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Games Entertainment

Games As The New Pub 51

Posted by Zonk from the hard-to-get-drunk-in-2L dept.
The Guardian Gamesblog has a column up talking about a panel held at the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival last week. A discussion was held with several folks from the online world development business, where they discussed games as new social playgrounds or pubs. From the article: "In Korea, the gamers play online games together. It's a social replacement. It's a way for non-social people to socialise. They've even started developing games for bored girlfriends of the guys who're playing Starcraft with their mates."
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Games As The New Pub More

Games As The New Pub

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  • hmmm... (Score:4, Funny)

    by skatephat420 ( 803185 ) <seandfeeney@gmail.com> on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @06:57PM (#13335096)
    Now if I could only get my girlfriend to play games...

  • not a social replacement... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by yagu ( 721525 ) * <yayagu.gmail@com> on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @07:13PM (#13335198) Journal

    From the post:

    It's a social replacement. It's a way for non-social people to socialise.

    It may be a way for non-social people to socialize, if you really want to call it that. But it's hardly, and never will be a social replacement for people who really like to socialize.

    I've never really "got" games so I admit a personal bias, but I've never seen any evidence in wave after wave of new technology and new generations of games there is any indication games are a social replacement. I see the same people playing the same games in some variation, but I see no exodus of people-to-people socialization to interaction via gaming.

    Yes, there will always be gamers and yes, I see a place for games and gamers, but it's a niche demographic. And, it's probably not worth a lot of investment of time to write games for the girlfriends of the gamers. Either they too like to play games or they don't. They're more likely to be happy finding a good TV show, a good magazine (or a crummy one for that matter), or a new boyfriend.

    • A multimillion dollar niche that I wouldn't waste my time on either...
    • "but it's a niche demographic"

      It definately isn't in Korea. It also isn't necessarily that way in the US. With some 1.5 million or so people in World of Warcraft alone, 2 million Xbox live subscribers, a few more million if you toss all the other MMOs together - not mention RTS and FPS online gaming or even the masses of casual gamers who play on sites like Yahoo.
      Online games don't replace straight social interaction, a more valid comparison there would be with technologies like instant messaging. But socia
    • Video games a niche demographic?

      Fifty percent of all Americans play video games. ...
      The average adult woman plays games 7.4 hours per week. The average adult man plays 7.6 hours per week.
      Source:http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php

      Doesn't sound like a niche demographic to me.
    • You never "got" games, in your own words, but you're here posting on Slashdot, which is a kind of socializing in itself. I also personally know pretty social people (in fact, "chatterboxes" would also be a way to describe some of them) which do supplement their face-to-face chatting with a variety of online means. Game are just a slice of that.

      If you're looking at online communication in general, there is a very signifficant number of people who use email or VOIP on a daily basis to communicate with old fr
    • What about cards? Is that only for non-social people? Even today when I meet my brother-in-law family I got to know them by playing ROOK for a couple hours.

      I don't think it is far fetched in the future to instead of asking do you play hearts? spades? euchre? bridge(no one does)? ROOK?
      To say: Do you play X computer games? great lets go down to XYZ and play for a few hours.

      When computers games are played in "pubs" or in LAN parties I don't see much of a difference than cards.

      I think you are the one you has pu
  • Gamers have girlfriends now?! Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?!!!

  • Is that what we're calling it now? (Score:5, Funny)

    by cliffiecee ( 136220 ) on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @07:26PM (#13335300) Homepage Journal
    They've even started developing games for bored girlfriends of the guys who're playing Starcraft with their mates."

    a.k.a. "Cheating"
  • Well me and my mates used to have Friday Night games, all go round my mates place, (his rents brought him a house, they lived up country). Played games, drinked beer, passed out.

    Partly because it was good fun, partly coz half of us didnt have fake IDs.

