The Rush
Why do some people choose video games over sports? I asked myself this question.
Why do I choose to play Counter-strike, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, hell even Pacman, over playing real sports? If you’re like me then you strive for that adrenaline rush, a feeling of dominance, that feeling of, “Yeah, I’m better than you.” To me, that’s a real rush, I love it.
It’s a bright sunny day and it has been for a couple of weeks and yet I find myself indoors, hunched over a keyboard or hugging an X-box controller, curtains drawn, windows wide open and a sweat on my forehead. My parents and relatives ask, “Why aren’t you outside in this lovely weather?” Well two immediate answers spring to mind:
1. College has ended, I’m enjoying my freedom. No, not the freedom of not having to leave my house, but the freedom of not having to do anything, not having to meet deadlines, not having to worry about how late I’m staying up and how early I have to get out of bed, and not worrying about getting to college and exams on time.
And 2. My cars broke so…
But that aside, I have to say I genuinely prefer gaming. But why would I rather play say Counter-Strike than go and play, say a game of football? Well there’s the availability of games, you just pick up and play, you’ve got a console or pc, got an internet connection and then you’re set. There’s an endless number of other people out there instantly accessible through the internet to pit yourself against, this, I believe is what appeals to online gamers at large. Compare this to football, I need a football, easy. But then I need people to play against or with, its not like online where I just log on and can choose from millions of players, with sport you have a select number, if any, of people that enjoy that sport, then each of these you have to contact, so if you’ve decided to play a football on a whim, then trying to find people that are both available and willing is a hell of a lot easier said than done.
Online games also have the advantage of variety of players to play against, the lists are endless, even old games still have quite a wide selection of players. Take AvP 2 (Aliens versus Predator 2) as an example, I played this game for a few years, it was the first game I played online and it was about 5 or 6 years ago. I recently re-installed the game, went online and despite the server list taking forever to load I found there to still be well over 200 people playing the game. I’d be lucky to get 10 people out to play a game of football.
I could join a league, but again, this is a lot easier and more fun online. To join a football 5 a side or 11 a side league then to meet up and play requires a lot of effort, arrangement, transport and a place to play. I can join an online league at the click of a button, set a time me and my team are willing to play and the requests will come flooding in.
I played for a local football team, Hareclive Pumas, for 4 years, in 3 seasons. We had our ups and downs, the first season I played we did terribly and ended the season somewhere near the bottom, but I enjoyed playing, I actually enjoyed losing because I viewed it as a challenge. At the end of the first season we completely reformed the team, forming 2 new teams and we trained hard, hoping to beat the other half of the old team. And that we did, we played the next 2 seasons and I think we lost a total of 2 games in 2 seasons, but I didn’t enjoy this. Don’t get me wrong steamrolling people is fun for a while, everyone enjoys winning but after a while I didn’t look forward to the weekend, to the game on Sunday. It was after this third season I turned to video games.
I started playing Counter-Strike with a few friends and in a couple of months we had a team together in ED(EnemyDown). The adrenaline rush I got from playing 5 on 5 matches, and even a little in public servers, was something I just hadn’t felt before and I loved it. This combined with the sense of achievement from moments where my team was dead and I’d go on to win a 3 or 4 on 1 and score the bomb defuse or the bomb plant felt incredible. The, “Well played.” Or, “Good job”s from team mates were worth as much to me as winning the match itself. The level of challenge that I love is just not available in sport without loosing all chance of victory.
As any of my friends will tell you, I’m super competitive. Anything with leagues, levels, achievements or player on player action and I have to be the best, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. After a long time of nagging friends I finally succumbed to the pressure and joined Facebook, now all I find myself doing on there is playing Mafia Wars and Pirates, yet more competitiveness.
It’s not just the playing though, watching professionals in e-sport cups and championships is much more entertaining than watching the FA cup or European cups. I challenge anyone who’s played Counter-Strike to watch one of the many frag videos on youtube or google videos and not want to play again, I recommend the eoLithic video as its my personal favourite. But just watching one of these videos gives a slight adrenaline rush.
I have since, moved onto WoW (World Of Warcraft) arena. This is all I find myself doing when I’m online. The 2 versus 2 or 3 versus 3 match setups make the competition here a hell of a lot more personal and the constant change of pace, player setups, maps, race, gear and of course skill level that you can come across in the space of an hour makes this even more challenging, to me, than the FPS games that I have played.
The challenge, variety and availability I think are all big factors in why some people choose games over sports, but for me the deciding factor is definitely the adrenaline rush. It’s a perfectly legal rush, available in your own home. In the words of FPS Doug, “What can I say there’s nothing like the rush of hunting people down and killing ‘em!”
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13 Comments
Anonymous, posted this comment on Jul 1st, 2009
i smoke crack instead of playing games.
Matthew Lyne, posted this comment on Jul 2nd, 2009
It sounds extremely nerdy but I can relate to this, maybe not the specific games but just video games in general.
Well said neighbourly recluse.
Sren, posted this comment on Jul 2nd, 2009
Very nice article, I feel that lazyness was a neglected topic however. But I can definately relate to this considering the amount of time I spend on my pc and my xbox, I love the feeling of destroying a rank 14 on Dawn of War 2 when I am only rank 2 
genozide, posted this comment on Jul 6th, 2009
Ok article.. It gives a bit of the insight to the point of view from a gamer. You could add the prejudice others have towards gamers, especially the ones who have no idea of what they are talking about because they haven’t tried games themselves even once. Bystanders who are annoyed, jealous or angry when someone else is having a good time or enjoying something. Something that happens to sports, smoking, gardeners and so on but what it’s like for a gamer. Yes there can be someone always trying to tell the gamer what he/she should do and should be interested in but not so much why except the gamer should just do as they say. Usually older people, not necessarily family but even strangers, and especially if the gamer is over 14 years old. But there’s also a few gamers without control who get seriously addicted and disturbed. It helps if parents are into gaming, because then they understand the problem at hand.
