A lot has been said about gaming preference in the west. But there seldom are points of view about escapism in Asia (maybe concentrated in Korea and China, the gaming Meccas of our region). But few have dared venture into the pschye and the preference of the Filipino gamer when in comes to escapism and the general preference of the pinoy in games.

Go out and ask ten pinoy gamers and you’ll probably get ten different answers on their preference for video games. I’m not claiming that the list below is an accurate one but based on conversations with other gamers, my experience in the online gaming industry, coupled with itty-bitty research, methinks I can come up with something close.

Time now to get inside the mind of the pinoy gamer…

1. “THE BEST” (The godlike complex) - perhaps one of the more obvious reasons on why pinoys love playing. They just want to prove to others (maybe some to themselves) that they are the BEST. Outgun, outplay, outlevel, outwealth and kill all your enemies. That’s the reason why LAN games such as DOTA and CounterStrike are so popular… the quick fix of “owning” your friends is sheer joy to probably 9 out of 10 Filipino gamers. This is also true of Philippine online games. How common is it to find a player who will go to any means (even illegally) just to get an edge over the others in PVP, their guild enemies and even their “shopmates”? (“pare! +10 lahat gamit ko! May boss card pa lahat! Amp!”)

2. Social (grupo-grupo) – this has a relationship to the godlike complex above. Some players want to organize complex groups – be they a guild, a group of players, or a clique in an internet cafe. This is done either to acquire friends (this is good) or to go out and prove to their friends that they’re superior (not good /gg). Often, a true leader arises from the pack and shines. Good if he wants to foster teamwork and win tournaments or competition, but it ain’t worth it if some do it just to serve their own personal gain. Gawd, how close is this to Philippine politics??? Close enough for me not to write about perhaps. sigh.

3. “Karir” (Scammer day ako?) – Aha! Another reason to get into games (especially online games). One can have a “profitable” (and shady) career by either scamming others and pretending to be a girl (chicksilog) or going inside the game to look around for REAL GIRLS and pester them for dates, cellphone numbers or EB (eye-ball). The chicksilogs see their “target market” and try to make a living by fooling the crap out of the gullible fools! Tsk! Tsk… it’s a vicious, never-ending cycle.

The other type of “Karir” are those who ply the underground market of RMT (Real Money Trading) [called "PHP" here in our country] by either farming (or stealing) items and selling them to fat, lazy rich boys who don’t have time to get their hands dirty (sorry… but it’s true). I’ve heard that some people really make good money on this. Sheesh. Shame! Shame!

What we Like

I had an informal survey of gamers (in 2005) and they came up with this list on “what features are important to you” in an online game. Here’s that list, with the first being the most important.

1. Items
2. Character Advancement
3. PVP
4. Community (chat and communication features)
5. Story

Sad that “story” is last. But it’s good that the RF Online team is bent on promoting the values of story to its community.

But that’s material for another post.

‘nite!

Strength and Honor!

GM T