  • Oh really (Score:3, Funny)

    by AutopsyReport ( 856852 ) on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @07:59PM (#13335568)
    Games are the new pub

    I agree. I always get nervous at the thought of approaching that tall, blonde broad over there. You know, the one busy collecting treasures. Maybe I can induce her interest by offering her a token of my kindness -- perhaps a couple gold coins.

    Well, I guess you could draw parallels between games and pubs -- gold will always court a woman :)

    • Another parallel: that "woman" could actually be a 40 year old balding man in disguise.

      Of course, it's a bit easier to tell in a pub than in a game, but the point remains the same.

  • Speaking as a Starcraft expert (Score:4, Interesting)

    by CrazyJim1 ( 809850 ) on Tuesday August 16, 2005 @09:23PM (#13336015) Journal
    Koreans were the easiest opponent in Starcraft when I played. Today they're probably pretty good. The reason Koreans were the easiest opponent was that they all hung out in gaming pubs. In gaming pubs, you exchange information on what is the best strategy, but seldom does original thought originate from them. You would always fight zergling/muta rushes that were so predictable that it was simple to counter them. Now many people died to this zergling/muta rush because the Korean players had it down to a science. They played a lot, and they really got their strategy down efficient, and that was their downfall when I or any other pro played them.

    Now you could play someone of another nationality who doesn't have a gaming pub, and you'd have no idea of what to expect because people that don't hang out in gaming pubs tend to wing it and develop their own strategy. Typically people who don't hang out in gaming pubs used strategies that were original but not refined. I can only remember a handful of people in the world that had original strategies that were completely refined.

    Thats about it for my post, I'll just conclude with some memories of Starcraft :) Starcraft(not Broodwar), had a balance that was unique. If a pro squared off against a non-pro, the game would be over far before the third tiered units came onto the field. If a pro squared off against another pro, and there was no mutual respect involved, the one who made the first mistake lost well before tier 3. If a pro squared off against another pro, and one side respected the other, it'd win, unless it made a mistake(The superior economy + defense beats any attack). Finally if both pros squared off against each other, and both gave mutual respect, then the game could really become a tier 3 nightmare. It was very rare for 2 pros meet each other. It was even more rare for 2 pros to meet each other and show respect for each other.
    • CrazyJim, how does respecting another player change the course of the game? Do you use the word respect to mean merci or something? It really does not matter, I suppose; when you try to simplify a match-up in a game as complicated as Starcraft, you're bound to get it wrong either way.
      • Respect in Starcraft is playing a solid game, instead of pulling gambits. A gambit can be something such as sacrficing economy in order to rush early, or fast expanding in hopes your opponent can't stop it. When you sacrifice economy to rush, you're hoping that your opponent isn't paying attention and doesn't has enough defense to stop it. When you fast expand, then you're hoping your opponent doesn't spot you, and if he does, that he doesn't stop it.

        If you respect your opponent, you won't try cheesy s
        • So rushing, fast teching, or fast expanding are all seen in your eyes as disrespectful strategies. If such is the case, you must thinking turtling (the act of putting up a large defense and avoiding conflict) as the most respectful manner in which to play a game such as Starcraft? Which reminds me of a comment you made in your first post: "If a pro squared off against another pro, and one side respected the other, it'd win, unless it made a mistake(The superior economy + defense beats any attack)." Superior
          • From my hey-day of Starcraft, my guild and I decided that given any 1v1 random map in SC other than Big Game Hunters, rushing/expanding/teching all become lumped together, and anybody who actually knew how to play would be quite capable of pulling off all three at the same time. You expand because there are finite resources, but you need units just in case the other side rushes, but you also need to tech otherwise you'll never make it to late game.

            With 2v2 and 3v3 the dynamics change, but the teams general
      • Think five move check mate in chess.

        To perform this 'trick' move you are assuming that the player is not very good.

        If he is he will simply block and you will be out of position.

        Performing the five move checkmate on an experienced played would be showing disrespect and also a good way to lose.

    • It sounds like you played Starcraft at a high level.

