What Type of Gamer are You?

DirtyMike · Post by **DirtyMike** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:15 am

I got hooked in 1978 with PanzerBlitz. From there it quickly got out of control with AH titles like Third Reich, The Russian Campaign, Fortress Europa, Battle of the Bulge, Victory in the Pacific, etc. I still own copies of all of these and about 20 more besides. Haven't played any of them in at least 20 years, though. Recently got hooked again by CEAW, though. And I thought I was clean...

If I had to categorize myself, I guess I'd say i'm mostly a 1(historian) with a healthy dose of 6(gamer) thrown in. I never really cared if I won or lost. For me the real victory was finding an opponent.

JimWC · Post by **JimWC** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 2:16 am

Well, I pulled out my old copy of Jon's book. Everybody's a little bit of everything, so none of this hedging your bets with picking several categories. You should choose just one. I guess I'm the Competitor since I don't see much point in playing a game that isn't balanced, but especially since I fit the description: "He buys fewer games than some others in the hobby, but he plays the ones he owns repeatedly." Jon hit the nail on the head with that phrase.

I'm particularly struck by how unchanged the appeal of a good wargame is after all these years. The same qualities that made for a great paper wargame can be found in CAEW (but it is nice to lose the rulebook).

gchristie · Post by **gchristie** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:52 am

JimC wrote:(but it is nice to lose the rulebook).

And those little cardboard counters that my fingers were too big to be able to move around without messing up the board!

pk867 · Post by **pk867** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:56 am

That's what tweezers are for.

I guess I am a number 5. I have about 88 games in the basement.

AH, SPI, S&T, Victory Games. My favorite was playing VITP combined with WAS together in the mod Victory at Sea.

GPT55 · Post by **GPT55** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:43 pm

The first war game I ever played was Avalon Hill’s Gettysburg (1964 edition), which had squares instead of hexagons, and units were rectangles with distinct fronts, backs, and sides (you got better odds if you attacked from the rear or sides). I was about 8 years old at the time—my older brother needed an opponent. I played many Avalon Hill and SPI games on and off until the mid/late seventies. Then I hardly ever played for over 30 years until I ran across CEAW in 2010. Now I’m hooked again—CEAW is such a great game, and I can find opponents all over the world! I suppose I am foremost a competitor/gamer, and somewhat a historian, and a bit of the rest.

Diplomaticus · Post by **Diplomaticus** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:40 pm

Thanks for the fun thread. Seems like there are a lot of us old-school board gamers still out there.

I'm a ditto on a lot of the above (maybe I'd even say that Third Reich was my first love? maybe not...), but I'll add that I also loved to play Diplomacy and was just frustrated that it was so hard to get enough players together to make a good game. I used to have to go to conventions (ORIGINS, anyone?) to play. That is, until I discovered PBEM Diplomacy via the website "The Diplomatic Pouch."

I haven't played much in recent years, but I used to be a pretty competitive player. If you haven't tried it yet, check out the site: http://www.diplom.org/index.py

Peter Stauffenberg · Post by **Peter Stauffenberg** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 10:50 pm

It's weird that nobody have written that they're are a 3 (assassin). I know several GS players who certainly qualify for the label assassin.

rkr1958 · Post by **rkr1958** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 1:40 pm

I changed this to a poll question so we could better see the breakdown of what type of players we have here.

Cybvep · Post by **Cybvep** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 2:04 pm

4, mostly. I like history and I like playing games, but if the game is not challenging for me, then I don't see the point in playing. Strategy games are not cRPGs - story is not the most important element here, the "raw" gameplay is. If I can easily win every time, then I would rather read a book or surf the Internet.

Morris · Post by **Morris** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 2:09 pm

rkr1958 wrote:I changed this to a poll question so we could better see the breakdown of what type of players we have here.

since Borger complained no one choose 3 , I vote 3 for fun . I do not know whether I am qualified .

Peter Stauffenberg · Post by **Peter Stauffenberg** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:29 pm

Morris wrote:
rkr1958 wrote:I changed this to a poll question so we could better see the breakdown of what type of players we have here.
since Borger complained no one choose 3 , I vote 3 for fun . I do not know whether I am qualified .

Yes you are.

Peter Stauffenberg · Post by **Peter Stauffenberg** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:38 pm

I voted a 7 myself since I had to select just one. I play wargames mainly because I'm interested in history and would like to learn more about the real battles and try out what if scenarios or at least recreate the real battles.

I like strategic wargames more than tactical games, but can play both. My favourite era is WW2, but can play modern battles, WW1, American Civil War, Napoleonic war and even some ancient battles.

Right now I'm playing Panzer Corps and GS v2.01. I loved the Civ series and play a bit of Civ 5 as well. Besides wargames I like RPG games like Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect, Dungeons & Dragons Online etc. I can even play shooters like Crysis, Modern Warfare and similar games.

On my iPhone I love to play sudoku, solitaire, angry birds and puzzle games.

Before I played a lot of board games (Diplomacy, World In Flames, Panzergruppe Guderian, Britannia, Advanced Civilization, War In Europe, History of the World etc.) and played PnP RPG games (AD&D, Starwars, James Bond, Gurps etc.). Unfortunately my gaming friends have moved on to other things so I'm "stuck" with computer games.

dagtwo · Post by **dagtwo** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 5:08 pm

I've identified as a 7. I have fond memories of hours spent during lunch hour in high school playing Avalon Hill board games. I still have Battle of the Bulge buried somewhere.

Schnurri · Post by **Schnurri** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 7:36 pm

I got hooked on games when a rich friend got Battle of Midway and Jutland for Christmas. Loved those. Later my brother and I got Stalingrad and Afrika Korps. Played those to death in Junior High. Since then I didn't play for about 30 years - never could find another gamer to play with. Occasionally would buy a game to play solitaire but not that much fun. Had Tobruk and tried to get my wife to play but that was a big mistake. Found CEAW vanilla and played many solitaire games til I found the forum and proceeded to get creamed by merciless experienced players. Hopefully gotten a little better and really enjoy the PBEM games after waiting for 30 years to find an opponent. My favorite is trying out alternative strategies and losing quite often but trying nonetheless.

Morris · Post by **Morris** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:29 am

Stauffenberg wrote:
Morris wrote:
rkr1958 wrote:I changed this to a poll question so we could better see the breakdown of what type of players we have here.
since Borger complained no one choose 3 , I vote 3 for fun . I do not know whether I am qualified .
Yes you are.

Who is the another 3? It appears 2 choice of 3.