Why I Play Games: The Panel – Part I
Last week’s feature by Daniel Lipscombe seemed to trigger something in all our minds. It’s built from such a simple question, yet it’s one we very rarely ask ourselves, as we queue up to buy that latest blockbuster release, scour the internet for inspirational web-games, or take out that subscription to our favourite magazine.
Why are we doing these things? What makes gaming resonate with us to such a degree? These are questions we found too big to answer ourselves, so we did what any sensible publication would do. We brought up our list of freelance contacts, and nagged them until they wrote something.
We’ll be publishing this in two parts – the first is below, and the second will follow this time next week. Today, you get to enjoy the thoughts of Eurogamer’s Tom Bramwell, The Reticule’s Chris Evans, and his comrade and general freelance bloke Phill Cameron. Next week, we hope to have a couple of developers weighing in as well, along with a couple more writer-types.
This has been a thoroughly interesting topic to cover, one that’s led us to think a little more carefully about our hobby, about how important it is to us, and about how important it’s becoming in the grand scheme of things.
Right. Who should go first? Tom should go first, as it fits in nicely with the page’s word count. Take it away, Mr. Bramwell…
//Why I Play Games
By Tom Bramwell (Eurogamer)
Two words: Super Play. Super Play was a British SNES magazine published when I was growing up. Writers I particularly remember include Jonathan Davies (now one half of Games Press), who once concluded a Mega Man review by declaring that, should Mega Man not up his game soon, the blue bomber’s armour would be unable to withstand the blows Davies should reign upon him. I always loved that. There was also Tony Mott (now king of Edge), Wil Overton (who drew the covers and wrote love letters to JRPGs when JRPGs were seldom seen outside J, and who I one day hope to commission for my wedding portraits – wife TBC), and Zy Nicholson (who once interviewed for a job at Eurogamer Network, and was lovely to speak to in person).
Super Play wasn’t, in hindsight, a fantastic magazine. I recently bought a full set of issues on eBay, so I’ve had time to explore them and reach that conclusion. But it was fantastic by the standards of the day. It was passionate, and opinionated, and said things that were unthinkable at the time: Donkey Kong Country wasn’t the best thing ever! Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan) was the best thing ever! Chrono Trigger wasn’t as good as FFIII! Etc! Its Top 100 Games – in issue 42, if I remember correctly [You do! - Ed] – was as wonderful an example of that feature as I’ve ever seen.
It may seem perverse to say that a games magazine is why I play games, and I was clearly playing games before I first read it, but Super Play is the reason I decided to become a games journalist, and it is therefore the reason I have played so many games, good or bad, over the many years I have done so. It drove me to things like Zelda: A Link To The Past, when nobody on my playground knew what it was; it taught me to look beyond the things I already enjoyed for inspiration. I bought Street Fighter II because of Super Play (and I had to sell my Game Gear to afford it), and Illusion of Time, and Secret of Mana. Many of the games that define my taste now are direct descendants of buying
decisions informed by that one magazine.
I wrote on Rock, Paper, Shotgun recently that I have a great affection for games that force me into sickening pause-restart cycles for hours on end (Trials 2, SSX, PGR, etc.), and they sustain me through dark times. But if I had to give credit to one institution for my infatuation with games as a whole, it would be Super Play. It didn’t make me play games, but it made me love them, which is the reason I keep playing them. From there, I’ve been helped along by id Software, Valve, Nintendo, and countless developers who seemed to anticipate my heart’s desires before I was aware of them. So thank you, Super Play. You’re the best answer to this question that I have.
[Continues...]
Pages: 1 2
CVG was my Super Play. Great article, can’t wait for the next part.
PC Gamer for me. Though I don’t think it was the reason I loved games. Definitely one of the reasons I got into writing about them, but the reason I was so into that mag between around 1998 and 2002 is because I’d finally found a publication that seemed to share the same inexorable passion for my hobby.
What I really like about this piece, and the previous reader-centric piece, is that sheer variety of answers that have emerged. Tom talks about how a games magazine got him gaming, Phill talks about how he plays games because he wants to be an astronaut ;) and I explored my gaming history.
This goes to show the great variety of reasons people have for why they play games and it shows the fantastic nature of gaming that we can get such varied responsed. I am looking forward to part 2!
I must admit that this thought has always intrigued me, hence the original article. I enjoy how so many people have different thoughts, some give it huge amounts of thought and break it down into emotions and thoughts. Others, like Tom, are simply driven by memories of a magazine that encouraged the hobby.
I wonder if these thoughts will change over time and as we age? Obviously past problems led me to want to escape. I wonder if, when life settles down whether I’ll feel the need to escape. Or whether there will be a different reason.
[...] Resolution I contributed (along with Phill and Tom Bramwell from Eurogamer) to a discussion about why we play games. Some very interesting comments all round [...]
[...] Resolution I contributed (along with Phill and Tom Bramwell from Eurogamer) to a discussion about why we play games. Some very interesting comments all round [...]
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