Serious Gaming: Part 1

I think the value of casual gaming is fairly self-evident.  People want a bit of a distraction, something with little pressure, little stress, and little effort.  It may be a way of fighting boredom (games like Solitaire, for example), or it may be a venue to be social (party or family style games like Cranium or Warioware).  And without any real research into it, my suspicion is that the vast majority of people who play games at all play almost exclusively at the casual level.  

But there is a segment of gamers who are much more invested - personally as well as fiscally - in the games they play.  They tend to gravitate to a different type of game.  Strategy or mechanical skill seem to be the prime factors of interest, because they serve as a means of bettering one's ability to play.  And for the serious gamer, that is the what keeps the player playing.


Mind you, I don't mean to say there is no learning curve or skill in casual gaming.  After all, some people are really good at Pictionary, but you aren't likely to see a ranked listing of the best Pictionary players in the world.  Clearly it is a skill based game (drawing, symbolic encoding and interpretation).  Playing it more means you will likely get better at it, but I don't know anyone who plays Pictionary to become a better player.


Take on the flip side a game like Chess.  Avid chess players will study other player's games.  They will purchase and read books, they may even pay a tutor.  Millions of people know who Kasparov, Fisher, and even Deep Blue are.


I purposefully selected Chess because for whatever reason (and there are probably dozens), it is a game that garners a level of respect from people that don't "get" most serious gaming.  But certainly, serious gaming expresses itself across many genres.  Maybe we'll explore those later, but the question I really want to ponder is: What's the point?


Serious gaming entails effort and commitment.  People work at this kind of play.   The trouble is, play can become work.  At some levels, this is entirely acceptable.  Professional gamers, for instance, work at games - and are paid to do so.  But it is no longer a past-time for them.  It is not a means of relaxation.


But what of the man who works all day at a joe-job (or even a respectable career), but his downtime is spent on serious gaming?  On the outside, one might look at him and ask, "What's the point?  Don't you ever relax?"


If you are a serious gamer (as I consider myself to be), you may think that its a silly question.  I don't.  Serious gaming is very attractive.  It can satisfy a desire for competition, it can offer a venue to feel a sense of accomplishment, and usually there is a society that is engaged in your game of choice and its genre.


Such societies give rise to sub-cultures; each with their own language, icons, proverbs, and inside jokes.  It becomes a thing to talk about.  It becomes a reason to get together, rather than a thing to do when you are together.


(Continued in next post.)