Though I’ve grown up with Nintendo, PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and most recently Xbox 360, Age of Empires is the only video game that I have ever been “addicted” to and it is played on a PC, unlike any of these other gaming systems. To say that I say that I was “addicted” is to say that I thought about the game when I was not playing it and made it the first thing I did when I came home from school many days. I would immediately drop my backpack when I walked in the door and boot up my PC to destroy the Assyrians. I classify this “addiction” as mild. My brothers were obsessed with Crash Bandicoot, James Bond’s Nightfire, Tony Hawk, Call of Duty, and NBA Inside Drive. They would play until my mom came and hit the power button on the Xbox, picked up the unit, and hid it somewhere in the house. The next week became a hide-and-seek game between my mother and brothers. My brothers would find the Xbox, play it for an hour or so, and then put it back in her closet before she came home. (Hope mom doesn’t find my blog!) She became smarter with time and simply hid the power supply. However, she forgot that Xbox sent us a new power supply because of the overheating issues, so my bros always had a backup. I never became obsessed with games like they did. Age of Empires was a phase for me, not a lifestyle. I occasionally played multiplayer games with my brothers, but Age of Empires is the only game that truly excited me.
Age of Empires is a game about civilizations. The goal is to develop your civilization and conquer your opponent’s civilization. To win, I had to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the Byzantine artillery compared to the Ottoman’s artillery. Age of Empires is not your typical game of hand eye coordination, like Pong is. I learned a lot from my middle school Age of Empires phase. It’s a game of strategy. It was a challenge, a puzzle, and a mental exercise for me. I was frustrated more often than not. I had to figure out how to allocate my civilization’s resources to grow my town center while expanding my military. I had to figure out the best mix of catapults and archers. Sometimes I sent one citizen to explore the map to look for resources and to spy on my opponent’s town center. I had to analyze the map to determine how I could protect my base and attack my opponent’s base. I had to learn how to build a civilization. If I built a religious center I could have priests to convert my opponents. The details and complexities of Age Of Empires are vast. When I took World History freshman year of high school I already knew about the advantages of the Iron Age, versus the Stone Age. In history, I was already familiar with the Byzantine Empire and was more interested than my peers because I had created a successful civilization.My experience with Age of Empires was healthy and educational. I played Age of Empires for a few hours at a time, but it wasn’t daily. I don’t have an addictive personality, so being completely obsessed and hypnotized by a video game is foreign concept to me. There haven’t been any other games that have excited me like Age of Empires did. I’m sure they exist, but I don’t plan on spending hours looking for one. And even if I had become completely obsessed and severely addicted, my mom would have just hid my PC’s power supply.
I've never played the Age of Empires myself, but I have watched people play and if you don't know what is going on it is extremely boring. So I guess my opinion of the game is kind of meaningless, but I tend to dislike historical games. In terms of game addiction, I think everyone has their own definition. In the blog you compared your addiction to your brothers' addiction while I, who don't play any games(except on a friend's IPhone)would see your addiction in a different light. I also noticed that you considered your time spent on Age of Empires to be healthy, which got me thinking about the difference between an addiction to the Age of Empires and one to the X box. Is it okay to be addicted to the Age of Empires because it is educational?
ReplyDeleteI think AOE is one of those games that an entire generation was obsessed with. Put two guys at Berkeley in a room together, and I feel like they would have either Pokemon or Age of Empires in common.
ReplyDeleteI feel like there is also something perfectly balanced about Age of Empires. You put a lot of effort into building your little town (or if you used steroids, no effort at all ;) ), and when they finally took up arms, there was a sense of pride in your men. Yet, at the same point, there was no endless continual of improvement and boredom. It was one game, of the right length, with wars and farming, and boom, it was done.
I don't really agree with the educational part of it though. Even though I told my mom I was learning about the Stone Age, all I was really doing was trying to get to the bronze age as fast as possible.
P.S: You should try Minecraft if you havent already.
-Bhavik
Real time strategy games have a way of getting people hooked. You're constantly improving strategies, trying out new builds, and figuring out how to best balance army size and technological development. In this sense Age of Empires is also a lot like Blizzard's Starcraft, which has swept around the world as a terribly addicting game. Gamers often watch webcasts of professional players to learn new strategies to improve their own game.
ReplyDelete--K Chiang
I learnt about AOE when I was a middle school kid. Back in those days, my friends asked me to attend some computer science class at school during holidays. The only thing I learnt in that class was AOE. Yay!
ReplyDeleteMy friends and I were divided into two groups, playing against each other. I am not a big fan of it. It means I won't pick up the game when I am alone. Probably, the game recalls my ecstatic old memory. That's why it is one of favorite multi-player games.
By the way, I like the way you write blog. It is really narrative. It is a pleasant reading.
Bhavik says, "Even though I told my mom I was learning about the Stone Age, all I was really doing was trying to get to the bronze age as fast as possible."
ReplyDeleteI think this sums up the whole "educational aspect" of many games. Ha!
I agree that this is a nicely written blog, as are they all. Great storytelling sense.