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  1. #1

    Have you seen this article?

    http://www.learntocounter.com/i-play...n-video-games/

    Of course not everyone will agree, keep it civil though.

    I agree wholeheartedly with that article, i often ask myself and my teammates in various games "How do you enjoy being so bad and always losing in a game you waste time into?" and i get the same answer "I play for fun" at least someone made an article about it!

  2. #2
    While I think play to win in Starcraft is the most fun way to play but I am fine with people who "play for fun" as long as they are fine with the fact that they are bad and don't rage at me.

  3. #3
    Old God endersblade's Avatar
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    More or less the reason I stay out of competitive games. When I say I play for fun, what that basically means is I don't care enough to become some elitist about it. I get the basics down and that's about it.

    This has become a huge issue with my friends and me dealing with Magic: The Gathering. I've been playing since day one release of Alpha, and naturally my friends assume that I'm some MTG guru or something, when in actuality I'm not. I play MTG to have fun, not to win. I don't care if I lose, as long as the journey was entertaining. It's basically the same thing every time I get into BGs in WoW - I don't care if we win, if I'm having fun, then I'm winning in my own right. But everyone has their own ideas of what's fun and what's not, and that's where the biggest issues happen. So I just tend to stay away from competition, because not only does it NOT interest me in the slightest, but I know that my views differ greatly from the vast majority of the people who ARE competitive about things.
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  4. #4
    Deleted
    The (18 month old) article makes a ridiculous amount of assumptions and stereotypes out of 4 little words. Towards the end, when it deviates into a complete rant, he starts saying " “I play for fun” ultimately implies that being good at a video game is a bad thing." No, it doesn't. You are taking words and putting your own meaning onto them, probably garnered from your own frustrating and unfortunate circumstances with trolls and idiots who have ruined your competitive play. They suck, I feel sorry for you, I've had them myself. People can use those 4 words in a derogatory fashion and to imply that, but it doesn't have to. Don't tell me what I mean if I say I play for fun. I'm not saying you don't play for fun just because I'm saying I do! You can't apply the assumptions in this article to the words themselves, apply them to people and situations.

    I play league of legends. I occasionally play ranked matches - to get better and improve, and I play a lot of normal matches. In normal matches, I like to win, I try to win, yes. I also like to have fun, above all else and sometimes that involves not winning. Sometimes (okay, a lot of the times) I simply get outplayed, out picked, countered or trolled and as it's a completely meaningless normal match - I don't feel the need to start raging and crying about it. Sometimes I play with a group of friends and we try new, crazy things - and sometimes, they do not work, but hell, it was fun giving it a go. People take these normal, casual matches a little too seriously sometimes and I have actually uttered the words "Hey, this is just for fun", when people start raging and getting super serious - in an unranked match where your score is absolutely meaningless. It doesn't mean I have any disrespect for competitive play or the people who are playing to vastly improve...

    Anyway, it was a super long rant that's really only applicable to a small amount of games and a small amount of people that made a lot of assumptions and stereotypes. I don't think anyone should go into competitive play and belittle those who are having fun whilst seriously trying to win and improve. I also don't think anyone should start a 5000 word rant about how some people have fun by playing casually.

  5. #5
    Deleted
    So he takes a phrase with a potentially wide meaning, puts it in a certain situation and from there, concludes that the entirety of the phrase is dumb.

    What it's mostly about is people who put their primary emotional investment in games on winning and those who don't.

    I don't flame people when I lose, I don't blame my enemy for being "tryhard" or being way more experienced. I rarely, if ever, get angry at games.
    I also don't really care if I win or not, as long as I enjoyed myself.

  6. #6
    Deleted
    So you only have fun playing something if you're good at it?

  7. #7
    Shamanic and i am the exact opposite, everything the dude says in his article, is the same i say every day after any game of Dota/HoN/LoL/Smite.

    If you are playing to have fun, how can you have fun being so horrible at the game, repeatedly, i know the only fun i get out of most games is afking and watching the horribads trying to play and failing miserably even at the basics.

    And this doesnt apply only at MOBA's i heard those words at WoW also, apparently enchanting and socketing isnt "fun".

    I havent played LoL ranked for the same reason, i probably have like 20 ranked games in LoL ever since it came out simply because players are horrible, my last ranked game i had 15-0 in 14 mins with Nasus at solo top and i lost the game because simply the rest of my team is horrible players that give the excuse "I play to have fun", what are you? 2 years old that gets happy at watching a flashy screen and you have fun?

