22 ms·
Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports
- jpxw 6y agoIf you count Candy Crush then sure
- ashtonkem 6y agoAnd you should. “Casual” video gaming, a term that carries unfortunate dismissive undertones, represents the most common form of video games played. The proliferation of the smart phone has undoubtedly helped here. Probably more so pre-pandemic. My observation when I lived in Chicago is that many people played these games while commuting via mass transit, I’m sure fewer are doing that now.
- hindsightbias 6y agoDecades ago, people did crosswords or read the paper/books while commuting. Do see a bit of sudoku. It would be interesting if there are music vs audiobooks metrics on today’s commuters. I get the commute escapism of candy crush but I’ve seen enough of that in homes/work to wonder.
- rsynnott 6y agoPodcasts would also be quite big, I'd expect.
- schoen 6y agoI wonder if crosswords are moving away from a commute activity and toward a home leisure/hobby activity. (That's what I see, but I'm biased by the way I relate to crosswords myself and the way people I met through puzzle activities relate to them.)
- superhuzza 6y agoWhy wouldn't you count Candy Crush? It seems like it would fall under any reasonable definition of video game.
- harimau777 6y agoI'd argue that ultra-casual games like Candy Crush have so little in common with "core games" that it's not particularly useful to consider them the same thing. A similar situation: If I was discussing "board game culture" I think that most people would recognize that I'm referring the culture associated with games like Catan or Pandemic as opposed to people casually playing Tic Tac Toe.
- rsynnott 6y ago> If I was discussing "board game culture" No-one's talking about 'board game culture', though. This is about whether people play video games. If you were talking about the board games people play, Catan would be a barely visible blip; it'd be all about things like Monopoly. Now if you were talking about people who consider playing games part of their identity, I'd be inclined to agree (though there are edge cases; Pokemon Go falls into both 'casual game' and 'game that people get a bit weird about', for instance), but that's not at all what this survey is about. EDIT: Also, well, media evolves. If you look at the sort of TV that's popular now, a lot of it is dramatically different to how it was in, say, the 80s and 90s. Someone who'd been in a coma since before Seinfeld came out would find modern sitcoms (with their lack of laugh tracks), and high production value dramas with multi-season story arcs (barely existed until this century), and reality shows, extremely weird. But they'd recognise that it was TV. And some 80s-style content still exists; it's just largely not what is popular right now.
- harimau777 6y agoMy point is that "people who play video games" doesn't mean much if you define it so broadly that it includes both people who play primarily core games and people who play exclusively casual games. From a business perspective, they are unlikely to be the same target market. Gaming related memes and similar cultural artifacts are unlikely to be shared. Etc.
- rsynnott 6y agoThis is such a weird attitude. If someone was to say (figures made up) "over two billion people worldwide now drink beer" then "if you count Budweiser then sure", would be a bizarre response. Candy Crush is clearly a game; this isn't really ambiguous. It's a mass market game that game connoisseurs sneer at, sure, but it's a game.
- jpxw 6y agoI’m just saying that if you count anyone who has ever played Candy Crush, your stats aren’t going to be particularly meaningful, and you’ll end up with a number like “three billion”. If the same number was cited for beer drinking, I’d be saying “sure, if you count anyone who’s ever had a Budweiser”, and it would be a valid criticism.
- rsynnott 6y agoThis would appear to be people who currently play games.
- prophesi 6y agoI get what you're saying. It would be interesting to see the statistics on how many people play non-casual videogames. And how many people drink craft beer. Though with videogames, it's still a meaningful statistic to include "casuals" considering it used to be taboo to play videogames at all as an adult.
- ZephyrBlu 6y ago> Though with videogames, it's still a meaningful statistic to include "casuals" considering it used to be taboo to play videogames at all as an adult There's a difference between a casual Candy Crush player and a casual Overwatch player though. I wouldn't class the Candy Crush player as even a casual gamer.
- prophesi 6y agoThis is just silly. Candy Crush is a videogame, therefore its players are gamers. Hijack a different word to describe casual vs "serious" gamers.
- happytoexplain 6y agoI know the comment I'm about to make isn't very substantive, but oh man is "gamer" gatekeeping prevalent.
