Email: The hardcore and sedentary games.

I think it’s that they convinced themselves that their games are actually active, and that casual games are sedentary, or the ones on the Wii are for idiots just thinking they are active.

 

Firstly, this psychological projection is common among the hardcore. They accuse casuals of liking easy games, and going for fads in games instead of tried and true, and casuals are fleeting with what they stick with.

 

Secondly, one way I know the hardcore think their games are actually active, and how far the hardcore mentality stretched, was when I looked up the game Herzog Zwei. The Wikipedia article mentioned the reviews, and there is this part:

 

“reviewer Paul Glancey gave the game an 82% score. He described it as “a game of conquest between two commanders in real time” and stated that what “sets it apart from other strategy games is that everything happens in real time. Both players are in action simultaneously and there are no pauses while decisions are taken so you have to think on the move or die.” He noted that the command icons are “fairly easy to grasp” and concluded that it is a game that helps establish the Mega Drive as a “real” computer rather than “a machine for immobilised(sic) arcade players.”

 

How are arcade players immobilized? They have to move unless they have loads of quarters or are really good.

A ‘real’ computer means PC games running on game consoles.

PC games that were slow were very cerebral (think Civilization or war strategy games). PC games there were fast were VERY FAST. Quake and Unreal Tournament run rings around the console FPS games in terms of their speed. Games like Wing Commander, Starcontrol, Archon, all required a high degree of speed.

I still enjoy PC games because there is something special about their ultimate interface with the keyboard and everything else. I really despise these console games on the PC. I love the 100 page manuals and how you actually had to have a technical background in order to get your game to work. There is nothing like spending hours into the night of some complicated game with a cloth map on one side, your hand drawn dungeon maps on another side, with multiple manuals all near you. The hardcore can’t handle such complexity. A game like Quake or Unreal Tournament were seen as ‘low brow’ games in the PC Gaming Land yet they are way beyond the typical hardcore gamer today.

Anyway, time for me to go play some Dark Reign. It’s the RTS game that was better than Starcraft.