PF users -- are you a gamer?

[StatGuy2000]

Main Question or Discussion Point

Hi everyone. I'm curious if any of you here on PF are active or avid gamers (aka enthusiastic players of video games).

I'm asking because I personally have ever only been an occasional video game player (and haven't played any sophisticated video game for quite some time), as I've always thought of video games as a major time sink, directing my energies away from more "productive" uses. But many of my friends or acquaintances with scientific or technical backgrounds are often avid gamers.

 

[Klystron]

I must answer in the negative now but I once participated in the wildest largest "video game" in the free world.

A group of active-duty war veterans were tasked with emulating enemy activities, training new electronic warfare technicians and training real flight crews to fly and fight in environments expected during modern war. As my radar vans included bore-sighted visual optics -- fancy prisms, mirrors and lenses directed visible light to operators -- we were among the first crews to record video of electronic warfare operations. When you see black and white video of older fighter planes surrounded by weird azimuth rings that appear to lag the target in popular movies and documentaries; you are likely viewing declassified video mission archives from our radars.

I tried early versions of Worlds of Warcraft, first-person shooter games, most of the video genre, even advanced 3-D video/sound; but packaged games cannot compete with "shooting down" multiple aircraft at combat velocities. After spending months at the forward edge of the battle area (FEBA) plotting strategy and tactics to defeat seasoned aircrews, lessor games cannot hold a candle. Physics is fun.

 

[Borek]

Gamer, gaming journalist, game maker in the past.

 

[collinsmark]

I play lots of video games on the PC. Lots. Well, that is, I spend a lot of time playing video games, but quite often I'm replaying old games that I've played before rather than playing new games.

I try to play through the Half-Life series and Portal series at least once a year (Black Mesa, Half-Life: Opposing Force, Half-Life: Blue Shift, Half-Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Portal, Portal 2).

I've replayed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim several times. I'm looking forward to replaying The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the form of Skyblivion, when it is available.

Kerbal Space Program has influence my life a lot. I find myself still firing that up to this day. Kerbal Space Program 2 should be here next spring!

I play through Doom 2016 about once a month. Sometimes (maybe once every few years) give the original Doom, Doom 2 and Doom 3 a sequential playthough. Of course, Doom Eternal is arriving in a few months. I'll be playing that.

Right now I'm playing PC Building Simulator. I sometimes play those types of games for a change of pace.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I still play the WOW inspired online card game Hearthstone a few times a week.

 

[symbolipoint]

NO

My more complete answer is a little different. I did enjoy several years ago Bejeweled, and Oktagon, and IceBreaker.

 

[gmax137]

No. Not since space invaders was cutting edge.

 

[HankDorsett]

Hi, my name is Hank and I am a recovering online gaming addict.

I started my addiction around 1997 and stop playing in 2017. My drug of choice was originally first person shooters and ending with open world games. I was finally able to kick this habit after getting bored of the repetitive nature of modern games.

Just an attempt at being funny. Although I did stop a couple years ago if I found a game that I enjoyed I would pick it back up.

 

[BWV]

Occasionally play Dwarf Fortress, which is a crazy complex procedurally generated fantasy sim

 

[DennisN]

Nowadays I don't play as much as I did before.
I liked strategy games like the Total War series, particularly Medieval TW (1 & 2), Empire TW, Napoleon TW and Attila TW. And Civilization. I also liked simulation/city building games like SimCity, Railroad Tycoon, Rollercoaster Tycoon and Cities: Skylines.

 

[nuuskur]

I used to play a lot, I just don't have the time to play games, any more. Frankly, I'm not super excited about getting to play something, either. I did play through Witcher 3 Wild hunt in the summer, I played in about 3h increments in the evenings. Once I'm devoured by work or research and I get that few weeks of rest I might play something, but then again I'd rather spend that time outdoors. I must be getting old

 

[Sofa]

I still have some time to play games now and then, though I prefer making mods these days (as long as said game has a good CDK and I don't have to do any coding, because I'm awful at that). Main subject of that recently has been Ravenfield (a singleplayer game inspired by the early Battlefield games), since it's very simple, easy to pick up, and fun to mess around with bots without worrying about balancing for multiplayer. Was also considering modding for War Thunder, Men of War: Assault Squad 2, and ArmA 3, but never got around to it.

The games I do play generally involve making stuff, recent examples being Stormworks: Build and Rescue and SimpleRockets 2 (since it lets you get more in-depth with engine design versus KSP). Probably the game I've been most involved in that isn't just tinkering in an editor was Foxhole, an MMO top-down war shooter with a heavy emphasis on coordination, communication, and logistics. Also been playing a bit of Kenshi recently, since I find it engaging, but not too engaging as to distract me when I got better things to do.

 

[david2]

i was a gamer in the past. Now i only watch people play games on various sites.