      I am interested in the strategy at the higher levels.

      There didn't seem to be much at the low levels, but I am guessing at the higher strategy will be more important.

      Were the unique units used?

      Or was it a build up of 2 maybe 3 units.

      This question stems from units like the ghost and the queen.

      I thought both could be quite useful but they had to be "hand held" to be useful.

      Having a couple of queens running around parsiting or broodling tanks I would think cou
      • End game all depended on the map and the races involved. If you want to know the most sure fire lock of an end game, its Protoss on islands. You merely expand like plague across the map, dropping 2-3 high templar and a few photon cannons. Armies big enough to take out the photon cannons die to templar, armies not big enough to take out photon cannons die to photon cannons.

        Most wins involve securing as much resources while pinning your enemy out of mobility so they can't get to other resource points o
      • In Starcraft there were several legitamate starting moves.

        Rush and lose economy.
        Build Big economy and moderate tier 1 army before teching/expanding.
        Build Big economy and tech with smallest possible defense.
        Build Big economy and expand with smallest possible defense.
        Build big economy and totally mass tier 1 army.


        In Starcraft, any of these moves were legitamate and had their plusses and negatives.

        In BroodWar, tier 2 units dominated tier 1 units... So even if someone massed tier 1 units, and created

  • Maybe in Korea (Score:2, Informative)

    by theclam159 ( 833616 )
    That may be true in Korea, but I don't think that it's true in the US.

    * Gamers devote more than triple the amount of time spent playing games each week to exercising or playing sports, volunteering in the community, religious activities, creative endeavors, cultural activities, and reading.
    * In total, gamers spend 23.4 hours per week on these activities, compared to 6.8 hours per week playing games.
    * Seventy-nine percent of game players of all ages report exercising or playing sports an average of 20 hours
  • They've even started developing games for bored girlfriends of the guys who're playing Starcraft with their mates.

    Oh, I know that one. It's played with one ethernet cable and it's called "Plug out, plug in!"

  • I can see that lasting long!
  • That still happens. See here [worldofwarcraft.com] for a hilarious example of that. Scroll down to the fifth post for a laugh.
  • I think its a great idea. But Personally, i got lucky and my girlfriend playes more games than i do!

  • Whenever someone mentions multiplayer they always say "In Korea..." and then cite some sort of crazy statistic, like:

    "In Korea, 4.5 million people worship Starcraft as religion, would rather have IM on their cell phones than talk, are willing to pay the equivalent of 50 american dollars a day to play multiplayer games, and a recent poll says every citizen in Korea under the age 18 is planning on naming their first born Arcturus Mengsk"

    And they say this, as if it really means anything at all to the rest of t


  • Fastball has been removed from the server.

    Yeah, just the kind of people you want to share a draught with.
    • [playah votes to kick Fastball: 1 of 7]
      [W$%SAD votes to kick Fastball: 2 of 7]
      [afl@c votes to kick Fastball: 3 of 7]
      [Snipes votes to kick Fastball: 4 of 7]
      [!aslkj2 votes to kick Fastball: 5 of 7]
      [yaddayadda votes to kick Fastball: 6 of 7]
      [somenoob votes to kick Fastball: 7 of 7]
      Fastball has been removed from the server.

      Sure, just the kind of people you want to share a draught with.

  • This is nothing new. Take your average MUD/MUSH/MUCK/MOO/WHATEVER. Look around it, and you'll find some people playing/involved in plots. Unless it's a really big event, though, you'll find more of them in "bar scenes" or out-of-character areas having conversation.

    Although I have to thank the high-end MMORPG operators and gamemasters for creating sparkly, attractive, and perhaps even slightly ADD-inflicting environments. They've attracted enough people that playing online can be considered "a technological

  • They are right when they say the games are a social replacement, but when the people playing them do not socialise in any other way than the game, it is worrying

    You will have a nation of people who would rather play Starcraft than go out, spend money, reproduce... all things the country needs

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