LogFAQs > #925290451

hypnox posted...

Can you have fun "just" playing a game and not winning?

There are a very few games I play for fun and don't try to win at all cost.

Depends on how we're defining the question, but I'd say I'm almost always "just playing" games and not "winning".

For the most part, I play games where win states are technically impossible. I've sunk a ton of hours into games like Minecraft and Stardew Valley, where I'm essentially setting my own goals and objectives, and long-term failure is effectively impossible. Beyond that, 98% of the games I'm playing are single-player RPGs or narrative-intensive games where the only "win" is to complete the narrative in some way (and that doesn't always mean the "best" possible ending - my favorite Dragon Age: Origins playthrough is the one in which I died, and I will occasionally make "bad" choices if I think they're in-character for the persona I'm playing or if it might make the story more interesting).

When it comes to the precious few multiplayer games I play, I almost never play competitive. I much prefer co-op play where players are working together to achieve a goal, whether that be co-op horde modes in shooters or something like Borderlands or Halo story mode. Over the span of my gaming life, I've probably revived far more players than I've ever killed.

Even when playing MMOs with freeroam where PvP conflict is almost mandatory, I still don't engage in it. In GTA:Online, I spent almost all my time either in Passive Mode or private servers, doing missions or screwing around with friends. About the only time I was ever competitive in GTA was playing Deadline when it first came out, and that was mostly just because it's really fucking cool to drive Tron bikes and wipe out opponents (and I was VERY good at it).

I HAVE played competitive multiplayer (both in video games as well as tabletop stuff like Magic: the Gathering), but even then I'm not necessarily trying to "win" exclusively. Whether it's playing team modes in Destiny (where I'm more focused on zone control or team support than getting kills and worrying about my K/D) or racing in GTA, there are usually other factors involved. In Magic, I'm usually more interested in playing unique variant game types and screwing around with other players than I am necessarily winning.

I just don't consider direct win/lose gaming to be all that fun or interesting, and really haven't since college/into my early 20s (back when we played a lot more fighting games and PvP shooters).


---

"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
"POwned again." --- blight family