why do trivial tasks seem fun in games?

[Sui]

You walk in through the door, pleased at another days work. looking at the bank balance, u see you have made a profit today, and can afford that new telivision youve been wanting. Pleased by this new luxury, a smile spreads accross ur face and gives u a warm feeling. u open the fridge, take out a soda and drink. throwing it on the floor u realise u should really buy a bin. Walking into ur living room u sit on the couch and click to buy ur telivision. ur sims are happy. u r happy. and u have sat down and played the sims all day, feeling very happy, and all that has made u this happy is doing exactly the same thing that u do normally.

Why?
why do we take pleasure in pusing a barrel into the open sea, only to see a splash of water arise in far cry ? Why, do we laugh in glee as we watch a man fall from the top of a building full of bullet holes from max payne's smoking gun? Is it becase we cant do this in real life- probally. but then why, why oh why oh why is the sims one of the best games ever. why do we play it for hours?? why do we enjoy watching a person in a house do what we do every day....?

and yes, by now all of you will be having memories of sims stranded in a pool with no ladder, or death attempting to get th a dead body in a house with flames everywhere and no doors. Weve all done it. Everyone. Noone can play the sims whithout torturing your creations in some way....
Which is sticking to the rule of "because we cant do it in real life" isnt it?

then why is it more fun, to after having killed some people, to then act perfectly normal again????

discuss. now.

 

[SubKamran]

I don't know, maybe because it seems so real. And also because hella fun to shoot someone offa building

 

[Sui]

i admit, that is fun. have u actually played Max payne 2? they deliberately put in loads of bits where enemies are just standing next to an open window......
its just to show off.
it is very dood fun tho.

"theres max payne- get hi-----
{{{{BWOOOOCHHHHHH}}}}}
---m..... UGGHHHhhhh...........(trips)
AAAAAAA
AAAAAAA
AAAAAAA
aaaaaaa
aaaaa
aaa
a
.
.
.
.
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!!![SPLAT]!!!

 

[Brian Damage]

No consequences.

 

[Gorgon]

This is very nice thread.

Well I don't know realy, I must say...hmmm, Because it makes you feel that you have the power of control. People love The power of control (too bad you have to be a Presedent or something important Like Bill Gate to control things in real live) that why gamers play games to experience this feelings.

You know what I mean?

 

[Sui]

i understand perfectly. Ive always thought a good game would be a simschool game, ynow? like u get to punish kids an stuff- hire teachers, get security (imagine the possibilities- Brighton maximum security school) plus it would sell, coz schoolkids would buy it.
Imagine if u could set all the rules an' stuff... no walking- running only!!!

 

[Crushenator 500]

but then why, why oh why oh why is the sims one of the best games ever. why do we play it for hours??

you LIKE the sims, and play it for hours !!!!! wtf man..... get some better games

 

[Sui]

no i was talking about ppl in general. the sims is one of the best selling games ever.
but yes, i do like playing god..... and i DID have the sims, but that was ages ago. dunno where my copy wet tho... i wouldnt mind playing it again. i want to burn flesh.

 

[lePobz]

I was born in 1982, wasnt a lot in the way of computer games back then, I guess its just good to be here to see the dawn of computer generated realisim. And if that involves shooting a man off the top of a hill and watching him roll all the way down, then so be it.

I guess sometimes its good to get away from 'consequence' which you cant really do in real life, but in a game there's always the 'save and reload later' .... hell, if real life had a save and load function i'd have loads more fun.

 

[spookymooky]

or have you ever played animal crossing? The point of that game is to do chores, yet its an incredibly addicting game.

 

[Sui]

or have you ever played animal crossing? The point of that game is to do chores, yet its an incredibly addicting game

no, but i DO have a gamecube- but i livce in the UK- where it never came out.

 

[SubKamran]

I'm just getting started in Morrowind and my first impression was, "No wonder this thing was game of the year!"

It's super-addicting.

 

[Letters]

It helps the believability.

 

[dfc05]

It helps the believability.

I agree.
About why you enjoy making people do chores--because you get to make somebody else do them and all you have to do is click. It's fun to make computer people do chores; not fun to do them yourself.
Why do you enjoy burning the people up? Because the game got boring so the easiest way to make it not-boring is to torture people because they have different reactions that aren't normal; so it's interesting. It's fun to make computer people get tortured; not fun to get tortured yourself. (ermm.... I need to get some sleep)

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

I'm just getting started in Morrowind and my first impression was, "No wonder this thing was game of the year!"

