"And switching inputs is death for gamers, because it cuts them off from their community. As soon as you turn inputs on the TV, you're no longer getting game invites, multiplayer invites, leaderboard change notifications, or invitations of any sort. You are cut off."
I've always wondered: how prevalent is this kind of hyper-social gamer? I've played my fair share of games, but I've never been flooded with requests of all sorts, and switching inputs to quickly do something else never caused me to cry out in anguish.
I used to feel the same way, then my son suggested I get an xbox so we could play some grand theft auto 5 together (and lately it's battlefield 4). Since then I've come to really appreciate when I turn on my xbox knowing that whether he's already playing. And it's sort of annoying having to turn on my xbox just to see if he is available.
Over time I started joining parties with his friends, and adding them to my friends list, and chatting with them independently. For all of them, the normal routine is to hop on the xbox and join whatever friends you have online doing what they're doing. From the people I've talked to online, the number one factor about whether they will use ps4 vs xbox one has to do with which one their friends are going to be using.
So I'd say that the hyper social gamer is a very common creature indeed. You just need one good game and one good friend, and before you know it you're making memories together online and having a great time.
Oh yeah, I understand the fun that's had by playing with friends. I have 2 or 3 friends I play games with regularly...and I can find out if they want to play Borderlands by texting them, 'Want to play Borderlands?'
I realize my own experience can't invalidate the entire idea of needing consoles to be so 'community' centric. I'm just wondering if it's true that a significant amount of gamers (or even an insignificant amount) are getting so many messages and invitations over Xbox Live or PSN that switching inputs for a second completely destroys their experience.
You're not going to text 24 friends and see if they want to play Borderlands. What I'm talking about is more like "Cheers": there's a place that everybody you know hangs out, and you show up, and there's people already there. You chat with them, do stuff, catch up. That's the currently reality of console gaming for tons of people, and it's very common.
Also, this is a 2006 Xbox 360 problem, not a 2014 Xbox One problem. Hi, Microsoft, I have a computer in my pocket. If I'm watching tv, just send me a notification to that. Chances are I'm on it if I'm on the couch anyway.
Console + TV in one is still better than having to switch inputs. Also, with SmartGlass, Microsoft will probably do very interesting things combining your phone + tv + Xbox.
Comments
"And switching inputs is death for gamers, because it cuts them off from their community. As soon as you turn inputs on the TV, you're no longer getting game invites, multiplayer invites, leaderboard change notifications, or invitations of any sort. You are cut off."
I've always wondered: how prevalent is this kind of hyper-social gamer? I've played my fair share of games, but I've never been flooded with requests of all sorts, and switching inputs to quickly do something else never caused me to cry out in anguish.
I used to feel the same way, then my son suggested I get an xbox so we could play some grand theft auto 5 together (and lately it's battlefield 4). Since then I've come to really appreciate when I turn on my xbox knowing that whether he's already playing. And it's sort of annoying having to turn on my xbox just to see if he is available.
Over time I started joining parties with his friends, and adding them to my friends list, and chatting with them independently. For all of them, the normal routine is to hop on the xbox and join whatever friends you have online doing what they're doing. From the people I've talked to online, the number one factor about whether they will use ps4 vs xbox one has to do with which one their friends are going to be using.
So I'd say that the hyper social gamer is a very common creature indeed. You just need one good game and one good friend, and before you know it you're making memories together online and having a great time.
Oh yeah, I understand the fun that's had by playing with friends. I have 2 or 3 friends I play games with regularly...and I can find out if they want to play Borderlands by texting them, 'Want to play Borderlands?'
I realize my own experience can't invalidate the entire idea of needing consoles to be so 'community' centric. I'm just wondering if it's true that a significant amount of gamers (or even an insignificant amount) are getting so many messages and invitations over Xbox Live or PSN that switching inputs for a second completely destroys their experience.
You're not going to text 24 friends and see if they want to play Borderlands. What I'm talking about is more like "Cheers": there's a place that everybody you know hangs out, and you show up, and there's people already there. You chat with them, do stuff, catch up. That's the currently reality of console gaming for tons of people, and it's very common.
Also, this is a 2006 Xbox 360 problem, not a 2014 Xbox One problem. Hi, Microsoft, I have a computer in my pocket. If I'm watching tv, just send me a notification to that. Chances are I'm on it if I'm on the couch anyway.
to be fair, i think they do realize that and smartglass does just that..
Console + TV in one is still better than having to switch inputs. Also, with SmartGlass, Microsoft will probably do very interesting things combining your phone + tv + Xbox.