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What Is Your Second Favorite Thing About Gaming?

Why the second? Because the first is probably the games. 🙂

At various times I just liked to play my games, nothing else. Gaming was only partially a social activity but I did enjoy that aspect of the hobby for a time. Co-op Contra with my brother was like living an action movie as a kid. Then it was all about taking on the street toughs with my best friend in Double Dragon and Streets of Rage 2 . Co-op parties became even bigger later on when GTAIII arrived and they were definitely my favorite game related activity for awhile.

In my teens my friends and I spent time hanging out at the arcades. We experimented with dial-up Doom and Duke Nukem 3D deathmatches. We did so while on the telephone and those were some of the best conversations. I never really got with the times and modern multiplayer but I'm sure many of you really enjoy the fun and camaraderie that it provides.

After my early experiences in multiplayer I settled back into JRPGs and there really wasn't anything else about gaming that I was into other than the gaming experience itself. You could say I really enjoyed reading the gaming magazines but I never had a subscription for very long and usually just bought the ones I needed at the store. When the bottom fell out of the JRPG and the internet gaming community was on the rise I started to poke around in there. I joined some forums but usually got brow beat and didn't have much fun.

From there my interest in other genres began to expand as I digested news. Awash in a sea of crazy folks I eventually came across this site and started to comment and contribute and found out that I really enjoy learning and talking about the industry itself. It's so active every day that it's fun to follow. Now I think I spend more time writing about games than I do actually playing them. It's just a part of my day now.

Right around this time I went from playing one game at a time to two, then three, and now I have a wide open backlog. So on top of following the news every day, writing about the industry when I can, and enjoying conversations within our comments section I also find that shopping online for games is rather addicting too. I get an itch to play a certain kind of game and then before I know it I'm checking out prices on ebay. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised and I just love the game I took a little chance on (usually $15-$20) and other times I hit a dud. It's almost like a gambling buzz in that sense.

I know there are plenty more side hobbies that come with gaming such as statue collection, custom case making, fan art, gigantic game collections, rare game collections, cosplay, and game related music. So while I try to figure out just which of mine would be my second favorite part of gaming why don't you tell us about yours.

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cLoudou
cLoudou
10 years ago

Ogling hot girls…

…guys is first.

Hand_of_Sorrow
Hand_of_Sorrow
10 years ago

unlocking trophies, i don't try to plantium every game.
i just do it for the fun and challenge.

Corvo
Corvo
10 years ago

Back in the day, it was playing games with friends. I remember in 7th grade having a tournament where we would start in SSB, and the top 5 winners would move onto SC2, and finally onto DBZ:B. Like 23 kids from school crowded my friends basement as we played. It came down to me and my friend, and we were competing for the last soda. It was a pretty epic fight. I remember getting a draw, and then going back to SSB.

He used Nes and i used Link. I won with like 676% damage. Nowadays my second favorite thing about gaming is easily playing with my girlfriend. Its funny playing with someone who just plays games sometimes and seeing them struggle. We played dark souls together and beat it. We attempted to play demons souls after and she rage quit in the first stage. I beat the stage but she refused to play anymore. I don't know whats so great about LBP or Atelier Ayesha. Still, playing games i would never play otherwise is pretty fun.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

Hah, that sounds like a great memory.

MeXiCaNFiGhTe12
MeXiCaNFiGhTe12
10 years ago

What I love about gaming is that for just a few minutes/hours you are in your own little world and no one can take it away from you, that is unless you die in the middle of playing.

LimitedVertigo
LimitedVertigo
10 years ago

I like the social aspect of clans and playing various games with the same people. Back in 2001 after several years of playing in the same clan we all decided to meet up and it was an awesome experience. To this day we still keep in contact and sometimes meet up. I miss Team Fortress Classic 🙁

Beamboom
Beamboom
10 years ago

Ah yeah me too – to become part of a good clan really is something I wish everyone will have the chance to experience.

newchef
newchef
10 years ago

same reason as i love reading books, just to lose myself for a few minutes or hours, to live and another world, experience things i never will here and to be someone else whenever i feel dissatisfied with myself

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

Some of you have brought up memories, those are huge for me too. Instead of the waste of time we were told it was as kids I have some of my fondest memories with it, Christmas and birthdays and sleepovers and arcade visits. Good times.

