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Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

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Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#241

Post by TotempaaltJ »

fendy3002 wrote: post #202
TotempaaltJ wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are tons of non-intense video games! It's not all shooters, thankfully. Especially building/management style games, turn-based games, and role-playing games can be calm. Personal favorites: FTL: Faster Than Light. Not turn-based, so can get a little heated every now and then but generally pretty calm ime. https://store.steampowered.com/app/212680/FTL_Faster_Than_Li... The Civilization series is all turn based a…

I don't think Factorio is good recommendation here. It's kinda intense with biter on, and trains. Stardew Valley should be the alternative.

Ohh how could I forget Stardew Valley! That game is great.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#242

Post by TotempaaltJ »

glogla wrote: post #218
TotempaaltJ wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are tons of non-intense video games! It's not all shooters, thankfully. Especially building/management style games, turn-based games, and role-playing games can be calm. Personal favorites: FTL: Faster Than Light. Not turn-based, so can get a little heated every now and then but generally pretty calm ime. https://store.steampowered.com/app/212680/FTL_Faster_Than_Li... The Civilization series is all turn based a…

Cities Skylines is a wonderful game, but sadly it's going to be a slideshow on MacBook Air, or any MacBook other than 15" with dedicated GPU.

I haven't tried it obviously but I assumed it'd work since it works fine on a Switch

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#243

Post by meheleventyone »

mstade wrote: post #225
noisy_boy wrote: post #221

I think more will play if quickly trying out games was easy. E.g. I wanted to try out Doom Eternal yesterday without having to buy it first in case I didn't like it; couldn't find how to do that and gave up after 20 mins.

I did some research into this when I worked for Improbable a few years ago, and back then it was remarkably difficult to try out games without going through a full purchase and refund cycle, which in many cases was hit-and-miss and could actually get your account suspended in some stores which has tremendous impact since this is also tied to your online gaming persona. Since then I know some stores have loosened thei…

This comes from the industry abandoning making demos available because they would hurt sales figures. There's been a recent resurgence in making demos over the last six months though.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#244

Post by sidlls »

iameli wrote: post #138
sidlls wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Candy Crush is clearly a game. Is it a "video game"? That's less clear. Candy Crush and games like it are closer to https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-2796704/trademark-games-el... than https://store.steampowered.com/app/10/CounterStrike/ . I wouldn't call the former a video game by any reasonable standard. I think Candy Crush qualifies as a video game, if only by the most technically narrow of definitions. But it's a…

I'm fascinated by this opinion. Is Hearthstone a video game? Desert Golfing? Good Sudoku? Words with Friends? Clash Royale? Angry Birds? The Arcana? Wii Sports? Pokémon Go?

I don't understand why it's apparently controversial that we can break a category like computer gaming into a spectrum of activities and styles.

We do it in many other areas without such issue, e.g., recreational vs. amateur vs. professional athletics, cooking, artistry, etc. If a report were published that said "250 million adult Americans are cooks" I'd find it objectionable. It's not a meaningful number, either in terms of market segmentation or as a description of the actual activity that is purported to be engaged in.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#245

Post by rowanG077 »

listenallyall wrote: post #124
stevula wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Controllers were quite different 30 years ago. Dual stick didn’t become the norm until 20 years ago, though arguably Xbox and PlayStation controllers haven’t changed their layouts much since 2000.

To be fair, human anatomy hasn't changed much since 2000 either.

You think the current interface devices are optimal for human anatomy?

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#246

Post by ido »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #238
nottorp wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Im not sure you can call free to play IAP grindfests “games”. But still, that means 1.5 bn play actual games? Not bad.

It varies, like. Most mobile games are pretty crap, but you have people like Supercell who make good mobile games - I don't like their games, but lots and lots of people do. And to be fair, most "actual" games are pretty crap too.

90% of everything is famously trash!

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#247

Post by nottorp »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #238
nottorp wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Im not sure you can call free to play IAP grindfests “games”. But still, that means 1.5 bn play actual games? Not bad.

It varies, like. Most mobile games are pretty crap, but you have people like Supercell who make good mobile games - I don't like their games, but lots and lots of people do. And to be fair, most "actual" games are pretty crap too.

There's crap, and there's crap where the design is affected by the need to nudge (or force) people towards buying IAPs.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#248

Post by ShamelessC »

noisy_boy wrote: post #221

I think more will play if quickly trying out games was easy. E.g. I wanted to try out Doom Eternal yesterday without having to buy it first in case I didn't like it; couldn't find how to do that and gave up after 20 mins.

FWIW, Steam allows you to return any game if you have played less than two hours of it.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#249

Post by rowanG077 »

deathcalibur wrote: post #126
thefounder wrote: post #20

Looks like an addiction getting out of control.

I find this to be the most disturbing part. I have done a substantial amount of game development myself on the side, it's how I got into programming originally ~15 years ago. I say that because I find it demotivating sometimes to work on games that I think are fun and non-addictive. My wife will show me some simple addictive game on the phone and ask why I can't just make a knock-off version of that... I could, but a…

I wholly wish micro transactions would be made illegal. To me micro transaction is equivalent to a movie pausing mid scene and ask "Do you want to continue watching this scene? You can if only you pay 99 cent.". It's a pure evil practice that taints games.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#250

Post by xenihn »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #199
gingerlime wrote: post #189

As someone who doesn't play any games at all and looking for a new hobby, would you recommend picking this up as one? if so, which platform/games would you recommend? (something light/fun) some background: I'm 45, I don't think I can handle anything too intense (even watching TV gets my heart pounding, I get too immersed and don't exactly enjoy too much adrenaline); I used to enjoy the Atari console in the 80s and th…

I'd recommend maybe some strategy games that are turn based or slow in general. Here are my 2 current favorites, they both run well on a Mac. Civilization 6 is a turn based, hexagon grid, strategy game where you build an empire from the ancient era, researching pottery and animal husbandry, an so on, all the way to the future with satellites and rockets and war robots. It's all turn based, so it's not particularly in…

Please don't bother with Civilization 6. Get Civilization 5 and the expansions, then get Vox Populi.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ez34jp/the-modders-who-de...

https://civ-5-cbp.fandom.com/wiki/Civ5_CBP_Wikia

Civ 6 is just so bad in comparison.

Some things are up to personal taste, like the graphics and art style. I definitely prefer how Civ 5 looks.

There's also the fact that Civ 5 was primarily designed and developed as a desktop PC game, while Civ 6 was designed as cross-platform (desktop, tablets, consoles, and smartphones). Some people will prefer that too, though.

But there are major differences that aren't up for discussion:

Civ5 has better mods because Firaxis exposed/released APIs that give modders more control/access than Civ6 provides. This means more & better mods.

VP has better AI than Civ 6. I think it has some of the best AI in the history of gaming.

VP has better balancing, for both civs/leaders and tech/social.

VP has an active developer who releases frequently and listens to community feedback. More importantly, VP's developer primarily cares about making the game fun. Firaxis primarily cares about squeezing money out of customers through expansions and DLC.

I really regret buying Civ6. I even got suckered twice with the expansions, thinking they would at least lead to modders bringing the game up to par. Nope.

I have 1000 hours in Civ 5 (mostly Vox Populi), and ~100 in Civ 6. Those hours in Civ6 have been in 5-hour bouts of me trying to enjoy the game, then giving up because it feels so bad to play.

I wish Firaxis would just hire the guy behind VP and put him in charge of the series.

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