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Who are power gamers?
ezorn33
Member Posts: 12
I'm honestly curious. Besides the usual suspects (read: HS students on summer break and college students all the time), who can devote so much time to gaming? How? Do people simply not sleep, not work, what?
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Probably someone who can devote easily over 24hours a week to a game. Maybe upto 8hours a day.
Not all high school student on summer break who play have that time. I just graduated and I know I don't have as much time as some people. Of course I do have plenty of time right now. My job jsut eneded because I worked for the school, and that leaves me with extra time. Besides work some of us have girlfriends and friends etc.
"No one needs enemies, but acquiring enemies is so much fun."
When I was addicted to EverCrack, I played from about 8pm til about 2 or 3 am almost everyday. But my addiction didn't last long. I realized what I was doing and that I wasn't really having fun and canceled my account.
Whoops, multiple posts... Site acting very wierd for me...
Whoops, multiple posts... Site acting very wierd for me...
I play whenever I have the time, there's no fixed <4 or >4 hours a day thing to it, once the kids are in bed and my wife has gone to sleep I'll game for a couple of hours. Then at weekends when I dont have to work (although I do work from home) i'll usually game for about 6 hours a night. I certainly wouldnt say i'm hardcore, but if I get hooked on a game i've been known to kinda not do any work for days and play it
(shhh don't tell anyone 
)
// Carl
Currently Playing : anything to keep me occupied until EQ2 comes out
// Carl
Currently Playing : EQ2 of course
I tend to go in spurts based on work. I do consulting in between jobs (when the startup company I had worked for goes under....a wonderful trend I have been a part of with 4 seperate companies). So while I am consulting the work is very sporadic and I have tons of time to be a "power gamer". I have personally logged work-weeks worth of gaming in a single 7 day stretch a bunch of times in the past. On the flip-side, when I do have a full time job, I tend to play 2-4 hours a few night a week and then quite a bit on my free weekends. So, I guess I am mostly a casual gamer anymore, but with past power-gamer sprees.
Beta'd: Neocron, Planetside, ShadowBane, Horizons, City of Heros, Saga of Ryzom, Lineage II
Played: EQ, Shadowbane, DAoC, SWG, Anarchy Online, Asherson's Call 2. Earth and Beyond
Playing: City of Heros, EQ
Beta'd: Neocron, Planetside, ShadowBane, Horizons, City of Heros, Saga of Ryzom, Lineage II, WoW Stress Test
Played: EQ, Shadowbane, DAoC, SWG, Anarchy Online, Asherson's Call 2. Earth and Beyond, City of Heros, EQ
Playing: WAITING FOR WOW and EQ 2
i spend every waking moment gaming .... ok not that extreme
On days i dont have school / and/or work, i probably game about 10 hrs, on days i have school/work ill game 0 hours and on days i just have school or just have work ill prolly game about 4-5 hrs .. and it also just depends on waht game it is
but i also dont consider myself a powergamer... i dont powergame i dont powerlevel .. sometimes i just like to sit there and chat with people and enjoy myself with features of the game. I like to take it slow and just enjoy each level.. jsut have fun .. i dont fall prisoner to level grinds.
-Erik
Depends what game it is and whats going on... In CoH i can be on maybe an hour a day, an hour and a half tops.
In Dark Age of Camelot i can be on 4 hours at the most, and if it's summer maybe 5 or 6.
and for FFXI around the same time as DAoC, if i needed to get my epic item for my Pally.
Usually not nearly as much as a power gamer though.
Playing: City of Heroes/ Dark Age of Camelot
Upcoming: EverQuest II
Rathma what is going to happen when EQ2 comes out?
How much time are you going to have for the other games then? not much i bet.
_________________________
Work is the curse of the drinking classes.
Oscar Wilde
_________________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.
- John Wooden
IMO power gaming has nothing to do with time, but more to do with spending all your play time doing hardcore exping or farming, power gameing is more about getting to the "end game" then exploration or socialization. Powergamers usually follow a pattern of where to exp and/or farm so that they are getting the max exp/coin/items per minute playing.
The word I use for players who spend 24/7 ingame ...sick. Put the 2 together and what do you have?
Godz of War I call Thee
Godz of War I call Thee
-Sir Sven
Powergamers are not defined by the amount of time they play a game. Powergamers are defined by the way in which they attempt to max out their characters in the quickest period of time possible, usually at the expense of making even the slightest attempt at role-playing their characters. Powergamers generally think roleplaying is a waste of time that could be better spent grinding skills and camping spawn sites.
Powergamers operate under the mistaken assumption that someone can "win" a roleplaying game.
"...you just #@*&;$% with the wrong rhino, pal!" - Smoochy
"...you just #@*&;$% with the wrong rhino, pal!" - Smoochy
That is your definition. Many people define power gamers as people who just plays a lot of hours whereas "Power-levelers" fit your description. Power-levelers don't necessarily have to be power-gamers or the other way around.
