http://www.psychocats.net/essays/gamingperspectiveThe skewed perspective on gaming
In the world of Linux, there are many who believe PC gaming is bigger than it really is. Don't get me wrong--it's a big business. If it weren't, it wouldn't exist. Gaming companies would have otherwise long abandoned making PC games. It is not, however, as big as many Linux users believe it is--not by a long shot.
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Gaining Perspective on PC Gaming
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DeanLinkous
- Posts: 1570
- Joined: 2006-06-04 15:28
Gaining Perspective on PC Gaming
Something I read....
That describes us exactly. Both my wife & son play online games. It's mostly about trying a new game and if it holds their interest they might play it for a few weeks but then it's usually on to another game they've not yet tried. My son hardly plays his PS2 but really likes his gameboy. It's portable and a great way for him to entertain himself on long trips. I personally don't play video games much at all although a good flight sim might get my attention once in a while. If I had some extra $ lying around I'd invest in a nice flight yoke but would not spend alot of $ on a game itself.The real perspective on gaming
The real truth, of course, is that most average home PC users either don't game at all, play console games, play online Flash/Shockwave-based games, or play non-commercial games like Solitaire, Hearts, or Minesweeper.
Debian Sid Laptops:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-55 / 1.5G
Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2390 @ 1.86GHz / 3G
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-55 / 1.5G
Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2390 @ 1.86GHz / 3G
Interesting article.
My middle son (18 yrs.) has become thoroughly immersed in the gaming culture that has evolved around several first person shooter, combat and role playing games. He and his brother saved up their own money to buy a solid gaming computer and keep it updated. He's definitely part of that 3-point-something percent.
He's become an exceptionally skilled duellist in the Jedi Knight series world, making friends, joining clans, and becoming involved in clan leadership along the way. He's been involved in similar communities surrounding Freelancer, a real-time adventure, combat, and role playing game in a sci-fi space-faring environment.
Then there are the first person shooters like Half-Life, Counterstrike Source, and Splinter Cell, and online communities like The Gamer Planet that maintains forums and servers for many of these games.
Voice communications is joining text in many of these environments, adding to realism and increasing the level of social interactions.
A surprisingly restrained and well behaved culture evolves around many of these gaming platforms. The server owners are often diligent in formulating and enforcing rules of conduct.
Now, being home schoolers and extremely involved in our kids' education, you can bet we were watching closely as all of this developed over the last couple of years. I can say with few reservations that it has been a healthy and educational experience for him, learning not just skills specific to the games, but also technical, people and even management skills through his interactions with others. There are also strong elements of self discipline in training and self control in dealing with conflicts and difficulties.
Now, having said all of that, do I want these games to run under Linux? Yes. Is it the most important thing? No, but it will limit Linux adoption in our household as we will have to maintain at least some solid gaming platforms based on Windows in one form or another.
I don't have any statistics, but I wonder just what they would look like for young adults' and older children's gaming habits -- in other words, the upcoming generation of computer users? I bet things will change when that cohort gets counted.
Mike D.
My middle son (18 yrs.) has become thoroughly immersed in the gaming culture that has evolved around several first person shooter, combat and role playing games. He and his brother saved up their own money to buy a solid gaming computer and keep it updated. He's definitely part of that 3-point-something percent.
He's become an exceptionally skilled duellist in the Jedi Knight series world, making friends, joining clans, and becoming involved in clan leadership along the way. He's been involved in similar communities surrounding Freelancer, a real-time adventure, combat, and role playing game in a sci-fi space-faring environment.
Then there are the first person shooters like Half-Life, Counterstrike Source, and Splinter Cell, and online communities like The Gamer Planet that maintains forums and servers for many of these games.
Voice communications is joining text in many of these environments, adding to realism and increasing the level of social interactions.
A surprisingly restrained and well behaved culture evolves around many of these gaming platforms. The server owners are often diligent in formulating and enforcing rules of conduct.
Now, being home schoolers and extremely involved in our kids' education, you can bet we were watching closely as all of this developed over the last couple of years. I can say with few reservations that it has been a healthy and educational experience for him, learning not just skills specific to the games, but also technical, people and even management skills through his interactions with others. There are also strong elements of self discipline in training and self control in dealing with conflicts and difficulties.
Now, having said all of that, do I want these games to run under Linux? Yes. Is it the most important thing? No, but it will limit Linux adoption in our household as we will have to maintain at least some solid gaming platforms based on Windows in one form or another.
I don't have any statistics, but I wonder just what they would look like for young adults' and older children's gaming habits -- in other words, the upcoming generation of computer users? I bet things will change when that cohort gets counted.
Mike D.