- jpxw 6y agoI’m not a gamer, so it doesn’t make sense for me to be gatekeeping. Edit; although this study would probably call me one, because I picked up an Xbox controller one time.
- Godel_unicode 6y agoOne absolutely doesn't need to be a foo in order to engage in foo gatekeeping. In fact I would go so far as to say the preponderance of gatekeeping is done by people who are not in the group they are gate keepers of.
- Deestan 6y agoI'd like to defend this sentiment. I get the negative reactions to this, I really do. All communities - fan clubs, beer aficionados, gamers, book enthusiasts - have groups of gatekeepers that try to separate the dirty filthy unworthy casual people from the real X. But don't assume that is always the case. Sentiments like this often comes from a different place: wanting meaningful discussion. There are two parts to this. "X game" vs "Y game" categorization, and "plays games" vs "played a game". The first one is usually contentious so I'll elaborate: I play Candy Crush and games like it regularly, and enjoy them. However, I call them "casual games" rather than "video games" in the same way people like to separate "board game" from "party game", "jogging" from "running", "visual novel" from "comic book", and "web design" from "programming" (or "sanwdich" from "hotdog"). The borders frequently get blurry, and people love discussing pedantic philosophy about what is a sandwich, but the grouping still exists and is meaningful. While people who don't have a lot of interest in the field find the distinction weird and pointless, the people who are close to the field find the difference to be night and day. I play and enjoy Terraforming Mars which I classify a board game, Dying Light which I classify a video game, and Super Hexagon which I classify a casual game. Conflating the category of any two of them feels equally wrong. They are different activities, played for different reasons, at different times, with different levels of investment. Any study and discussion that manages to recognize at least these broad distinctions, will be immensely more interesting and fruitful than one who tries to count hotdogs as sandwiches.
- Supermancho 6y agohttps://www.statista.com/statistics/281595/king-digital-entertainment-quarterly-mau/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/281595/king-digital-ente... Candy Crush has 250-275 million active users. Do some digging if you want an accurate picture. Saying this game or that game counts shows a willful choice to not engage in the conversation, and perhaps a fundamental lack of understanding as to what constitutes a video game.
- bjo590 6y ago> Analysts point out that almost half of the accounted three billion are those who play only on smartphones or mobile devices. This segment is also ahead of all others in terms of growth. This segment is incredibly lucrative for the winners. Niantic has an estimated revenue of 800 million dollars. Supercell's highest reported revenue was just over 2 billion euros. King sold to Activision Blizzard for 5.9 billion dollars in 2016. Epic is going to war with Google and Apple over Fornite money. There's Asian players that are also impressive, but I'm not familiar enough to speak on that market. These revenues and valuations are happening in a high growth market.
- stickydink 6y agoThat'll be Tencent, smartphone gaming revenue over $5bn USD in Q2 alone https://cdc-tencent-com-1258344706.image.myqcloud.com/uploads/2020/08/12/00e999c23314aa085c0b48c533d4d393.pdf https://cdc-tencent-com-1258344706.image.myqcloud.com/upload...
- DobryMorozov 6y agoMobile legends does pretty well for Moonton and is extremely popular in southeast Asia
- Baeocystin 6y agoJust a single game, Fate/Grand Order, has grossed ~3 $billion, and that was as of last year. I'm sure it's much higher now. The amount of money spent by players in mobile makes everything else look like peanuts by comparison. https://sensortower.com/blog/fate-grand-order-revenue-3-billion https://sensortower.com/blog/fate-grand-order-revenue-3-bill...
- chillwaves 6y agoThose so-called "gacha" games rake in a disgusting amount of money. Even as a casual player, I ended up spending a few hundred on one.
- manigandham 6y ago
- op03 6y agoAnything good on Linux these days?
- xyzzy_plugh 6y agoI recently lost roughly a week to Caves of Qud.
- solinent 6y agoI'm playing Civ 6 pretty frequently. Cross-platform multiplayer as well!
- bjo590 6y agohttps://store.steampowered.com/linux https://store.steampowered.com/linux If a game is going to support Windows + macOS than it isn't much more work to also support Linux these days. There are many games released on Linux every year.