Heck let's make a poll. Are power-leveler and power-gamers the same thing?
Beta'd: Neocron, Planetside, ShadowBane, Horizons, City of Heros, Saga of Ryzom, Lineage II
Played: EQ, Shadowbane, DAoC, SWG, Anarchy Online, Asherson's Call 2. Earth and Beyond
Playing: City of Heros, EQ
Beta'd: Neocron, Planetside, ShadowBane, Horizons, City of Heros, Saga of Ryzom, Lineage II, WoW Stress Test
Played: EQ, Shadowbane, DAoC, SWG, Anarchy Online, Asherson's Call 2. Earth and Beyond, City of Heros, EQ
Playing: WAITING FOR WOW and EQ 2
Once in a while I can can devote around 18 hrs a day for a couple days to an MMO. But then work gets in the way and such.
I usually don't play for moret han 1-2 horus at a time. I don't have that much time on my hands now that summer is here. When I did play EverQuest I would maybe play for about 2-4 hours at a time before i Had to log off.
I'm in no way a power gamer, I'm a very very casual gamer indeed. The most time I have probably spent playing one game is probably about 5 and a half hours, somehting like that. No way a power gamer.
"Powergamers operate under the mistaken assumption that someone can "win" a roleplaying game." -leftie
One of the few things I can agree on with leftie. He's right here. That is so true.
-Sir Sven
Yeah I agree with that.
From the words of Richard Garriott, Powergamers are "achievers" type of gamers. They are in game for one purpose. To compete with others and max out their stat in quickest way possible.
They use Clan as mean to attain there. Their "socializing", "exploring" pursuits are very limited.
Asians especially Koreans are well known for that.
You will hear very few complains from them about character customization, explorative (quests) aspect of the gaming because a lot of them think the game as a Big, Huge race rather explorative experience.
But again it would be wrong to generalize that to all.
In my case, this couldn't be further from the truth. I enjoy the end game. Nothing bothers me more than trying to explain to someone of a reasonable level how to play their class. Usually, people at the top know what they are doing. Not always, but most of them have figured it out by then.
In the case of EQ, you cannot succeed in most of the end-game encounters without a damn good group or guild. So for me, "winning" is synonymous with "achieving" - so by reaching the top, I have achieved my goal.
Perhaps this goes to show what's wrong with a game like EverQuest. The end-game is totally different from the first 60ish levels. You simply cannot compare the two - even the single player group plays very differently at 65 than it does at 50. WoW seems to have addressed this somewhat with their attention to level-appropriate content for every level. I only hope that EQ2, Vanguard, and the others do the same - only then will I "enjoy" the grind.
-pooka
As far as my "play style" goes, I'm interested in one thing. FUN! I like to role play, but not to the point the roleplaying becomes tedious. I'm not a "thees and thous" person. By roleplaying, I mean I like to take the role of a character I can enjoy myself while I'm playing. I crack a lot of terrible jokes. I make a lot of bad puns. But I will break "character" in a second if there's a blatent opening for a great line.
Grinding levels and camping spawns sites bores me to tears. I really don't care that much about advancement, and only persue advancement in order to get to move to new content, as well as keep up with those I game with. As my characters are generally off the wall, I usually go for off the wall character classes. I'm also just as likely to spend a whole game session in a Pub as I am adventuring.
I wouldn't call me a strict socializer, because I like "playing off" the game content.
"...you just #@*&;$% with the wrong rhino, pal!" - Smoochy
"...you just #@*&;$% with the wrong rhino, pal!" - Smoochy
I am a powergamer...
I dont try to win the RPG, no point in winning the whole game, winning as many small things is great, as long as it is meaningfull(read as long as I find a way to be *uber* in a way or another while I enjoy the process, uberness is a necessary part of the fun for me, but by no mean the main course of the fun, just like you need oil and gaz to run a car, yet, the car itself and the roads matter a lot more then the gaz and the oil, water(ghettoness) dont work great to make my car advance), but the whole thing need to be unwinnable or it is boring and my interest is over in no time...
I work 2 shifts of 15-17 hours a week, I play 3 to 5 days(rarely reach 18 hours, but usually between 11 to 14, yet motivation is iron and this is what keep me doing the long work shifts as well), leave 0-2 day(or partial day) for RL stuff(seeing doctors, socializing, taking care of family(I dont have a family on my own of course)). I do chores like grocery & cleaning in the break my eyes request from the computer, I mean, 2 hours per day to clean or go out and buy grocery(5 minutes of walking distance).
And yes, peoples hanging around me usually end up jealous of the computer, litterally, no matter how silly it sound.
- "Coercing? No no, I assure you, they are willing to bring my bags and pay public transportation just to help me, it is true!''
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren