Christchurch Treehouse of Awesome-Where everyone knows your name

[Xenolightning]

Spargrees

[prolax]

any ya'll still gaming?

[Lias]

any ya'll still gaming?

Yes, most evenings, but not nearly as much as I used too.

~35 hours on steam in the last two weeks.  I used to do more than that a week.

[Emrico1]

Boo

Hey

[prolax]

any ya'll still gaming?

Yes, most evenings, but not nearly as much as I used too.

~35 hours on steam in the last two weeks.  I used to do more than that a week.

what you playing these days?

Also, is anyone else getting their hands on an HTC Vive?

[Lias]

what you playing these days?

Current most regular thing is Company of Heroes 2, and playing through my huge steam back catalog.

[AvatarFACE]

^^this^^ currently playing Iron Storm then going to play sunless sea next week sometime.
I also still play a bit of BF4

[Pitchey]

BF4 and War Thunder, some Heros & Generals sometimes.

[swindle]

Boo

Hey

Heeeeeeey.

See, I'm bringing in the crowds already 

[Pyromanik]

any ya'll still gaming?

Gaming, kinda.
Seriously? Naw.

I bought the new counterstrike 2 months back when it was on sale (no way I was buying it otherwise). But I'm still yet to buy a weapon (in game). Just piss around with my pistol.

It breaks some boredom... until it itself becomes boring (usually about an hour later, at the max. ~10 mins at the min.)

That's it at the moment for online shit. Offline I've been playing a bit of single player stuff (like Metro). But I've been noticing a trend* for a while now, which shows no signs of stopping (unfortunately). Games aren't as fun as they used to be, and Bethesda made QL pay for, so fuck that... *sigh*.

[Pyromanik]

Boo

Hey

Wey ey, gidday you two :>

[Pyromanik]

trend*

*
Human interaction over the decades has been growing. I don't mean as in the level of activity, I mean in the platform upon which it happens. Once upon a time everyone knew everyone in their vicinity, neighbours were often friends, etc. These days everyone complains about shit on a grander scale, and neighbours are lucky to even know each other's names. People form social cliques in a larger environment, but don't particularly pay much mind to the larger environment as a whole (say like regulars at a pub in the middle of a big city - but not much interaction outside the pub, or have anything to do with others in the city).

Similarly the same has happened online (and online has in turn sorta accelerated the IRL aspect a bit). As time has gone on the community feeling has been lost some might say, but I look at it more like it's shifted onto a bigger stage. Which in itself is sad, and I still lament the smaller community feel.

It's evident in game design. Once upon a time game servers would be run locally, by local people, played by local folk. Now You sign in to a game, 'match find' a server, and play with a bunch of complete fuck'n randos from all over the world. Communities still form, but I feel not as tight as they did before as there is no singular unifying point. People just 'make (disposable) friends' from folks they encounter often when playing. The focus is much more global, and often the folks have fuck all in common (shitload of 12yos trying to add me to their steam friends since I bought CounterStrike:Global-Nerf (honestly that game has fuck all to do with aim, you just spray and it's a dice roll whether you or the other guy get the kill, whether you try to aim or not. It's shit).

Communities still form, so what's the big deal? To me the communities are less tight knit, thus shit doesn't hold together. Also evident in shit like a new AAA the same as the last AAA every 6 months - 1 year. Games don't last as long, there's no devotion to the title, the numbers in a community that play rise and fall quickly, to the point where it's basically just a couple of regulars and some other randos. There's no cohesion, no bond that keeps interest alive, no 'social' type interaction. Plus as an aging gamer I feel no connection to these people anyway because there fast becoming 1/2 my age as an average.

Facebook is a similar kinda thing. People that know (/once knew) each other trying to maintain a community while they're worlds apart. It has it's place, but as a technological focus it fast displaces smaller more tight knit communities (on older style tech) like this one (ie. forums).



Summarising; I play games.

But I don't really feel the attraction that I once did. I don't have a community feel when I do, thus the attraction to playing many team type games is gone. I can't be fucked with battlefield (and even if EA would let me sign in, I doubt I'd find a game anyway), counterstrike is good for about 40 mins on average only, and things like Payday (which I fucking loved) are now of little interest because I have no friends to actually play and shoot shit with over mic.

This isn't particularly anyone's fault, just seems to be a sign of the times... to which I lament the loss of fun to history.

Plus I got old and had to grow up
So did many of my friend types, so gaming isn't really a big thing amongst friends anymore either :/



TL;DR

DOOM AND GLOOM, THE GLORY DAYS ARE LONG OVER.


NB: I imagine it's a little different for MMORPG type players, because their community has always been of this nature, and they tend to be far more devoted to their games. But still, the fact remains.

[Pyromanik]

And now for something Christchurch related:

Pitchey, you been down at the firefighter's combat challenge? Your crew taking part? How you faring?





Yeah ok so technically that was WLG related... but I saw the commentator was from CHC Airport crew.

[Pitchey]

Heya Pyro

Yup, several did, haven't heard back about their times though.

I'm not doing it, had to work!

[Pyromanik]

Hmm, thought that might have been the case.
One of the heats I saw was really close, only half a second in it!

[prolax]

BF4 and War Thunder, some Heros & Generals sometimes.

Heroes and Generals was surprisingly fun, enjoyed playing that for a bit.

I've been playing a bit of The Culling recently, just got oceanic servers. It's pretty much like hunger games, the game.

Saw Paragon yesterday, a new third-person MOBA on the Unreal engine; that looks like heaps of fun but currently no oceanic servers so am unsure if I'll get it yet or not.

[Tandoori]

I like tawtles.

[Pyromanik]

tooytels

[AvatarFACE]

Nynjar tooytels?

[Pyromanik]

dey aynt pairates.

[Apostrophe Spacemonkey]

Communities still form, so what's the big deal? To me the communities are less tight knit, thus shit doesn't hold together. Also evident in shit like a new AAA the same as the last AAA every 6 months - 1 year. Games don't last as long, there's no devotion to the title, the numbers in a community that play rise and fall quickly, to the point where it's basically just a couple of regulars and some other randos. There's no cohesion, no bond that keeps interest alive, no 'social' type interaction. Plus as an aging gamer I feel no connection to these people anyway because there fast becoming 1/2 my age as an average.

Pyro

Wait till your 70, then come join me in the retirement home.

It will have everything you want, tight-knit communities, everyone will be around your age.

The same games hang around forever. Bingo, bowls and backgammon are all they play.

And your shit doesn't hold together.

[Pyromanik]

Brilliant plan, we can blame childish behaviour on senility!

[Pyromanik]

I dunno why I suddenly decided to look this up, but not wanting a mostly novice unintelligible thesis from wikipedia, I went with a high result from yahoo answers. I was surprised to see a quite coherent answer.

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100126100626AAfXWDP

Not even the second (and final) answer was derpery, but I did have a bit of a sly chuckle.

So in the end top marks for douchery, but surprisingly low/no babble from a source known for it's bullshit.

[Apostrophe Spacemonkey]

It would be awesome if they named a disorder after me.

I hope it's one they never cure, so even thousands of years after I'm dead, people will be like, "oh, he's got that disorder, poor guy."

My name will live on in infamy.

[Zarkov]

It would be awesome if they named a disorder after me.

I hope it's one they never cure, so even thousands of years after I'm dead, people will be like, "oh, he's got that disorder, poor guy."

My name will live on in infamy.

They'll call it Spacemonkey Syndrome, characterized by perpetual adolescence.