Different Types of Games

Shoot 'em Ups

The closest thing to a shoot 'em up (or SHMUP) game that I had played before this assignment is probably Angry Birds. Yeah, I know. Angry Birds isn't exactly a shooter style game. But SHMUPS just hasn't ever really been a genre of gaming that appealed to me. Yet, as I embarked on this quest and played three different SHMUP games, I found myself increasingly engaged in them as the story became more real.

To begin with, I played Asteroids. A simple game with a simple objective along with simple controls, this retro SHMUP game was fun for a fleeting moment. I did find myself face-palming myself as my ship would be destroyed by a meteor fragment or an invading foe, but without context, Asteroids didn't hold my attention for long.

Next, I went to AddictingGames.com, and found Awesome Pirates under the Shooter tab. The objective of this game is to defend your fort against increasingly larger swarms of pirates. In the same style as Angry Birds, you and the pirate invaders take turns angling your cannons at one another and firing with the objective of either destroying my fort or sinking the pirate crews. Obviously, what I liked most about this was the story which added context to the game. Not only was there a plot present, but the pirates would exclaim things like "Yiaarrrrr!" when they were hit and "ROFL" when my cannon balls missed them. Additionally, as I conquered more pirates on subsequent levels I earned money which could buy me both more and better cannons to take on the ever-growing challenges. With this option available to me, I quickly found myself considering the economics of the game. Should I purchase the next best cannon now or see if I can get by for a few more levels to buy the grand daddy of them all? Awesome Pirates is certainly bookmark worthy, but don't tell my boss that.

Finally, I played Sniper Team, also found at AddictingGames.com. This game was far outside of my comfort zone, which is to say that I shy away from the simulated real-world violence of military-style games. However, just as happened with Awesome Pirates, I found the storyline to grab my attention and take me further and further into the game. In Sniper Team, you are a member of a group of snipers who are stationed throughout a military base. As waves of intruders approach, your objective is to get them in your cross hairs and wipe them out, so to speak. However, these intruders are strategic and aren't in a hurry to give you the easiest shot or wait their turn. Instead, they use simulated precision as they fire from relatively secluded stations with weapons of varying intensity. Not only did Sniper Team force me to focus on my attention to detail as I surveyed the base, it also encouraged improved hand-eye coordination in a short amount of time. Kill or be killed as they say. To my surprise, I enjoyed this game much more than I initially expected myself to. The storyline was epic and the required skill level was just enough to offer a moderate challenge without being overwhelmed as a "newb".

Other Games

This genre of gaming includes card games, board games, dice games, etc. Perhaps the easiest of all games to play, the games in this category don't require as much energy as others might, which could appeal to a population of casual gamers (those who play Solitaire at work, for example) more than, say, MMORPGs.

While these types of games are relatively more passive, many of them do require an element of strategy to at least be good at playing them. Chinese Checkers is an example of this. Until this quest, I had never played Chinese Checkers before. And as I started my first game, I had no idea what the rules or objective were. However, as I watched the nature of the other players' moves, I was able to deduce the rules and objective which in turn helped me to devise a strategy which helped me to win my very first game.

Yhatzee also requires some strategy and a good understanding of probability to master this family-night game. If you simply roll the cup of die without thinking about potential outcomes, sequences, and patterns, playing Yhatzee is nothing more than a game of luck for you. But, if you play with an understanding of number frequency, the probability of rolling a straight sequence against rolling a pair and so on, you will gain some sense of purpose leading to a potentially successful strategy of game play.

Though designed for the casual player, this genre of games still offers many of the positive emotional and psychological benefits of other types of game play. When we engage in casual games we still experience appropriate levels of challenge, scaffolded failure, immediate feedback, acknowledged successes, and membership into a community when played with others online or around the dinner table. Perhaps this is why even those most averse to video games occasionally find themselves procrastinating work with Solitaire.