- glouwbug 6y agoThat's right, Proton is amazing. I've been playing classics like Rome Total War on my Linux setup
- brundolf 6y agoBeyond that, most game devs today use established engines like Unity or Unreal, which typically have one-click build buttons for all major platforms. The level of abstraction has been raised, which affects not only game logic but even things like graphics APIs (DirectX vs Vulkan vs Metal) and packaging (installer, icons, etc). The bar has never been lower to throw in Linux support, even if you don't expect a huge market.
- beering 6y agoI've seen it argued that releasing a Linux version (even using Unity/Unreal) is worse than releasing a Windows version that runs on Proton, because the Windows API is stabler and the Linux version will inevitably bitrot without continual updates.
- thefounder 6y agoLooks like an addiction getting out of control.
- chillwaves 6y agoWhat is the difference between video game addiction and other screen related addiction?
- mumblemumble 6y agoOne is more fun than the others?
- rvrabec 6y agojust happy i dont need to create a fortnite account to have a meeting yet.
- chillwaves 6y agoMaybe they are all the same problem, screens are more compelling than life and this statement is only becoming more true each day.
- tootahe45 6y agoPrimarily effects men, just like pornography addiction, so these don't get the same attention as social media addiction for example.
- thefounder 6y agoI believe video game addiction is worse because it requires a higher level of attention unlike scrolling crap on facebook/instagram etc.
- alexashka 6y agoMaybe the real world is so out of control, the virtual world is one of the few places you feel in control.
- m3kw9 6y agoThe a only significant when you factor in time played and frequency.
- Havoc 6y agoThat has to be hella broad in terms of definition. I'd guess playing a cutting edge PC game at reasonable spec puts you into the top 1% income wise? (gut feel guess) So 3 billion is presumably anything that has a screen and a game? Games are big but near half of humanity is a pretty bold claim.
- jjulius 6y agoThe article is really short and discusses the breakdown of mobile/console/PC use that you're curious about. You should read it.
- chillwaves 6y agoThis seems more a proxy on how much of humanity is connected by smart phones now. The implication is similarly staggering.
- bitxbit 6y agoThis is a trend that will continue to accelerate. And I think we grossly underestimated how much time and money people are willing to spend on video games. Although, I think production has somewhat plateau’d in the past five years. There’s VR, but I believe there will be a new category introduced within the next five years that will change the gaming landscape.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- HenryKissinger 6y agoI'm more skeptical. VR will remain a niche, and future games will feature improved graphics. The new haptic feedback on the PS5 controller will add a minor feature. Other than that, games will remain the same on the fundamentals. Couch co-op may make a comeback.
- defterGoose 6y ago> Couch co-op may make a comeback. This. Local multiplayer has been severely lacking from games since networking got really fast. Most people of my generation who grew up playing things like GoldenEye and Halo locally would buy anything that gave even minimal service to this niche. My buddy and I stayed up til 2am the other week co-opping "Wild Guns" on his Super NT. Totally out of left field and something I never would have cared for when I had an SNES.
- axaxs 6y agoNvidia Shield, 2 Xbox controllers, Retrox. Everything you need to bring back the coop days! That said, I also wish newer games embraced it more, but at least I found some outlet.
- chansiky 6y agoI'm extremely skeptical as well, but the fact that Facebook, Apple, and Google are all dumping tons of money to develop some form of it makes me convinced that its an upcoming market that has the potential to hit big time. Half the stuff I see people do online goes against any logic I ever thought people would do. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes off for something completely out of left field. Like what is the weirdest, dumbest thing you could think of doing with vr technology, for example - watching 2d movies with your friends, or playing minesweeper, and I bet that's going to be the thing that makes it hit big.
- choward 6y ago> However, only about 250 million people are active console users who regularly buy new games for them. Although they represent only 8% of the total number of gamers, this is the group with the highest revenue per person. Why is there an "although" at the beginning of that sentence? Why wouldn't they be generating the highest revenue person?
- HenryKissinger 6y agoPCs are more expensive than consoles, so one might be led to think that PC gamers have more money than console gamers and thus spend more on games than their console brethrens.
- reificator 6y agoPCs are definitely not more expensive than consoles when you compare the TCO over a year or two, and that gulf keeps getting wider the longer you're on PC. This was true even before Steam sales and Humble Bundle and free games on the Epic Store and and and...
