Two Unartistic Gamers

From where I stand there are two basic types of gamers, and neither one considers gaming an "art".

First, there's the gameplay gamer. These are the people who demand smooth controls, steady framerates, and care about opponent AI. Gameplay gamers are the guys who can play Counter Strike for five hours straight without getting bored. To them, gaming is a sport.

Then, there's the story gamer. These people will forgive drops in frame rate and wonky mechanics if there's a riveting, immersive story line. This gamer has probably played Myst 5 times, but gets owned on-line. A video game is just another medium to tell a story. To them, gaming is literature.

Which are you? The ongoing debate over Halo can be a litmus test. If you think Halo 2 is the better game, you're a gameplay gamer. If you preferred Halo, you're a story gamer.

It seems to me that most reviewers review from the "gameplay" perspective, so I always have to read between the lines to see if I'm going to like the game. Take Game Informer: On the sidebar they evaluate "Gameplay", "Graphics", "Sound", but the closest they get to the question of "is the story engaging?" or "are the characters memorable?" is "premise." We all know a great premise can fall flat in execution. GameSpot is just as guilty. They evalutate based on 5 criteria: Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, Value, and Tilt. (Tilt is how much the reviewer liked the game.) Story quality might squeak in under tilt, but that's it.

Advent rising is a great example. It has a great story, well-executed. By well executed, I mean the plot progressed steadily, the characters were memorable, and the dialogue and voice acting were enjoyable. However, the XBox version is buggier than the Everglades in summer and the PC version requires the latest AlienWare box to run. In spite of the technical flaws, Advent has a fanatical fanbase that's begging for more, interestingly enough, "in novel form if the games aren't going to come out."

I'm a story gamer. I loved Advent Rising and Legend of A'lon Dar in spite of their glaring technical flaws. I play my shooters on "Easy" the first time through so I can see how the story turns out as fast as possible, and I can't see what people like about Counter Strike.

So Reviewers, share the love. There's an entire class of gamers out there you're missing.