Mobile gaming - do you do it?

[kitsunebi]

I don't have facts and figures to back up anything.  All I have is daily contact with hundreds of Japanese kids.  Possibly over 1000 in a week's time.  And I can tell you that consoles are not something they care about.  Finding anyone who owns a WiiU let alone a Switch or PS4 isn't all that common.  Handheld gaming is different, of course.  Sometimes it's hard to find a kid who doesn't own a 3DS.  Adults on the other hand are typically too ashamed to publicly admit to owning a gaming system of any kind, so I really can't say how many of my coworkers are closet gamers. 

But kids and adults can definitely agree on one thing - mobile gaming. Dedicated consoles aren't going away anytime soon, but they're going to have to be satisfied with second place behind mobile gaming sales (well, no. Actually consoles are 3rd place behind mobile and PC gaming sales).  It's the future of gaming, whether we like it or not.

But the thing is...I don't play mobile games.  At all.  The closest thing to a game that's installed on my phone is Zombies Run, which is really just a fitness app with a storyline.  Am I missing out?  Are current mobile games worth embracing, or am I justified in curmudgeonly avoiding them like the micro-transaction-ridden money and time wasters I take them for?

 

[Data]

I used to play my DS in bed before I fall asleep.  I never take games out of my house because I feel games should be played at home.  I would rather go for a walk or join a conversation than play with my phone or especially an extra device such as DS or Switch.

It would be possible for me to hall my big laptop on occasion to play a multiplayer game like Diablo: Reaper of Souls. 

[kitsunebi]

2 hours ago, Data said:

I used to play my DS in bed before I fall asleep.  I never take games out of my house because I feel games should be played at home.  I would rather go for a walk or join a conversation than play with my phone or especially an extra device such as DS or Switch.

It would be possible for me to hall my big laptop on occasion to play a multiplayer game like Diablo: Reaper of Souls. 

Lest anyone else be confused, when I talk about mobile gaming, I do not mean portable gaming including handheld systems and laptops.  It strictly means tablets and phones.

[twiztor]

i'm not much of a mobile gamer personally. i tried the PokeMon Go game, but it kept crashing on my phone. I have Super Mario Run installed on there, but i don't think i've played it in over a month (and i haven't even beaten it yet!). a guy i work with has a new game on his phone seemingly every day, but i can't even imagine that.

hell, i'm not even a handheld gamer. i'm just a console gamer. 

[te72]

On 6/30/2017 at 4:10 AM, kitsunebi77 said:

Are current mobile games worth embracing, or am I justified in curmudgeonly avoiding them like the micro-transaction-ridden money and time wasters I take them for?

 

I think you summed up my thoughts on the subject. I won't even own a smart phone for my disdain for touch screen "controls" (quotes used very much in a mocking tone, in case it wasn't clear), much less try to play a game on a phone. Some things need buttons and or other analog controls of some sort.

 

Touch screens have their uses. I struggle to come up with any, personally, but I'm sure someone can make a convincing argument easy enough. They are easy to clean, I suppose there is that. Keyboards tend to get gross, and I can only imagine what grows on some folks' controllers haha. I'm firmly of the belief that cell phone manufacturers have to keep reinventing the wheel, otherwise who would keep buying their products every year? It doesn't really matter to them whether or not the new phone is truly an improvement over the predecessor, so long as marketing can convince the customer that it is and they need to fork over the cash.

 

I'm just waiting until buttons are cool again before "upgrading" my 6 year old Casio phone.

On 7/1/2017 at 1:16 PM, Data said:

I used to play my DS in bed before I fall asleep.  I never take games out of my house because I feel games should be played at home.  I would rather go for a walk or join a conversation than play with my phone or especially an extra device such as DS or Switch.

It would be possible for me to hall my big laptop on occasion to play a multiplayer game like Diablo: Reaper of Souls. 

Good on you bud. Personally, I'm two types of gamer: one is entertained by the game itself (puzzle, racing, rpg), the other is a social gamer. I find it a lot of fun to play games with other folks, or watch others play. It's just a good way to bond with friends and strangers alike.

 

Hmm, that may explain why I'm on here more often than I actually PLAY anything haha!

