this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2026
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Gaming

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Sincere question: why play long video games? (lemmy.zip)
submitted 1 week ago by jtzl@lemmy.zip to c/gaming@beehaw.org
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Admittedly, I am not a games enthusiast, whether video or board, but I have played both at times. In particular, I played a lot of -- OK, this is totally gonna reveal that I'm an old ;P -- THPS, and I'm 100℅ sure I played both RPG-type computer games as well as like Mario Bros stuff. However, I just have never really grasped what makes video games so enticing.

I suspect this is an annoying and well-trodden path, but I would sincerely appreciate it if you could find it in your heart to help me understand.

For me personally, I tend to look at things in terms of costs and benefits. Through that lens, most games seem like a bad deal. In principle, I like some of the more quirky or esoteric ones, but it quickly seems like a lot to learn relative the payout.

When I was in HS, I had a band. Has that type of interaction simply been replaced by video games?

I swear I'm not trying to troll -- I really want to understand the interplay between video games and psychology. Cuz it seems like FPSes are dominant whereas not too long ago they were a single niche among many niches.

I appreciate your taking the time to read/reply.

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[–] jtzl@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Have you ever played Myst? From what I've read, that was the advent of the open world concept.

Similarly, have you ever used Oculus or any of those headset games? It seems like that would work well with unbounded exploration.

I hadn't really thought of this previously, but maybe my pet peeve is that you're often just being directed through someone else's fantasy.

[–] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 4 points 1 week ago

I love Cyan games. Not just Myst, I still play whatever they put out to this day.

I first experienced those games watching my dad play them, so they were very formational for me. I went on to play lots of other point and click adventure games, too.

I haven't done much with VR. I don't own any of the tech and I've only tried it once. To be honest it was a bit nauseating for me so I haven't had much desire to try it again.

So would you rather be able to experience your own ideas, since you don't like experiencing other people's? For me getting to see an imagined setting is very fun (when it's a good one). Same goes for movies and books. I've always been a fantasy and SciFi fan (though I hate generic fantasy and scifi, it needs to be an interesting setting I haven't seen before for me to really get into it)