    Everyone plays to have fun, people need to stop using the excuse as the article is saying for when they are bad, not all games are for everyone, DONT PLAY THEM IF YOU CANT.
    Last edited by potis; 2013-07-22 at 09:59 AM.

  8. #8
    A friend of mine plays DotA 2 for fun, he's really quite bad, and I can't imagine why he enjoys it. He dies very often, has no farm, is always underleveled, and rarely gets more than 3 kills a game, even on carries. Yet he has fun doing it somehow. Personally, I'll never understand it.

    I play to win, because winning is fun. Playing DotA for 45 minutes when we're getting completely stomped isn't fun, it's a waste of time. Yes, you can have fun in losses, really good close games are fun either way, but when you know your team is going to lose at the 10-15 minute mark and it drags out for 20 minutes because the enemy team doesn't want to push, it's not fun at all.

    It's one of the reasons I have a hard time playing SC2, I'm not really very good at it. The only way to improve is to play. Playing isn't fun because I'm bad, so I can't be asked to improve, so it'll never be fun. Team games are fun, because they don't matter, 1v1 is not fun for me.

    I'm sure there are people that couldn't care less if they win or lose, they enjoy being bad and being able to say "Well I don't live in my moms basement, so I can't be good at video games" and thinking they're all clever. Personally I feel like they'd have even more fun if they were good. I mean, if you're bad at skydiving it could be fun for a little bit, but if you were good at skydiving it'd be a lot more fun for a longer time.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by potis View Post
    rest of my team is horrible players that give the excuse "I play to have fun", what are you? 2 years old that gets happy at watching a flashy screen and you have fun?.
    I've literally never seen someone use "I play to have fun" as an excuse for being bad. Maybe it's because I don't flame people.

    Quote Originally Posted by Rucati View Post
    I'm sure there are people that couldn't care less if they win or lose, they enjoy being bad and being able to say "Well I don't live in my moms basement, so I can't be good at video games"
    Do you want to Fistful of Tangoes.
    I pretty much never play mid but I'm seriously challenging you to Fistful of Tangoes right now.

  10. #10
    When I say "I play for fun" (guilty as charged) I'm referring less to how hard I try and more to how much I let my skill at a game define who I am. Because of course I try. I enjoy competition and I do my best to win. Playing for fun doesn't mean I hop around in circles and that's why I lost a fight. It just means I'm not personally hurt by a loss, as a surprising number of people seem to be.

    It's typically my go-to response to those who are a little more emotionally wrapped up in how well they play than they should be. By the way, this DOES apply to real sports as well. I would (and do) say the same thing to somebody I play hockey with who gets overly emotional about a loss or a bad performance. It's not professional, and it's not even productive. Most of the time it just makes them worse.

    So I disagree with the article. "Play for fun" isn't an excuse for a loss so much as its a way to say you're not bothered because you keep shit in perspective.
    Last edited by ScrappyMuffy; 2013-07-22 at 10:29 AM.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by potis View Post
    Shamanic and i am the exact opposite, everything the dude says in his article, is the same i say every day after any game of Dota/HoN/LoL/Smite.

    If you are playing to have fun, how can you have fun being so horrible at the game, repeatedly, i know the only fun i get out of most games is afking and watching the horribads trying to play and failing miserably even at the basics.

    And this doesnt apply only at MOBA's i heard those words at WoW also, apparently enchanting and socketing isnt "fun".

    I havent played LoL ranked for the same reason, i probably have like 20 ranked games in LoL ever since it came out simply because players are horrible, my last ranked game i had 15-0 in 14 mins with Nasus at solo top and i lost the game because simply the rest of my team is horrible players that give the excuse "I play to have fun", what are you? 2 years old that gets happy at watching a flashy screen and you have fun?

    Everyone plays to have fun, people need to stop using the excuse as the article is saying for when they are bad, not all games are for everyone, DONT PLAY THEM IF YOU CANT.
    That is bs...One's skill does not dictate one's enjoyment of an activity. People like different things for different reasons. You can not say someone playing a game is not having fun because they don't meet some arbitrary "skill" requirement that you set for them.