It's super-addicting.

man that game is fun, although don't bother completing it. I wont tell you the ending but to be honest, i would much rather have jsut carried on playing. Once you ahve done it though, i suggest you download some mods, they really add a lot to the game and its not too difficult to make your own either.


Anyway, i think the no consequences thing was pretty much the best answer to the question. After all, in a game you can take that risk and buy that shop. In games you don't have to worry about going bankrupt, so you take chances. Things we know we could achieve in real life but are too afraid to try, can come true in games....even in war games and such. We could join the army, but most never do and even though im sure fun can be had in the army, its not the same as a game.

 

[KiNG]

No consequences.

exactly, although i think this pertains to all game rather than trivial tasks.
we can live out our man-child fantasys and become the hero or villian.

trivial tasks just add another sense of realism, the small things that are our lives.

 

[Sui]

yes but that still doesnt explain why i could spend 10 minutes bouncing a ball in half life 2 and trying to get it on a roof rather than shooting aliens.

 

[Dedalus]

maybe it's getting your money's worth from a game then? you see that the devs have put a lot of effort into providing things for you to do, so you feel it's your duty to wring every last ounce of enjoyment out of it in order to feel like you've spent your money's worth. might be the reason for people who buy games, but not for those who download them.

 

[Sui]

lol. yes, it does feel good when you buy an amazing game with long lifespan doesnt it? like a warm feeling that is urging you to take the next day off school...

 

[AmishSlayer]

Because I like to mess around in games...

There's certain kinds of games out there (for me anyways) that you can play through again and again. As you go through the games more...you try to discover other things that you may have missed the previous run... (I.E. FarCry Demo...just looking around the island..now with the hanglider)

The bouncing of the ball example would just be fun to mess around with physics I guess...

The reason we like to see all this stuff in games is a combination of the things said already...

We like to be in control of what's happening
The world should be realistic or at least draw you in (physics and environment)
Things to keep us coming back for more (alternate endings, side quests, alternate paths, etc)


The reason people like Sims a lot is the game has the development and growth thing working for it. Like most RPG's.. you start with a character that's somewhat lame in the beginning...and you work to develop that character and their role in the game. As you go on the character becomes cooler and cooler or has a better and better life...it's sorta like a pet... (Why do you think that fad with those little keychain electronic pets took off?) The Sims in the game are like the little pets people never had...and there's absolutely no consequences if something bad happens...you can just start over..or just not save...

 

[Sui]

hmmm.... amish slayer, u seem to have just explain the main reasons we play games...
..but i feel that u havent uncovered the reason we like trivial tasks. i think no-one can uncover the secret reason... the reason that no matter how much fun a game will be, a part of us still likes to play with a box and phisics. if we were left alone in a room and a box... most of us (MOST of us...) wouldnt start throwing the box at the walls (not out of fun, anyway... maybe out of boredom or anger) which means why the f**k do we love to do this stuff in games?
all the explanations so far have been VEERY good, but they havent pinpointed the MAIN reason we feel deep down that makes us enjoy all the crap we do in games.

 

[mrchimp]

hmmm.... amish slayer, u seem to have just explain the main reasons we play games...
..but i feel that u havent uncovered the reason we like trivial tasks. i think no-one can uncover the secret reason... the reason that no matter how much fun a game will be, a part of us still likes to play with a box and phisics. if we were left alone in a room and a box... most of us (MOST of us...) wouldnt start throwing the box at the walls (not out of fun, anyway... maybe out of boredom or anger) which means why the f**k do we love to do this stuff in games?
all the explanations so far have been VEERY good, but they havent pinpointed the MAIN reason we feel deep down that makes us enjoy all the crap we do in games.

When talking about trival tasks that show off technoldogy like throwing a box around a room, we just find it interesting bwecause it's something we havn't seen done before on a computer. It's just the same with Pixel shaded water, most people over the age of 10 don't spend 5 minutes each time they come across pond throwing objects in it just to make ripples (skimming stones or throwing them far as possible is different). We just marvel at the technolodgy, soon as we take it for granted it's no longer interesting.

 

[Sui]

er... this may seem like a bad thing to say, but..... i think i have never and never will tire off throwing a box around a room.....

i wish i hadnt said that now but wtf....

 

[mrchimp]

Well you will enjoy this then http://www.ce.chalmers.se/staff/tomasm/soft/

 

[AmishSlayer]

hmmm.... amish slayer, u seem to have just explain the main reasons we play games...
..but i feel that u havent uncovered the reason we like trivial tasks.

I was just talking about what makes the trivial tasks in Sims so popular. I couldn't tell you the reason we all play games other than "They're fun..." There's probably some deeper psychological reason for the hardcore gamers to be playing games all the time... Who knows...

Not me