258 – Playing games in Adelaide

Video games are played by 67 per cent of Australians, with nearly half of all players being female (46%). Interestingly, the average age of gamers has increased dramatically over the past 10 years, from 25 to 34. And while there’s a split between casual gameplay and in-depth gameplay, the latest Digital Australia 2018 study says most in-depth gamers spend at least an hour a day playing, with males aged 24 playing almost two and a half hours a day. So, why do grown people, parents even, spend time immersed games solving puzzles or shooting people? To find out, we are sitting down with two ordinary, everyday Adelaide dads, Anthony Sebastiani, and his brother-in-law, Fabian Tauriello.

Are you a #gamer? Or are you like Steve was before this episode; bemused by adults spending hours playing #videogames? This week's #Adelaide Show #podcast explores #gaming with two, local #players who take us into their experiences online. Are you ready? https://t.co/8PuZ6IXNnL

— The Adelaide Show (@TheAdelaideShow) August 1, 2018

Just like with gaming, it pays to see what resources and environments you are playing with so let’s start with the basics. How many hours to you spend playing games daily or weekly, and what sort of gameplay are you involved in?

And are you so INTO IT that you would match YouTube star Douglas ‘FaZe Censor’ Martin and dump your partners (he dumped the  ‘World’s Sexiest Weather Girl’) so you can spend more time playing CALL OF DUTY?

Interestingly, listener, Carol Ames, says she plays because it’s fun and challenging and a bit more interactive than watching telly? And that compares well to the top five reasons Australians play video games are Have Fun, Pass Time, De-Stress, Keep Mind Active, Be Challenged. Why do you play?

I have three fond memories of computer games.
1. I wrote my own simulation code in Basic to run a season of SANFL football when I was in year 11 and 12
2. I coached the Adelaide Crows to multiple premierships in AFL 99 on the PC
3. I had the greatest fun yelling, laughing, and swearing, playing Shane Warne’s Cricket on Playstation with my housemate in 2000.

The first had the challenge of writing, the second had the challenge of winning, and the third had the social benefit of being with a mate. In some ways I’d have to say that while the first two were intense, the third was the most memorable. Can virtual playing lead to the same joy?

How does all that compare to passively watching someone else play? Wouldn’t a movie or TV show be better written and planned?

Here the games some listeners play.

Listener, Michael Snoswell, wanted us to mention Fortnite. He said there are apparently 75m users world wide, it’s multi user, free (can spend money if you like to gain better equipment faster), and each game lasts 16minutes. He played a few times: Not as engrossing as Skyrim where I played 400+ hours.

Craig from Big Shed Brewing said he’s played games since he was a kid. It’s just fun. Sometimes solo and sometimes with the kids or friends.

Jamie Bonnet (my nephew) says he plays Dota 2 due to its competitiveness. It’s 5 on 5, has a steep learning curve, and there is a lot of depth, which means there are always ways to be improving.

Carol Ames says she plays LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) and have played RPG’s since the early 1990’s (Ultima Underworld is the first one I remember, Nigel will probably know it  🙂 ). I love fantasy & SF and gaming so it was a natural choice for me  🙂 Have you guys played LOTRO or similar games?

Blaze Hackman (not sure if I should use his real name), is my age and plays Bf1 and pubg on Xbox1 in a clan for Over 40. I have no idea what that means.

What games do you play, and why?
Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds
Hearthstone
Xcom
Sid Meir’s Civilisation
Horizon
Uncharted
The Last Of Us
Fortnite
Elder Scrolls

What are you looking for in a game, technically? For example, Civilisation looks ridiculous and Hearthstone, I think, was just a card game.

Paul Rees from the National Motor Museum let me know that Game Engine:Digital Legends is opening at the National Motor Museum soon. An exhibition that looks at the relationship and history of video games and motoring culture. 11 iconic games from the earliest driving game in 1976 to the latest. We are the first – from what I can tell – serious museum to look at video gaming in a serious way. Except of course for Acmi in Melbourne, but that’s their full brief. It’s quite a bold step for a museum to embrace video gaming as well as a serious cultural and now historical form.

I also mentioned to him about Formula E Live Ghost Racing (where you get to race real drivers doing real races) and he told me a friend of his – now living in San Francisco – created a game program that allowed musicians to play-in with a live orchestra. Fabian, as a computer guy, how much further can this go? Will Augmented Reality take over?

Twitch. Should we use it, do you?

Nigel Dobson-Keeffe challenges the panel to pick the fake story from three stories from South Australia’s past.

NEWS February 1937
Good Bye and Good sailing
Parties for Travellers
FAREWELL parties are the order of the day now that every London bound ship which leaves Outer Harbor takes away some more Adelaide people bound for London and the coronation. FRIENDS of the guests of honor were invited by Miss Joan Solly yesterday afternoon to say fare well to Miss Price and to Miss Gwen Bakewell, who will leave later. Guests who did not wish to. play Bridge were introduced to a fascinating new board game called Monopoly, which eight people can play at once. Monopoly is rapidly taking a hold in Australia, just as it did in America. They played in the drawing room and the lounge of Miss Solly’s home at King Street, Brighton. They were most enthusiastic about the new game, and played without a break except for afternoon tea.

News September 1954
SCRABBLE IS HERE!
The greatest: a game craze of all times in America, in Canada, and England. Scrabble is now making thousands of friends in. the eastern States, and we predict it will a soon become tops in popularity here. It’s is essentially a word building game somewhat akin to crosswords, but you don’t  have to be a cross a word enthusiast to fall under the spell Scrabble. See the daily demonstrations at the Myer Games Department, Ground Floor.

News September 1957
Televising Of Chess Game
Chess was successfully televised in Adelaide for the first time on September 16 and 17, when the mobile unit visited the temporary rooms for the Adelaide Chess Club at the Royal Adelaide Show. Matches between the first and reserve teams was the subject of the preliminary tests, during which clear pictures of the whole of the room, the boards and the progress of play were obtained, it being possible to follow with ease the play of the game. George F. Andrews, the well-known president of the Royal Horticultural Society and a keen player himself was the commentator of the game and was assisted by the Adelaide Chess club president.