    Personally I like playing with non traditional builds...which tend to have greater failure rates =P But I still enjoy doing it, even if/when they fail.
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  12. #12
    Deleted
    the article is pretty obsolete ... of course people play for fun, otherwise they won't do it (has been stated in the article as well) ...
    although i don't think that there is a need to say "i play for fun" (because it is obvious) i tend to believe that people using these words try to judge their lack of skill.

    example: my roommate is a genius at StarCraft II ... i couldn't even beat him with a 15 minutes headstart. whenever he asked me if i wanted to team up with him i ask him in return, if it is ok for him to lose ^^ why? because i'm bad at SC2, and most of the time when we play 2vs2 it's him doing all the work ... sometime we still win, you could say "i win", but not due to my efforts, but to his ... i guess it's incredible fun for him to play 2 opponents at once while i try to catch up (miserably), but he'd never say "Yeah, let's play for fun" ... he'd say "let's play" ... and i answer (most of the time) "nah, it's not fun playing with you" (at least for me it isn't) ...
    i could join up with him and play and after we win or lose and i didn't contribute to it i could say "at least i played for fun" ... but that wouldn't be true ..

    so i come to the conclusion that (alot of) people saying "I play for fun" are either trying to justify their lack of skill or they try to hide their feelings, namely that the game wasn't fun at all ... whyever one should do that for.
    Last edited by mmoc9a551c3d4f; 2013-07-22 at 10:41 AM.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Shamanic View Post
    The (18 month old) article makes a ridiculous amount of assumptions and stereotypes out of 4 little words. Towards the end, when it deviates into a complete rant, he starts saying " “I play for fun” ultimately implies that being good at a video game is a bad thing." No, it doesn't. You are taking words and putting your own meaning onto them, probably garnered from your own frustrating and unfortunate circumstances with trolls and idiots who have ruined your competitive play. They suck, I feel sorry for you, I've had them myself. People can use those 4 words in a derogatory fashion and to imply that, but it doesn't have to. Don't tell me what I mean if I say I play for fun. I'm not saying you don't play for fun just because I'm saying I do! You can't apply the assumptions in this article to the words themselves, apply them to people and situations.

    I play league of legends. I occasionally play ranked matches - to get better and improve, and I play a lot of normal matches. In normal matches, I like to win, I try to win, yes. I also like to have fun, above all else and sometimes that involves not winning. Sometimes (okay, a lot of the times) I simply get outplayed, out picked, countered or trolled and as it's a completely meaningless normal match - I don't feel the need to start raging and crying about it. Sometimes I play with a group of friends and we try new, crazy things - and sometimes, they do not work, but hell, it was fun giving it a go. People take these normal, casual matches a little too seriously sometimes and I have actually uttered the words "Hey, this is just for fun", when people start raging and getting super serious - in an unranked match where your score is absolutely meaningless. It doesn't mean I have any disrespect for competitive play or the people who are playing to vastly improve...

    Anyway, it was a super long rant that's really only applicable to a small amount of games and a small amount of people that made a lot of assumptions and stereotypes. I don't think anyone should go into competitive play and belittle those who are having fun whilst seriously trying to win and improve. I also don't think anyone should start a 5000 word rant about how some people have fun by playing casually.
    I feel the same way, 100%. Yet I know that I can't show the same constraint as you do. I actually recently quit playing LoL, because it started to affect my real life. I'm not the best player, but getting teamed up with ridiculous people that don't even begin with the will to win really packs a heavy punch on my mood.

    - Solo Annie (our team) counter jungle, trololololing us by going into the enemy jungle and facetanking the turret at level one. Died over 20 times that match.

    Shit like the above just kept happening and keeps happening. I can't stand it. Plus I can't stand it when I fail myself.

    So yeah. I play for fun, but in my heart I'm compettiive as hell. So I have to stop playing competitive games, otherwise it's the death of me.

  14. #14
    What a loser... And then videogame players seem surprised when most people see them as nothng more than anti-social nerdy little critters. With "I can only have fun when I win" kind of attitudes I wonder why.

    For all that mythical "skill" he was bubbling about, he must have had no room to develop some of it in matters of understanding the simple fact that different people have different preferences. That little thing that even children can understand. Yet mighty oh skill-capped over there doesn't.

