Why do you think First Person Shooting Games are Popular in Western Culture?

[Dragon]

I have a question for you all - Why do you think first person shooter and war games are so popular in this generation of video gaming?

I mean, this is probably just speaking from my overall perspective, but, in the 90s and early 2000s, we have many many popular video games from various genres such as RPG, Action, Sports, Racing and Strategy/Simulation. However, kids in North America nowadays seem to be mostly interested in first person shooter games such as the Halo games, the Call of Duty games, Project Snowblind, Black, Timesplitters, and so on, except for a minority of games from other genre such as Super Mario and Pokemon. Do you think that this is a good trend to keep?

How does first-person shooter games grab the interests of kids, rather than the other genres of video games? Do they have "something" more to them that are more fun, like the overall gameplay, the options available, and so on? Or, could there be something more to this? Any other thoughts? What do you personally think of these first-person shooter games?

 

[Sonata]

People like to be able to shoot things that look like actual people. Because seeing it on the news every day isn't enough to fulfill their lusts, they have to be able to do it themselves in a first person setting. It makes people feel better to be able to shoot someone with a gun, even if in a game. They're more "fun" because it's closer to real life and it's easier to take out rage on your friends and not have them want to kill you in person.

 

[Sydian]

People like to be able to shoot things that look like actual people. Because seeing it on the news every day isn't enough to fulfill their lusts, they have to be able to do it themselves in a first person setting. It makes people feel better to be able to shoot someone with a gun, even if in a game. They're more "fun" because it's closer to real life and it's easier to take out rage on your friends and not have them want to kill you in person.

If this is how people actually feel and think when playing shooter games, then I fear for us. Not everyone that pops in Call of Duty feels that way of course, but knowing that some do is enough to concern me.

 

[acatfrommars]

I think people over here are more aggressive, and are less patient than those in Eastern cultures. We want a fast paced game like Call of Duty or Battlefield, whereas people in Eastern Culture like a longer game like Fire Emblem, Dragon Quest, and Puzzles and Dragons. Anime is bigger in the Eastern Part of the world so I think that has an effect as well, more Japanese gamers play games like Jump Ultimate Vs, One Piece games Tales of Vesperia, Inazuma Eleven over there. Furthermore, the Wii U sells better in Japan so that also has an impact. And the advertisements and commercials are probably different in the Eastern part so propaganda probably plays an affect as well.

 

[Trev]

I think people like it because it puts them in situations they would never/most likely wouldn't be in. ex.: Call of Duty. A lot of gamers think taking the role of a military personnel is "badass" and "cool", and these games let them live through that from the safety of their home. They know that in games, they'll get to restart if they die, so there's no real way for them to lose. It's kind of like virtual reality without the reality.

 

[twocows]

Uh, because they're fun. It's not a cultural thing. Constant action and adrenaline rush is fun. I would question more why some people don't care for them.

 

[Leviathan]

Because little kids favour gratuitous violence over more appropriate kid-like things? Nawh, in all seriousness, I dislike this new gaming trend. Not only because every second AAA game these days seems to involve shooting and/or first person perspective in some shape or form, but it's been the death nail for other genres that I loved. That and I'm sick of seeing COD games being released.

 

[Keiran]

I think it's pretty obvious if you've ever played an FPS online with voice chat on: westerners, especially Americans, more commonly enjoy "owning" people violently. I think other gaming cultures prefer the satisfaction that comes from winning through strategy/skill etc, which is why games like Starcraft are so popular.

It doesn't help that American game companies, like Microsoft, seem to believe "Car" and "Gun" are the only genres of video games.

 

[Aeroblast]

Over the years I've seemed to notice that marketing of games in the west are geared more towards shooters, hence they increase in popularity over other genres.

 

[ZetaZaku]

Because we are barbarians in constant need to destroy stuff. Hence why modern shooters are adding destructible environment. Now you can shoot and destroy and stuff.

 

[Oryx]

I don't think it's very fair to compare percentages, because the amount has grown drastically and the growth was far from random. While the genres were different when the video game industry was smaller, the people were also different that made up the majority of the gaming population. The type of people who were more aggressive tended not to play games as much; now it's popular enough that even if you're not a "gamer", you probably have experience with some games. Which means, since the kinds of things you're into are less cerebral and faster paced, shooters are perfect.

Although it doesn't help that we've been at war literally nonstop since 2001. For people my age, born in the early 90s, right as we were becoming aware of the world around us, we went into war and haven't stopped since. It's just as much a part of our lives as sports.

I don't think it's very fair to compare percentages, because the amount has grown drastically and the growth was far from random. While the genres were different when the video game industry was smaller, the people were also different that made up the majority of the gaming population. The type of people who were more aggressive tended not to play games as much; now it's popular enough that even if you're not a "gamer", you probably have experience with some games. Which means, since the kinds of things you're into are less cerebral and faster paced, shooters are perfect.

Although it doesn't help that we've been at war literally nonstop since 2001. For people my age, born in the early 90s, right as we were becoming aware of the world around us, we went into war and haven't stopped since. It's just as much a part of our lives as sports.

 

[Rogue planet]

It's been popular since the mid 90s when game tech was good enough for them to be made properly. Doom was popular, Wolfenstein, Medal of Honour, Goldeneye, Counter Strike... It really kicked off thanks to online play, because it's a quick, simple game style and because all the other kids at school play it.

CoD has reached this level because of ruthless advertising and a constant increasing budget that has completely demolished most competition out there. The genre itself has always been this popular, it's just a lot more noticeable now because it's been monopolized by CoD


Also if you look at best selling games, you will see that most of them are actually not FPS.


Boys will always be fascinated with war and playing soldiers. In 1913 it was Little Wars, and now it is this.