- klyrs 6y agoMy great grandmother used to play solitaire. The same way that many of us while away the night staring at a screen, she'd sit in her apartment wearing the spots off a pack of cards. Some oldsters will react to this news with dismay, but as I see it, our lives are richer for the innovation.
- WoahNoun 6y agoWhat's amazing is that solitaire isn't a single game with a set rules. It's an entire category of card games. The "game developers" of the past were just people agreeing on a set of rules.
- klyrs 6y agoTrue, but my great grandma played the garbage one that was implemented in win3.1
- zzo38computer 6y agoDo you mean Klondike solitaire?
- klyrs 6y agoYes, that one
- excalibur 6y agoThis is because it was extremely common/popular, which is how it ended up in windows 3.1 in the first place.
- klyrs 6y agoI know how it came to be. Doesn't change my mind about it being garbage game. In fact, its popularity is rather my point. Not that garbage computer games aren't being made today, but the choice out there is incredible. Also popular among her generation: the 15 puzzle. Blech.
- catsarebetter 6y agoThis doesn't surprise me at all, I spend 5x times more money on video games per year than dev education and I don't even game that much, maybe once a month. Video game markets just gonna keep getting bigger.
- hoorayimhelping 6y agoI remember being a college freshman in 2001 and playing PC games, namely Rogue Spear and Counter-Strike online with friends in my dorm room. I talked with them on a headset with a microphone using Roger Wilco and Battlecom. A lot of the guys I lived with in the dorm thought it was really weird that I talked to people online playing video games. Some would make fun of me. Then Halo came out in November, and in the spring semester, when everyone returned to school after the holidays, and a lot of people had new XBoxes with Halo, nobody thought it was weird anymore. Almost overnight, online video games became normalized, at least to college age dudes.
- ArtWomb 6y agoGhosts of Tsushima may be the best Playstation game I have played EVER. It's a testament to how late in the console release cycle, developers are just now mastering internals. It's the ideal video game: open world, 13-century feudal Japan, Age of the Samurai. High contrast "Kurosawa" mode, 4K HDR is cinematically photoreal. I really hope it remains a Major IP for many years to come ;) https://blog.selfshadow.com/publications/s2020-shading-course/ https://blog.selfshadow.com/publications/s2020-shading-cours...
- compscistd 6y agoI just finished playing through Horizon Zero Dawn which had been untouched, collecting dust on the shelf for a couple years. Found more time in the pandemic and I'm wondering what else I've missed out on! The only other titles I've played with great acclaim are God of War and Zelda: Breath of the Wild. From a brief wiki search, it seems outside of Nintendo, studios only tend to have one-hit wonders. I never played the Infamous games, but will take you on your word on Ghosts of Tsushima.
- Causality1 6y agoThe Master Chief Collection is out on PC now. It's an excellent way to experience the Halo series.
- the_duke 6y agoSince you liked Horizon Zero Dawn: - Witcher 3 brought me back to gaming after a 10+ year hiatus. While not perfect, it's the best/most immersive game I have ever played. Thanks to truly incredible writing, an interesting, engaging world where small side quests are some of the best content, good graphics that still hold up very well (especially with mods on PC, but just fine on console). All built on a foundation of very solid combat and gameplay. - "Nier Automata" is an unusual experience that smoothly blends very different combat styles and has a mind-boggling, thought-provoking story.
- wuunderbar 6y agoDo you need to play Witcher 1 & 2?
- alexashka 6y agoThe bit many people are not realizing is that e-sports will overtake current sports within the next few decades. For now, e-sports is at that sweet spot of good production value and a reasonable amount of advertising. I predict we'll be back to sitting through 3-5 minutes of commercials for every 15 minutes of gameplay within the next decade as advertisers realize how willing gamers are to spend money on virtual stuff.
- Buttons840 6y agoThere will be too much competition from "casts". While the top 1% can be seen between commercials, the top 5% are cast on Twitch, commercial free, by a sole caster surviving on Twitch and Patreon. The level of competition will be very similar, possibly with more variety in the top 5%.