JackieBoy
JackieBoy
10 years ago

I guess for me now it's not just about "gaming", but "gaming with people". I have about 20 years of gaming experience and as years passing by, I realize that I'm drifting away from SP games in the favor of MP. I need to have a living opponent instead of an AI, so I'm now into games like SC2, BF:BC2, DotA 2. Only sometimes when there is a good title coming out on PS Vita, I play it from time to time. But these are 90% sequels to memorable titles from my childhood, I kinda steer away from new IPs.

ulsterscot
ulsterscot
10 years ago

Getting a break from the wife. When I'm playing COD with my mates and cracking open the scotch – she watches her shows elsewhere and gives me peace.

Lawless SXE
Lawless SXE
10 years ago

Mine would have to be writing about gaming, whether on the site I write for, or interacting with this wonderful community; having the ability to just kick back during the week when I'm not typically in the mood for games and talk about them is a relief. Certainly helps that it brings two of my favourite things together (gaming and writing).
🙂

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

My two faves too 🙂

PlatformGamerNZ
PlatformGamerNZ
10 years ago

i like the social aspect playing with friends and talking an discussing games and things.

happy gaming =)

Beamboom
Beamboom
10 years ago

The covers. That's what I miss most with the digital distribution: Unwrapping the cover, reading the text on the backside, just absorb the vibe from the game.

My current second favourite thing about gaming is the social aspect of coop gaming. The wonderful combination of enjoying the story and content of the game, mixed with joking around in the games and general nonsense talk has formed the foundation of most of my best gaming hours in recent years.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

I remember when Zelda Ocarina came out for N64 one day I picked up the instruction manual just to soak in the awesomeness before my next actual session and was really impressed with the mythology laid out in it. I was young and more easily impressed but it seemed like a fine piece of legendry at the time, almost as if it could be a part of a real religion from long ago.

Beamboom
Beamboom
10 years ago

Yeah back in the good old days *all* games were collectors editions just by standard. Manuals, maps, stickers… Big, bulky, irregularly sized boxes… Yeah that was good stuff.

Masszt3r
Masszt3r
10 years ago

There was something magical about opening those cardboard boxes, for Nintendo games at least.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

Mass, they smelled good when you opened em 🙂

Masszt3r
Masszt3r
10 years ago

Dat smell… xD

Vivi_Gamer
Vivi_Gamer
10 years ago

I like the social aspect, getting excited for the latest releases and multi-player – The amount of sleepless nights playing Crash Team Racing 4-player was unreal 😛 – But I consider all that part of gaming.

If I Were to take aspect apart from gaming it would be the artists. I enjoy seeing the various artwork put into a game and occasionally buy a gaming art book if the price is right.

Solid Fantasy
Solid Fantasy
10 years ago

Reading up on game news. Namely this site. I really like listing to soundtracks from old games and movies to. It's so nice when to here an orchestrated version of the Zelda theme.

What I really need to do is start sketching out some charters and ideas that all the great games have inspired over the years. I used to be so good at drawing and since then I've lost the touch. It's hard enough just trying to learn another language.


Last edited by Solid Fantasy on 9/11/2013 7:29:47 AM

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
10 years ago

I used to draw the Final Fantasy characters all the time, but I haven't drawn in years and I can't even imagine how bad it would come out if I tried. But I think I was pretty good when I was at my best. Kinda miss that.

Solid Fantasy
Solid Fantasy
10 years ago

you're preaching to the choir here. If only the rents had done something before I grew out of it. I was so far ahead of the local competition and clearly there was some evidence of art in those childhood drawings.

Kiryu
Kiryu
10 years ago

Talking about it to Friends

Highlightreel
Highlightreel
10 years ago

For me it's changed. With Socom it was the people I met. As I got further out of school, I actually valued (and still do) some of the friendships I've made online way more than people I've been friends with that I physically see regularly.

As I get older still, have a family and less time, now it is the mental escape and seeing the really cool worlds and games that are being created.

Stay Classy PSX….

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