    "And no matter how critical I may be of a game, no matter how much time and effort I invest in learning a game, I can assure you that we will both be having fun. The only question is who will be having more fun, and I probably beat you at that as well. Deal with it." Oh the humanity. Lets start measuring funs! Because that's logical. Someone please return the author's maturity back to him; it's absence is starting to show

    Yeah, some people just play to have some fun, regardless of winning or losing. They are not overcome by their ego, and get obssessed with "winning" like bad Charlie Sheen clones. They just want to play. Not all players are fanatical about winning, whatever "winning" is supposed to be, and can actually have a fun time without some artificial activity's outcome to stroke their flailing ego. What a sociological find. Someone quick write an article about that before the wisdom is gone.

    As a natural perfectionist, the kind that gets genuinely upset when I don't do things in the best way possible, gaming included, I have no problem with players that play for innocent fun. I actually prefer them to hardcore players; who most of the time are just wannabe hardcore ones, like most "elite WoW raiders" in these forums. Because it is actually just more fun to just play with people that don't compare epeens all the time, or talk about their disatisfaction that random dude number 7854 that they played with in HoN was "so bad man". Yeah, scrubs are more fun to be around with. They actually are not embarrassing themselves by trying desperately to seem cool by being good at a game. They just play it. Imagine that.

    In general, the failure in that article is just dripping all over. Someone get dear mr. author a towel. Fast.
    Last edited by Drithien; 2013-07-22 at 10:49 AM.

  15. #15
    The Undying Lochton's Avatar
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    That is sorta a stupid article in my opinion. I actually do play for fun, and I get forward in the game. I don't take it strictly as a competitive action. I sit back and relax with the people I play with. So what if I am fighting other people, it's part of the game and entertainment. And if my opponant doesn't play for fun, but in a serious matter, yelling or such at his team - then he's welcome to consider me that one brick on the road that'll slow him down. And still laugh at how the match goes, if it's a hillerious kill, I laugh. I don't laugh at the player of course, but I laugh at the actions.

    But, my theory is, you don't become as bored of your games if you just play to enjoy - of course it's important to have a goal, but you can have that without a serious face.

    So, to all the people I have turretted, fragged, blown to pieces, sniped, sliced, pushed off a cliff, ruined their killing streak, kill stealed from and much more - SEE YOU ON THE BATTLE FIELD! ^^
    FOMO: "Fear Of Missing Out", also commonly known as people with a mental issue of managing time and activities, many expecting others to fit into their schedule so they don't miss out on things to come. If FOMO becomes a problem for you, do seek help, it can be a very unhealthy lifestyle..

  16. #16
    The head line there should have been changed tbh, the "i play for fun" isn't wrong until you play with other people, so single player games or solo content is fine to have that attitude, but as soon as you start grouping with people you had better loose it fast, people don't like loosing just because of one or two people being retards because they find it fun, if you can't conform to some sort semblance of team work and common sense, don't play in groups please

  17. #17
    Scarab Lord Hraklea's Avatar
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    I'm glad he mentioned Sirlin's Playing to Win article, because it is really older than this article.

    With "I can only have fun when I win" kind of attitudes I wonder why.
    You completely misunderstood the point of the article. It is not that the so-called hardcore players don't have fun when they lose, the problem is that bad players lose on purpose under the claim that "fun is relative, therefore, it is ok to have fun being a bad player".

    But here's the problem: how can a scrub player claim that being a scrub is more fun than being a competitive player if he never stopped to be a scrub?
    What do you see more often: bad players that learned the game and then enjoyed it more, or professional players leaving the competitive scene because it was more fun when they sucked at the game?

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hraklea View Post
    bad players that learned the game and then enjoyed it more, or professional players leaving the competitive scene because it was more fun when they sucked at the game?
    I fail to see how playing professionally has anything to do with it. It's about mindset and possibly skill, but not whether or not you get payed.

    If we however go from. "Professionals that turned into scrubs."
    to
    "People who take the game really seriously ceasing to do so."

    The number seems to grow quite a lot, doesn't it?

  19. #19
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    The game can be fun only if its not a pay to win.

    Being matched in 10 rounds with some random n*** can be a killer of *fun* .
    Don't sweat the details!!!

  20. #20
    Scarab Lord Hraklea's Avatar
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    It's about mindset and possibly skill, but not whether or not you get payed.
    Fair enough. My bad.

    If we however go from. "Professionals that turned into scrubs." to "People who take the game really seriously ceasing to do so." The number seems to grow quite a lot, doesn't it?
    It only matters to this discussion if those people dropped the game because it was boring to play it seriously. How many high Elo WoW/LoL players do you know that dropped their Elo rating on purpose because "low Elo is more fun than high Elo"?

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