- mensetmanusman 6y agoI was just going through the entire mame archive for hours. Are there any fun games?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- xvilka 6y ago... wasting their lives.
- seekinggamer 6y agoThere is always this disconnect when I read stuff like this 3 billion people is 30% or of 3 people. Ok, we go on OkCupid, we find the question "Do you enjoy playing video games" and we set that as a criteria for matches. Your matches will drop to > 1% of the population, at least as a male looking for female. Checking another dating site that has things people like. The site claims 10 million users, only 200k have selected "like games" or 2%, vastly different than the article's claimed 30% I get some of the reasons for the difference like not considering yourself a gamer yet plays Covet Fashion an hour a day. Still, in daily life the number of people I meet who would claim to like games in any form doesn't match that 30% number.
- bcassedy 6y agoLikely because they count mobile games in these figures but people don't count them when talking about gaming on a dating profile. Virtually everyone you know probably tried Candy Crush, Pokemon Go, or flappy bird. Most of them probably have at least one game like that installed on their phone today that they play on the toilet or whatever. But they don't consider themselves gamers.
- ido 6y agoMy 75 years old mother plays bubble shooters, dots & other games of that sort probably as much or more than I play any games - and I'm a game developer.
- edanm 6y agoSo out of curiosity, given the above discussion, would she consider herself a gamer? Would you consider her a gamer?
- chillwaves 6y agoShe is clearly a gamer if words have meaning.
- tumidpandora 6y agoMy PS4 pro has been a trusted companion through the pandemic.. I have cherished playing Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us 2
- catsarebetter 6y agoI see we have similar taste, might I recommend assasin's creed? Amazing graphics and the story mode is pretty phenomenal, kind of a greek mythology nerd so that's why I'm so drawn to it.
- alchemism 6y agoIn normal times I would travel to Greece multiple times a year. I acquired a 4k projector so I could fill a wall with the game. It’s been a nice substitute.
- catsarebetter 6y agoAh man Greece sounds so nice right now... big images are the way to go with that game, so much granular detail that you can't catch without them
- alchemism 6y agoI bought my first PS in January and wondered if I was being foolish to buy-in so late. That ended up being one of the luckiest purchases of my life.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- otabdeveloper4 6y agoNext in news: over 6.5 trillion cigarettes are sold per year. shrug I wonder what the public health perception on videogames will be like in 100 years.
- hombre_fatal 6y agoHealthy, fit people will just continue becoming more and more rare and ascendant in our society. Though in 100 years we'll have VR that's as seamless as unlocking your phone. Maybe games will be the healthy jacked guys in school through all the incidental exercise.
- cgrealy 6y agoThat 3 billion people play some sort of games (particularly on mobile) is not at all surprising to me. I would guess that number correlates to “90% of people under a certain age (50??) who have access to a device”. That 1.5 billion play games on PC is shocking to me.
- as1mov 6y agoI think's that number is reasonable considering any PC can be used for gaming with a small investment. Just adding a $100-$150 GPU can make any old PC from the last decade capable of playing games. That's how gaming has usually worked in third world countries at least.
- fendy3002 6y agoAnd people usually already have pc for activities outside of gaming. And it's very easy to play any games on pc, and some are free such as open source games and abandonwares (CMIIW).
- cgrealy 6y agoA quick google says there are 1.5 billion pcs in the world (in 2015). I’m guessing they’re pretty much assuming most people who have a PC have played some form of game on it.
- etiam 6y agoIt's pretty striking, sure. But depending on how they made the investigation, possibly it includes gaming down to being able to answer yes to questions like 'Have you more than a handful of times opened and used Microsoft Solitaire?', which is of course not what most people think of a PC gaming these days.
- mkl 6y agoMy 102 year old grandfather is a bigger gamer than me: Spider Solitaire.
- gingerlime 6y agoAs 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 then later played games on my Apple IIc and then PC, up to around year 2000 or so. Now I own an iPhone SE and Macbook air 2015, so nothing too powerful. I don't have a TV (but a decent computer screen). EDIT: so many great suggestions for things I didn't know existed. Thank you so much!
- myle 6y agoTry chess. Lichess.org is good place.
