world[/nb] I'm guessing incestuous twin sisters wasn't in the minds of the creators, but it seems it was in mine, I may even make one of them pregnant yet...)

Also like small_world I do tend to play women the first time around in a new game[nb]The 'recent' exception being Mass Effect 2 where I used my hardarse anti-alien blokey first as his story was fresher in my mind.[/nb] which worked out particularly well in Saints Row 2. Command & Conquer was also a favourite of mine, though with many RTS games I quickly get a case of buyers/downloaders remorse because while they can look pretty and epic they can be a pain in the ring to play properly, more-so on consoles.

On games like Oblivion and Fallout, I like the main game, but my favourite part comes close to the end, when I will collect the rare items in the game and make a 'My house' type set up, showcasing all of my stuff... Weird.

Yes, this always happens with me when it can, Morrowind[nb]I believe I mentioned covering a table top with the Moon and Star design out of collected gems on here somewhere, took bloody ages to get it 'right'[/nb] in particular but also Fallout. Why do we do it? It's not like anyone else is going to see/understand what the hell we're doing, not like the NPCs are going to pop in and go "Ooh nice Meson Cannon you've got there!".

A hoarding instinct perhaps? I am a bit of a bugger with collecting things, magazines, books, films etc so perhaps some element of it gets transferred over into gaming.

Head ruining puzzle games like the Myst series and Rama also should get a mention, while not my favourite games they do offer some challenges you don't often see in other titles, be it translating a language or doing alien maths, anything where you need a notebook by your side usually gets a thumbs up from me.

and finally yeah GTA, it's pretty much a given though, who doesn't like raking gunfire up a crowded street in a stolen military helicopter only to crash, steal a police car and go on an hour long death defying man hunt culminating in a shoot-out up a tower block before attempting an ill advised jump onto another building?

[El Unicornio, mang]

Generally I like games where you're not just going through a series of levels to reach a conclusion, so mainly sports games, and also sandbox games like GTA where I can freely move around and do what I please in an open environment. When I was younger I liked games like Monkey Island because there wasn't really any threat of death and you could explore the landscape and interact with characters with no pressure. I occasionally delve into shooters like Call of Duty Modern Warfare too. Can't get into platformers at all. Quite like driving games but find them too repetitive. Have spent a fair bit of time on Sim City/the Sims type stuff, but I find them a bit too time-consuming and I get impatient.

[The Tourist]

I like anything where I get to run things as I see fit: Championship Manager, Civilization, Extreme Warfare Revenge. There's obvious appeal in actually building your empire, managing people's roles etc. but I like exploring different strategies, and even the stuff which has no real outcome on the game, like naming things.

At the other end of the scale, I like things that are intuitive to play and don't require much thought: good platformers, football/sports games, where things happen instinctively once you've learned the control scheme. I find it relaxing, apart from the occasional bouts of anger when things get fucked up.

I do/did like other stuff: RPGs, first-person shooters, racers and the like, but it's rare I actually spend much time playing them these days. Don't particularly know why.

[Cerys]

Puzzle solving.  I absolutely love it.  So games like Silent Hill and (to a lesser extent) the Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain series are my cup of tea.  I also love the sense of acquisition that the Final Fantasy games give - it must be how a shopaholic feels, finding all those lovely treasure chests and weapons.  There's something oddly wonderful about playing a game for the umpteenth time and finding an item you never found in previous playthroughs.  And sandbox games like GTA and Oblivion, which allow me the opportunity to sit on top of a vantage point taking pot shots at passers-by when I'm feeling pissed off, or look at lovely landscapes when I'm not.

[glitch]

In shooting games, I really enjoy weapons that are difficult to use but have high rewards when successful. Like sniper rifles or Black Ops' tomahawk:

Blackbird + tomahawk = around-the-corner headshot
Blind banked long range tomahawk headshot

I much prefer teamplay/coop and objective games than straight-up deathmatch, possibly because working together towards a common goal sits nicely with my lefty leanings. I've been really excited about Brink (CLASS WAR: THE GAME) but I'm now pretty worried by a lot of the feedback I'm hearing from Americans who are playing it already.

I love close games too, probably more than when one side steamrollers over the other. One of my favourite games in Black Ops was where myself and 2 friends were matched up against a full party of 6 and we managed to claw back from a massive deficit to grab a draw. My all-time favourite game of Company of Heroes was a 3 on 3 that lasted an hour and a half, even up to the last few minutes it wasn't obvious which side would win. We lost in the end but all the players congratulated each other in the lobby after, as both sides had been expecting a 30 minute game at the very most. If it looks like a match will be too easy, I love switching to gimmicks to make it harder for ourselves, like flamethrowers/tomahawks only:

Firestormin'

I love playing dress up in games. I wish more games would have customisation options like Brink or Saints Row 2, especially if it's an RPG.

Edit: how do I stop auto-embed on this?

