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社交游戏改变传统“游戏玩家”定义

发布时间:2011-06-12 08:50:22 Tags:,,

游戏邦注:本文作者是Marcus Pettersson,原文发表于2月24日,所涉数据均以当时为准。

最近我在玩《模拟城市4》,通过Steam(游戏邦注:某游戏数字销售站点)我重新获得了这个很棒的游戏及其扩展包《尖峰时刻》。如果我能找到自己的游戏光碟,就不用购买了。但是当我打开旧首饰盒时,发现光碟都不见了,可能是在数月前搬家时丢失的。我找到了带有CD-key的指导手册,但是Steam无法识别。所以我只能再次花钱购买,不过确实物有所值。

我的小小自由城及其周边地区如同经过精心施肥的甘蓝芽般茁壮成长,目前所有事态进展良好。我沉浸在活泼动听的背景音乐中,看着我的城市不断成长和繁荣,享受着屏幕上的图像带来的欢乐。虽然游戏已发布八年之久,而且我需要开启软件渲染,因为这款游戏不支持新显卡,但我依然感到乐趣无穷。

但并非所有人都能体验到《模拟城市》系列游戏带来的乐趣,用他们自己的话来说,因为“他们不是游戏玩家”。数年间,我多次遇到过这种人,但现在这种说法已经不再像我首次听到时那般合情合理。

什么人才算是游戏玩家?玩家是喜欢玩游戏的人,无论是通过控制器、电脑、手机或任何他们能够拿到的设备。玩家间没有性别、年龄和兴趣界线。简单地说,玩家就是玩游戏的人。

按照这个定义,现在有8000万个玩家在Facebook上玩《FarmVille》,注册《Habbo Hotel》的玩家数超过2亿。仅2009年,在iPhone和iPod上购买游戏应用的玩家就有数百万,微软报告称Xbox Live玩家于今年1月份在游戏上花销数百万美元,在线玩家数达到2300万。当然,Xbox Live用户中有些人属于极其罕见的硬核玩家,他们躲在屋中玩任何可以发出有趣音效和提供虚拟奖励的游戏,今日多数玩家属于休闲玩家。

hardcore gamer(from smh.com.au)

hardcore gamer(from smh.com.au)

长久以来,休闲玩家为“职业玩家”(游戏邦注:通常是14至19岁的宅男)所耻笑,但随着Facebook等平台引进社交游戏、各种手机操作系统萌生游戏应用以及Xbox Live的产生,游戏行业中的休闲游戏开始逐渐崛起。

在Facebook上注册玩《FarmVille》、《Mafia Wars》、《Texas HoldEm Poker》或《Pet Society》的人或许并未把自己当成游戏玩家,但这些游戏的开发公司却是这样想的,因为正是这些休闲玩家让他们获得了巨额盈利。休闲游戏策略也使得BigFish之类公司的销售量得以提升。如果你经常玩游戏,你就是个游戏玩家,无论你是花甲老人、股票经纪人、仍住在家中的孩子抑或是坐在门廊上玩任天堂DS的高年级学生。

我今年27岁,已经有孩子,也是个游戏玩家。我喜欢玩游戏,无论是老游戏还是新游戏。我喜欢与志趣相投的人或不喜欢游戏的人讨论游戏。玩游戏是个兴趣爱好,就像散步和集邮一样。每个人都有着自己的兴趣爱好,爱好并不能反映我们是什么人。

记住这些内容,下次有人责备你玩电脑游戏的时候就可以予以反驳。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

You’re never too old to be a gamer

Marcus Pettersson

So I’ve been playing SimCity 4 recently, having reacquired this great title and the expansion Rush Hour through Steam at I wouldn’t have had to buy it if I could just find my CDs, but when I cracked open the old jewel case, they were both gone – probably lost in the moving-house shuffle a few months back. I did find the manual containing the CD-key, but Steam wouldn’t recognize it, so I spent the dough and, really, it was worth every penny.

My dear little Liberty City and its surroundings grew like well-fertilized brussle sprouts. And for a time, all was good. I soaked in the great, jazzy soundtrack, watched my pixellated cities grow and thrive, enjoyed the graphics even though the game is eight years old and I had to enable software rendering because SimCity doesn’t like newer brands of graphic cards.

But not everyone gets to experience the immeasurable awesomeness of the SimCity franchise, because, in their own words, “they are not gamers”. I’ve run into this manner of protest several times over the years and it doesn’t make anymore sense now than it did when I first heard it.

What is a gamer? A gamer is a person who enjoys playing games, whether they do it on their consoles, their computers, their phones or whatever other devide they can get their hands on. A gamer has no specific gender, age-bracket or interests outside of gaming. A gamer, in short, is a person that plays games.

Now, by that definition there are more than 80 million gamers playing FarmVille over Facebook. There are over 200 million gamers registered as playing Habbo Hotel. Gamers bought gaming applications for the iPhone and iPod for more than million in 2009 alone and, last year, Microsoft reported Xbox Live gamers spending million on games in just the month of January and having 23 million gamers online. Granted, out of the users on Xbox Live, some will be that other creature, the rarely-seen hardcore gamer that shuns sunshine and will play anything that makes funny noises and offers great, virtual rewards, but the majority of gamers today will be casual gamers.

Casual gamers have been sneered upon by “regular gamers” (typically between the ages of 14 to 19, male and living at home) for a long time, but the gaming industry picked up on the surge of casual gaming that began to rear its head with the introduction of social games on platforms such as Facebook, gaming applications for the various mobile phone operative systems and – very importantly – with the introduction of Xbox Live.

A person who signs up to play FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Texas HoldEm Poker or Pet Society on Facebook may not consider themselves a gamer, but the companies behind these games certainly do, because their share of the revenue cake becomes all the larger thanks to these casual gamers. Companies such as BigFish have also seen an upswing in sales thanks to their casual gaming approach. So if you are playing a game regularly, that makes you a gamer. You might also be a grandmother or a stock broker, a kid living at home or a senior enjoying your pension by sitting on the porch playing games on your Nintendo DS; you’re nevertheless a gamer.

The difference between types of gamers are quite interesting and will be the subject of a future blog post, but for now, let me wrap this up:

I am 27 years old, a father, and I am a gamer. I enjoy playing games, both new and old. I enjoy talking about games, with those who share my interests and with those who do not. Gaming is a hobby, much like taking walks or collecting stamps – we all have hobbies and the ones we have do not reflect what we are.

Keep this in mind the next time someone starts telling you off for playing computer games. (Source: Gamasutra)


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