- unicornporn 6y agoIf you want a new hobby and not a new time drain I recommend installing https://openemu.org/ https://openemu.org/ on your Air and download some roms. Watch some videos on YouTube going through the best roms for SNES and NeoGeo. So many nice games from that era you can just fire up and play for 30 minutes and have a great time. I find that many modern games require hours and hours to give something back.
- TotempaaltJ 6y agoThere 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_Light/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/212680/FTL_Faster_Than_Li... The Civilization series is all turn based and as long as you play against the computer you get to take as long as you like for each turn. https://store.steampowered.com/app/289070/Sid_Meiers_Civilization_VI/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/289070/Sid_Meiers_Civiliz... Cities: Skylines! Love trying my hand at infrastructure design. https://store.steampowered.com/app/255710 https://store.steampowered.com/app/255710 Prison Architect https://store.steampowered.com/app/233450 https://store.steampowered.com/app/233450 I've heard good things about Factorio. If you want to dip your toes into first person games you should try the Portal series, which has a bit more action but not too much imo. These all will work fine on your Macbook Air!
- noisy_boy 6y agoI 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.
- mstade 6y agoI 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 their policies and allow for a certain number of hours of game play within which you can get a full refund, and others have a time-since-purchase kind of limit. Back in the day when shareware was a thing it was much more prevalent with game demos, but that was also before game consoles really took over. Then physical stores made a difference, where you could go and try out a game before purchase, but of course those aren't really much of a thing anymore. My conclusion of the research then was that most games are simply not built with a demo in mind. It's more common these days for games to front load the introduction part of the game, often a tutorial, so that you can start playing before the game is fully downloaded, but back then it wasn't very common. This could work as a stand-alone demo and I know a few games that does this – Tomb Raider for example – from which you could then unlock the full game and download the rest. But it was (and might still be) an exception to the norm. My opinion is that online stores can and should put pressure on game devs (and engine makers in particular) to enable customers to play a demo of a game before committing to a purchase. It might not work for all kinds of games (particularly ones without single player elements) but I reckon it ought to work for a majority of them.
- meheleventyone 6y agoThis 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.
- catsarebetter 6y agoI talked to an executive at Skillz a few years ago and she told me that one of their main growth strategies was actually to target prospective women that could be gamers. The way it worked was that a few of Skillz executives were in this market, women who loved video gaming but businesses at the time refused to recognize it. Imagine a woman who plays mobile games just to kill time at the bus stop, etc. Exec told me that she had friends like this and she has really easily gotten them to adopt all sorts of gaming and knew how easy it was to do this. So when they looked at it like that, the market for people who were ignored was massive and that's one of the reasons why they grew so fast. I think another underserved video game niche is our elderly... but maybe that's a separate discussion
- disgruntledphd2 6y agoSo, back in the day I worked with a lot of gaming companies on their advertising. They would point blank refuse to target women because "women don't play games". Even when we demonstrated that women made up a really sizable proportion of their audience, they wouldn't budge. Really brought it home to me that so much bias is reproduced through the biases of advertisers, rather than the platforms.
- catsarebetter 6y agoThey'll pay for it when more startups catch on and grow like mad and compete with them
- disgruntledphd2 6y agoIn my experience, the startups were the worst for it.
- monadic2 6y agoWith so many gamers what does the word even mean anymore?
- lentil_soup 6y agoI think that's a very interesting question. "Gamer" has always been a bit of a niche tag but with games now becoming more and more mainstream it will be like calling people that watch movies "moviers", which we don't do since we assume most people enjoy a movie every once in a while.
- hnick 6y agoGamer would be similar to "film buff" in this context, someone who enjoys it much more than normal or makes it part of their identity.
- ojciecczas 6y agoWhen The AI creates itself, it will control humans by creating video games.
- jariel 6y agoMy father still does crosswords daily. Much of this amounts to digitised Soduku, Crosswords, Solitaire etc.. - passing time on light fare. A new Netflix special on games 'High Score' touches on the gender issues and how some games for whatever reason have entirely different demographic appeal: Pac Man and Tetris were (still in the later case) disproportionately popular among women. The medium obviously allows for much more, but we can't ignore the social parallels.
