Ned Flanders
Banned
Older gamers in particular may feel me on this one.
Just a short while ago, I made a realization. After surfing GAF for a bit, I got off the comp for a while and fired up Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (a rental) on my PS2 (I keep the "last gen" systems in my bedroom). Almost without thinking, I propped up some pillows against the edge of the bed, grabbed a blanket, turned out the lights and sat on the floor and grabbed the controller. Almost instantaneously, it occured to me that this was something that I hadn't done in ages, yet virtually all of my formative years of gaming consisted of this very same experience repeated on a weekly/nightly basis.
I then thought a little further about why this was such a strange sensation, and a number of things occured to me. For one, I'm older, and the living room has increasingly become the place for gaming for me, for a number of reasons. The bigscreen, the surround, the recliner, the superior lighting etc etc...all of it has drawn me out of the bedroom and into an increasingly "specialized" environment whereby gaming has become as much about the peripheral pieces surrounding it as it has the actual playing of the game.
The living room also lends to a more social experience when having friends over etc, especially when you're older and huddling in a bedroom with 3 other dudes may be considered suspect to your heterosexuality (tongue-in-cheek of course, no pun intended). Perhaps this is a part of why I feel less focused during one-player experiences in the LR as compared to the realtive isolation of the bedroom.
Also, I would venture a guess that the changing nature of the gaming world has affected the "bedroom gamer". Trip Hawkins talk of a "set-top box" during the 3D0 days have indeed come to fruition, as now you're playing movies, music, and downloading film previews and oogling at fractally generated light displays etc. While not necessarily living-room exclusive in nature, all these things lend themselves more to a LR environment. The relatively early stage of adoption for HD also means that most people, if they have an HDTV at all, have it in their living room, and most gamers are naturally inclined to take advantage of progressive scan and HD display options, since image is an integral part of the gaming experience. Hell, when I rented Hulk, even though I have an HDTV in my living room (30" 1080i CRT), I STILL went and hooked up the PS2 to the bigscreen in the living room just to see what it would look like on the 1080p (don't start) at 42". Did it look any better? Not really..bigger of course, but possibly worse as far as image quality. Did it play any better? Absolutely not.
Anyway, this is more a speculative rant than anything...perhaps I'm simply being nostalgic as to the days when gaming had to mean clamming up in the bedroom and plopping down on the floor to mash buttons for hours at a time. Or maybe there is more to what I've considered. I'm leaving it up to GAF to make their interpretations as to the sociological/behavioral nuances that differentiate LR and BR gaming, but I thought it was worth a mention, and wondered if anyone else had made a similar realization. I do know, however (if I may steer back to nostalgia-ville for a moment), that upon the release of Twilight Princess, Super Paper Mario, and all the other upcoming re-imaginings of the great titles I grew up on, that you can bet the farm that Mr Flanders will be playing them all firmly planted on my bedroom floor with the lights off..pillows, blanket and all.
Just a short while ago, I made a realization. After surfing GAF for a bit, I got off the comp for a while and fired up Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (a rental) on my PS2 (I keep the "last gen" systems in my bedroom). Almost without thinking, I propped up some pillows against the edge of the bed, grabbed a blanket, turned out the lights and sat on the floor and grabbed the controller. Almost instantaneously, it occured to me that this was something that I hadn't done in ages, yet virtually all of my formative years of gaming consisted of this very same experience repeated on a weekly/nightly basis.
I then thought a little further about why this was such a strange sensation, and a number of things occured to me. For one, I'm older, and the living room has increasingly become the place for gaming for me, for a number of reasons. The bigscreen, the surround, the recliner, the superior lighting etc etc...all of it has drawn me out of the bedroom and into an increasingly "specialized" environment whereby gaming has become as much about the peripheral pieces surrounding it as it has the actual playing of the game.
The living room also lends to a more social experience when having friends over etc, especially when you're older and huddling in a bedroom with 3 other dudes may be considered suspect to your heterosexuality (tongue-in-cheek of course, no pun intended). Perhaps this is a part of why I feel less focused during one-player experiences in the LR as compared to the realtive isolation of the bedroom.
Also, I would venture a guess that the changing nature of the gaming world has affected the "bedroom gamer". Trip Hawkins talk of a "set-top box" during the 3D0 days have indeed come to fruition, as now you're playing movies, music, and downloading film previews and oogling at fractally generated light displays etc. While not necessarily living-room exclusive in nature, all these things lend themselves more to a LR environment. The relatively early stage of adoption for HD also means that most people, if they have an HDTV at all, have it in their living room, and most gamers are naturally inclined to take advantage of progressive scan and HD display options, since image is an integral part of the gaming experience. Hell, when I rented Hulk, even though I have an HDTV in my living room (30" 1080i CRT), I STILL went and hooked up the PS2 to the bigscreen in the living room just to see what it would look like on the 1080p (don't start) at 42". Did it look any better? Not really..bigger of course, but possibly worse as far as image quality. Did it play any better? Absolutely not.
Anyway, this is more a speculative rant than anything...perhaps I'm simply being nostalgic as to the days when gaming had to mean clamming up in the bedroom and plopping down on the floor to mash buttons for hours at a time. Or maybe there is more to what I've considered. I'm leaving it up to GAF to make their interpretations as to the sociological/behavioral nuances that differentiate LR and BR gaming, but I thought it was worth a mention, and wondered if anyone else had made a similar realization. I do know, however (if I may steer back to nostalgia-ville for a moment), that upon the release of Twilight Princess, Super Paper Mario, and all the other upcoming re-imaginings of the great titles I grew up on, that you can bet the farm that Mr Flanders will be playing them all firmly planted on my bedroom floor with the lights off..pillows, blanket and all.