[kitsunebi]

3 hours ago, te72 said:

I think you summed up my thoughts on the subject. I won't even own a smart phone for my disdain for touch screen "controls" (quotes used very much in a mocking tone, in case it wasn't clear), much less try to play a game on a phone. Some things need buttons and or other Analog controls of some sort.

 

Touch screens have their uses. I struggle to come up with any, personally, but I'm sure someone can make a convincing argument easy enough. They are easy to clean, I suppose there is that. Keyboards tend to get gross, and I can only imagine what grows on some folks' controllers haha. I'm firmly of the belief that cell phone manufacturers have to keep reinventing the wheel, otherwise who would keep buying their products every year? It doesn't really matter to them whether or not the new phone is truly an improvement over the predecessor, so long as marketing can convince the customer that it is and they need to fork over the cash.

If smart phones were primarily phones I'd agree with you.  However, I've owned a smartphone for the past 4 years and I think I've made exactly 2 phone calls in that time.  Really what it is, (and why it's invaluable to me despite the fact that I never call anyone and I don't play any games on it,) is 24/7 internet access right at my fingertips.  Anywhere, anytime, I can check my email or google anything I want to know.  Super convenient.  Also, I use it as a navigation system and audio player in my car.  Another great use is as a camera/video camera (a dedicated SLR is better of course, but when do you actually remember to bring something like that with you?  A cell phone camera is the best kind simply because it's always at hand.)

But yeah.  I'm still not sold on using it for games.

[te72]

I find smart phones to be sub-par at a LOT of things in the same way I find a multi-tool to be useful in a pinch, but not what you'd WANT to use if you have a choice. I'm not out and about often though, so if I need the computer, camera, flashlight, game system, music, what have you, my work phone is rarely ever the first thing I reach for.

[kitsunebi]

3 hours ago, te72 said:

I find smart phones to be sub-par at a LOT of things in the same way I find a multi-tool to be useful in a pinch, but not what you'd WANT to use if you have a choice. I'm not out and about often though, so if I need the computer, camera, flashlight, game system, music, what have you, my work phone is rarely ever the first thing I reach for.

Yes, if you're at home, your mobile phone is probably the least qualified to do any of the myriad things it is capable of doing.  But if you're actually mobile, it's usefulness to size ratio can't be beat, and it's likely you won't have all that other stuff at hand.  Unless you're traveling in a mobile home, of course.

[te72]

On 7/12/2017 at 2:26 AM, kitsunebi77 said:

Yes, if you're at home, your mobile phone is probably the least qualified to do any of the myriad things it is capable of doing.  But if you're actually mobile, it's usefulness to size ratio can't be beat, and it's likely you won't have all that other stuff at hand.  Unless you're traveling in a mobile home, of course.

To be clear, my biggest criticism of modern phones is simply the lack of buttons. Give me a big screen and a flip down or slide out keyboard with buttons that fit human thumbs, and I'll probably buy one. Touch screen only? I'd sooner go back to a flip phone, if only because I've yet to have one of those make me wanna toss it across the room... or in the nearest pool... or into traffic... you get the picture.

 

As for my specific case, I live in what could best be described as the middle of nowhere. Apart from hanging out with friends, there really isn't much to do around here, so I spend most of my free time at home. Also, if you're hanging out with friends, and your phone is a big factor, I'd suggest that perhaps you're doing it wrong.

[kitsunebi]

Unless you're talking about the horribly archaic way people used to type messages using the numeric buttons on old cell phones, I'm pretty sure a full keyboard that is also small enough to fit in a pocket is something of a physical impossibility.  To make it pocket-sized, the keys have to be really small - even smaller than those on a touch screen.  My dad still owns a Blackberry with a full keyboard and it's ridiculously hard to type on it.

I agree that touch screens are harder to type on than a full-size keyboard, but that's a pretty obvious statement, isn't it?  Kind of like saying how I prefer to watch movies on a large screen as opposed to streaming on my phone because it's easier to see.  If I'm gonna type something long like this, I do it on my computer.  But when I'm on the go, the most I usually have to type are a few words in a google search or whatever, so I can put up with the slight inconvenience.