- Dumblydorr 6y agoEveryone I know plays something: DoTA, candy crush, Codenames, Jackbox, online cards, Skyrim, Zelda, Witcher, DnD on Foundry, even my old relatives play various games on mobile and iPad. Whereas, the younger, especially male, people I know almost all have a gaming system of one kind or another. I am very into Starcraft myself. It is a wonderful combination of speed, strategy, economics, deception, and accuracy.
- hazbot 6y agoI discovered starcraft2 when it became free to play. I find addictive in a similar way to my LoL days, without the toxic teammates. It's super fun and engrossing, but I have to admit I occasionally get flashes of worry about is this how I want to spend my time? To be fair, I get the same thoughts about my job.
- mudita 6y agoMost of the friends I have don't play video games. There are both bubbles where everybody plays as well as bubbles where playing video games as an adult is a very foreign concept.
- arvinsim 6y agoEven so, society still stereotype video games and video gamers as juvenile and waste of time. This is apparent especially in dating circles, where more often than not, listing video games as hobby for a males is a negative signal to the opposite sex.
- jachell 6y agoJust because video games are popular doesn't mean they are not juvenile and a waste of time :)
- nhumrich 6y agoactually, it kind of does. Technically, watching TV is a waste of time as well. But watching the latest show, i.e. Game of thrones, office, etc. Is not considered a waste of time, society almost sees it as a requirement.
- pedrosorio 6y agoWatching TV is a waste of time. Watching the latest show wastes one hour a week. Being a “TV watcher” as in spending several hours a day doing it as your main hobby is not any better than being a “gamer” for dating purposes.
- watwut 6y ago> society almost sees it as a requirement I never seen office and it never mattered. Majority of people I know never seen Game of Thrones and would not liked it. Some people do like Game of thrones. So no, it is definitely not a requirement by "society". It may be requirement in your own bubble of society, just as some other bubbles treat dota or Witcher III as requirement. I also cant recall people defending TV watching as not-a-wasted-of-time. There seems to be consensus that it is waste of time. That if you spent whole weekend by watching tv or watched tv till late hours, you should get a grip and self control.
- jherdman 6y agoGaming IS a waste of time, as are a number of hobbies. The question is really if you care that you're wasting your time.
- dep_b 6y agoThe only thing I play nowadays are mobile versions of board games, to sharpen my skills for the moment we get together again
- archibaldJ 6y agoI think the greatest video game to be played is life. Unfortunately not many people can afford to play it the fun way and things start to get boring and time start to fly by and people get drawn into simulations of some subset of it, which begs the question, shouldn’t life simply be a “simulation” of some subset of something? What is interesting is that an affirmative to this question often makes life more “game-like” and in terms more open to the notion of it capable of being “fun to play” (and vice versa). Though once again not many people would wholeheartedly appreciate this Insight. Very unfortunately life is often filled with suffering and miseries and most (including myself) would often get blinded and overlook the nice things, as well as its game-like nature. Perhaps getting into one of these man-made simulators is not that bad of a thing, especially if it engages the social module and in some way enriches the overall gameplay of life. I think many progresses in science & technologies are often hindered by our tendencies to not appreciate games. As a (post)modern civilisation we often take things too seriously. Probably a feature not a bug! But on a more individual level I think taking things more lightly (while still being a responsible human being) would improve the overall quality of life. That is something I’m still trying to learn.
- zalkota 6y agoSince buying a house and obtaining a decent job, I’ve realized life is the ultimate game. There is an unbelievable amount of content and situations.
- chillwaves 6y agoLiked this comment more than an upvote could say. I am trying to be less serious as well. It's easy to fall into the trap of be highly critical, highly methodical and just overall taking everything at serious face value, but where is the joy in that?
- zanecraw 6y agoI mean... what else are we supposed to do all day lol
- Razengan 6y agoI wish there was a better way to preserve the history of video games, as operating systems become incompatible, emulators become obsolete, and some things just can't be emulated accurately or faithfully anyway (like the 3DS). Ironically, YouTube is probably the best archive of video games that we have.
- commonturtle 6y agoI’ve become a big player of board games online, mostly terraforming Mars. Given how fast this is spreading I wouldn’t be surprised if we found that gaming overtakes every entertainment option around.