Fun in Gaming? We still do fun, right?

The internet gaming community is a lot of fun to experience. There are creators constantly rolling out new ideas and thoughts and gaming. You also have a host of Actual Play Podcasts to experience, if you have the free time. You can also find a host of players on both sides of the screen who are sharing their ideas and stories from past experiences. Some of these are good stories that make you happy about the hobby, where others are more cautionary tales about things that could happen. 

 
There are parts of our community that are a less enjoyable to deal with, but i honestly think that our community should be large and diverse enough for everyone to find the people they want to game with and that hasn’t changed since i was in college. I will always hold the position that games are a form of mental relaxation for me, and anything that moves them from the category of stress reducers to stress inducers is something that i will actively avoid.


“But i like the tactical challenge of a stressful and tense environment”


Good for you, also, how did you get into this article? There are a lot of us, and we all have a different way of pulling the fun out of a given activity. I process the mental activities required for gaming differently than some of you. That’s perfectly okay, we have fun in different ways. We react to the situational environments of our gaming experiences differently, and that’s awesome. If we all had the exact same fun from our experiences, we would not have anywhere near the level of diversity in our gaming environments.


This is my operational definition of fun, and it may change eventually, but it’s what i’ve settled on. Fun is any activity that reduces stress and as a result has positive mental and physical health benefits. Fun in gaming covers any of the activities around games, and there are a ton of those activities, depending on your games of choice.


I have friends who spend their days obsessively building lists or decks or characters, and they find that to be a delight. I have some other friends who spend their days building maps and adventures because it makes them happy. I have some other friends who spend their free time painting minis of all stripes because they find it relaxing. Some of us actually get a chance to play games, and i hear those are fun, too.


TL,DR: Games should be fun, fun is relaxing, and well all process fun differently.


Game on, Game Fans