It's probably because I use my smartphone primarily for accessing the Internet, but for me, owning a smartphone has been exactly like getting Internet access for the first time.  Before I had it I never felt like I was missing anything, but now that I have it, I can't imagine giving it up.

[te72]

I know what you mean about the Blackberry, even their larger model had really small keys. A shame, really, because I liked a lot of other features of them, but the keys were too small for my fingers.

 

However, I've owned a couple different LG models (the VX9800 and EN-V, I think it was called) as well as a Casio G'Zone Brigade that I still use daily. All of them had reasonable sized keyboards, the Casio is roughly 3.75" in width, 1.75" in height. Not big enough for all eight fingers that you'd normally type with, but big enough that someone with fast thumbs (like your typical gamer) can type out a coherent message just fine.

 

I've had an iphone for work for about 2.5 years now, and unless I absolutely have to, I avoid using it to message people or email from it. What would take me just a couple minutes to type out on a computer or my personal phone would take 10 to 15 minutes, with me fixing all the errors. I'm a firm believer that if something needs technology such as auto-correct or talk to text in order for it to be used, it was a bad design in the first place.

[kitsunebi]

Of course, even if a smartphone had a decent-sized physical keyboard (now there's a strange mental image), it would still have to have touch screen functionality to make it useful for anything other than texting.  Imagine using a PC nowadays and surfing the net without a mouse.  Even more painful than typing on a touchscreen, I'd imagine.

I suspect that the reason smartphones have gotten larger in recent years is a response to concerns like yours.  Imagine trying to type on the original iPhone

[te72]

You know, I've always been partial to the nub style mouse found on some older laptops. They work well for limited size applications... I do see your point though, and even though my iphone is a 6 I believe, it still just doesn't feel right to not actually be touching anything when I try to type. I swear the thing thinks I'm hitting every key OTHER than the one I'm trying to hit,  unless I take my time and carefully try to type out what I mean. Even then, it's a crapshoot compared to my Casio.

 

Perhaps a compromise then, albeit an unlikely one: keyboard for text entry, and stylus for pointing. My human fingers aren't so good at touching what I want, and while there are very few ways for me to get genuinely frustrated, a phone that doesn't work as I intend it to is very much one of them.

 

That last point you make, about surfing without a mouse? I'm actually one of those folks who learned how to use a computer without one at all... there aren't many things I haven't figured out how to do with just a keyboard. Huh... perhaps that explains a lot, now that I step back and think about it. Go figure, DOS-kid has little use for touch screens. Back in my day...    That said, the mouse has its uses, and it isn't fun to be without one, but it can be done.

[kitsunebi]

12 minutes ago, te72 said:

That last point you make, about surfing without a mouse? I'm actually one of those folks who learned how to use a computer without one at all... there aren't many things I haven't figured out how to do with just a keyboard. Huh... perhaps that explains a lot, now that I step back and think about it. Go figure, DOS-kid has little use for touch screens. Back in my day...    That said, the mouse has its uses, and it isn't fun to be without one, but it can be done.

No, I'm the same.  My first gaming experience was on a Commodore Vic 20, typing in my own game programs (out of a book).  And well before I ever owned an NES (my first console), I was gaming in DOS on a Tandy (PC compatible) computer.

Still, take away the mouse or a touchpad (hell, just take away the scroll wheel on the mouse), and I definitely miss them dearly.

[te72]

Scroll wheel, I would definitely have trouble going without that in this day and age. What irks me though, is when websites break keyboard functionality. It would be one thing if it were a new site, or a new to developing creator, but when you already have a solid foundation for a website, and you update it, and now the enter key no longer works, I have to click on a space on the screen way down below?

 

Well, ya done messed up at that point.

[orthicviper]

i don't do mobile games because I need physical buttons to enjoy my games. I tried finding some strategy games that wouldn't benefit from physical buttons but they all looked kinda boring.

[te72]

5 hours ago, orthicviper said:

i don't do mobile games because I need physical buttons to enjoy my games. I tried finding some strategy games that wouldn't benefit from physical buttons but they all looked kinda boring.

High five! Same here... first thought when you said strategy game? Final Fantasy Tactics. Not sure why, just the first thing that came to mind. Not sure I could do it though, given my love of touch screen accuracy. I think a game like Suikoden might work alright on a phone though...