Age aspect is also a thing to consider. Most active FPS players that play seriously are 18-40 yo. US gamer age average is way over 30. There’s a reason there’s age limits on the games. Not all games are made for kids etc.
I’ve found games to be a good “hobby” even though i take them very seriously. It’s in my interest, i like it, it’s what i do so i do it no matter what anybody else says. I can do other things too, rollerblade, swim, frisbee, snowboard etc. While playing you can relax physically while you develop your reflexes and heighten your senses. there’s differences between PC gamers and console gamers. if someone wants to combine games and excercise literally they can get a Wii console.
A gamer is a conflicted person to many, amongst themselves they are friend or foe, teamm8s or acquiantances, strangers briefly or trustworthy soulm8s. There’s more to them than meets the eye. Articles about them should open the eyes of those who wish to know the gamer and answers to the question “Why?”.
genozide, posted this comment on Jul 6th, 2009
Oh.. forgot to mention an example for the excercise and gaming part literally with the Wii console.
The army got a sponsored batch of Wii consoles to help them excercise on their spare time with game mats to do pushups on etc. So there’s more to Wii than the “chucks”.
US army excercised with the game Full Spectrum Soldier. The prototype of internet was a military project for communication called Arpanet. Now its use has grown into a part of most peoples everyday life. If i’d choose between watching TV or playing a game i’d choose the game. The game development is lightyears from what it was ten or twenty years ago. TV.. i won’t go into that.
O.O
S.T, posted this comment on Jul 6th, 2009
A good article in general. It’s true that more areas could have been explored in this article, however the added consideration of these areas, such as potential psychological and social issues, would have caused this to be a soul-breakingly long article. I’m glad this article was left shorter, otherwise I probably would not have read it.
It may be true, as some people have said in comments, that sports is better in the long run due to the benefits of becoming healthier, and having more of your time consumed by organising. However the gamer generally does not think of these side affects, just as most people would not think of the salad they could be having instead of eating this plate of chips. Many people (like your average gamer) go for games because of it being the easy option, which does not require the organisation. I, for instance, take an active interest in certain sports and personal fitness, however I still find myself sitting infront of glowing screens without pause for an inhuman length of time. It’s just easy to slip into.
I enjoyed this article a lot, and it provoked a good amount of discussion. I agreed with what you were saying in this article and I found the writing style interesting, although the football text could have been shortened a bit. Good Job
Sn0W1310, posted this comment on Jul 7th, 2009
I can see where you’re coming from Geno, but I wanted to keep this article shortish. I used the football example as I knew that was what I could talk about after experiencing it first person. A lot of the things you, Shane and S.T have said I plan to do in future articles, I’m currently planning a series called A Guide To Online Gaming which will give an overview of pretty much everything to do with online gaming including psychological and social issues, what other people think, different types of gamer, the appeal of different games etc. After the response to this one I hope there will be a fair bit of interest in this series. I’ll probably release them once or twice a week. Anyways, send me an email, follow me on twitter, add me on msn or facebook if you’re interested, I’m going to try and get a fair bit of interest before I start writing these next articles so spread the word. Anyone is welcome to add or email me.
Yellow-Sn0W1310@hotmail.com
http://twitter.com/Sn0W1310
http://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Brad-Mullan/597492326
genozide, posted this comment on Jul 7th, 2009
Thank you, snow. I do have to say i got a bit carried away.. as usual i guess.
Emphasis on the ok article meaning i’m glad you have written it and it’s a good read. Enjoyed it and if you share some later i’ll definately read it if possible.
Something else, though.. Gamers are individuals as are sporting people individuals. I easily see red when things are generalised because i’d like to try see things both ways. There’s no perfect solution but the way i see it if an individual is happy and enjoys what they are doing they can take the consequences and the burdens of it as well as the benefits and prizes of it. Wether it be sports, games, writing or marriage. >.<
keep up the good work.
fishfry aka Elizabeth Figueroa, posted this comment on Jul 29th, 2009
I totally agree, since I have kids, friends and family member who prefer those games instead of going out. Sometimes it is my fault since I have something I want to write, and then get caught up in work and then back to reading. Sometimes its not your fault, its the big thing going on around us ALL
Pimaster Ninja, posted this comment on Aug 28th, 2009
Yeah, I agree. Games are easier, but sometimes they can’t match up to going outside or getting itno a gunfight (not a real one, but those are fun too if you’re shooting blanks) BB gun fights are awesome, and I pwn everyone when I listen to slayer at the same time. 
Pimaster Ninja, posted this comment on Aug 28th, 2009
Yeah, I agree. Games are easier, but sometimes they can\’t match up to going outside or getting itno a gunfight (not a real one, but those are fun too if you\’re shooting blanks) BB gun fights are awesome, and I pwn everyone when I listen to slayer at the same time.
Goatslayer, posted this comment on Nov 6th, 2009
You WOULD be lucky to get 10 people out for a game of SOCCER, because you are a dumb ass and nobody who actually knows you want’s to be you friend
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V3n0mNI, posted this comment on Jun 29th, 2009
that was a very good article, i play cs myself, and the thrill you get from it being many on one and winning are astounding, i just love the reactions of my team at how amazed the shots were etc.
i have played cs for about 4 – 5 years,and i have been playing gears of war for xbox, the first one not the second one (mp sucks in my opinion) since it came out and i have to say it is prob my fav game of all time atm, but anyway good article