[Hangthebuggers]

Eve Online

Admittedly it's certainly not for everyone, a very slow-paced, massively multi-player (sandbox), sci-fi space game. It's an MMO, but it can be played in various ways.

The market. Well it's a fully player run market, with demands and buy orders, sell orders, changing stock prices and such forth - many players simply get rich by watching the markets and never leaving their home space station, instead employing other players to transport goods and other such courier work.

Others prefer to mine asteroids or moons, or salvage space wrecks, or refine minerals (or other such industries including planet exploitation and colonisation) whilst others like to explore or go mission running for various NPC agents.

I, on the other hand am a member of a 'bastard' Corp, a semi-cowardly bunch of space pirates who bully, steal, harass and ruin other players and corporations. Our group have already run two other corporations into the ground, forcing one to almost disband (and we 'acquired' some of their members too).

It's a great game and i'm lucky enough to be playing it with some 'real' friends at the moment, so many laughs are had - we don't take it 'too' seriously, but yes, that's my idea of gaming fun.

[madhair60]

I like Kirby games, because he's a little pink blob that consumes all and steals its essence.  He's the closest thing to Lovecraftian that Nintendo gets.

[sirhenry]

I like Kirby games, because he's a little pink blob that consumes all and steals its essence.  He's the closest thing to Lovecraftian that Nintendo gets.

My son's favourite too. He just finished the whole of Super Smash Bros as Kirby and is now working on a modded version with even more Kirbyness. Giving him the design for a papercraft Kirby was rather fun too as he then made one around a ping pong ball and insisted they play with it at his weekly Table Tennis tournament.

For me it's mostly wandering around discovering places - I used to love all the massive Doom mods, especially the accurate real-world ones like St. John's College, the Hoover Dam or the Mir space station.

[The Boston Crab]

Giving him the design for a papercraft Kirby was rather fun too as he then made one around a ping pong ball and insisted they play with it at his weekly Table Tennis tournament.

Awesome. I like the guy already.

[madhair60]

I've also started to really like the Far Cry 2/Crysis school of wandering around a massive tropical/organic environment.  Any more games like these?

[Still Not George]

I have a deep yearning for do-shit-to-shit-wots-already-doing-shit-em-ups.

By which I mean broad simulations that you can poke. God games were an early limited version of this, but the last few years have really started to produce buttloads of 'em. The X series. Dwarf Fortress. Mount and Blade. I just love seeing a living (ish), breathing (ish) world that I can stick my digital finger inside and prod in amusing ways.

[MojoJojo]

Oh god yes. I want to make one... until I realise it's probably quite hard to make one that works well.

[Still Not George]

I've had a concept doc for one hanging around for years. I call it "Living Kingdoms" and it's essentially an economy simulation running over an anthill-style AI, presented on a landscape a la Populous. The player avatar would be a "king" type character that can either directly give orders in a limited range, or send messages to "Mayors" and similar sub-rulers in other regions.

Probably never get made though, it'd take ages to prototype, let alone produce.

Another thing I definitely like is survive-em-ups. Being dumped in a hostile scenario with some basic tools and abilities and left to work out how to stay alive. As well as the obvious Minecraft, there was a wonderful Finnish roguelike called UnReal World which was essentially this - a character wandering around Iron Age Finland trying to survive in the wild. Setting traps, hunting, building shelter, finding good water to drink, trying not to get murdered in your sleep, trying to get into a position to survive the winter when it arrives - it was excellent.

I have a concept doc for my own take on this, too - a scifi version. Crashlanded on an alien planet a la Alpha Centauri, only it's just you, with the only objective being to survive as long as possible. Kind of Ray Mears Extreme Survival In Space.

[madhair60]

I have a concept doc for my own take on this, too - a scifi version. Crashlanded on an alien planet a la Alpha Centauri, only it's just you, with the only objective being to survive as long as possible. Kind of Ray Mears Extreme Survival In Space.

I would play this.

[Cerys]

trying not to get murdered in your sleep

... or killed by a pine marten.

[Still Not George]

I would play this.

People keep saying that. None of them are publishers. It's quite irritating.

[madhair60]

I'm a publishennnnnngh no I'm not.  Sorry.

[leelo]

As well as the obvious Minecraft, there was a wonderful Finnish roguelike called UnReal World which was essentially this - a character wandering around Iron Age Finland trying to survive in the wild. Setting traps, hunting, building shelter, finding good water to drink, trying not to get murdered in your sleep, trying to get into a position to survive the winter when it arrives - it was excellent.

Since reading this post, I've downloaded the trial version this afternoon and have really been enjoying it. Thanks!

Why all the past tense stuff SNG?  As far as I can tell it's still being updated etc...

[Still Not George]

Fantastic! The guy kinda disappeared a few years back along with his website, see, and I haven't gone on a crawl for it since. I really should grab the latest version and try to find my license file.