Things have gone
batshit crazy on the
streets outside OXM
Towers. People are
running everywhere
and it’s all we can do
to barricade ourselves
in, form a scavenging party to hunt down
some teabags, and decide in principle
who will be the first to be dragged to hell
should the fortress we made out of our
desks and Xboxes be overwhelmed. And,
who will put the kettle on. What’s certain
is that we’re not going outside again.
There are too many people jogging.
We’re all in favour of getting exercise
and being healthy, and we’d urge you all
right now to cut down on those gamer
snacks, get your five a day and for god’s
sake leave the sofa and go outside. In
fact, do it now, pasty. But if you know
any keen runners, you’ll recognise where
some fitness fanatics cross the line and
start to metaphorically self-flagellate like
13th century monks in Nikes. Surely only
the most stubbornly masochistic people
actually enjoy running, and what drives
these masochists to commit, come snow
or freezing rain, must be the same urge
that makes people actually enjoy playing
Dark Souls. Call me lazy, if you want,
because I don’t run. But don’t call me a
‘casual’ gamer because I don’t get a thrill
out of being defeated by a roguelike.Die harder
I never play games on Easy. But rarely
do I seek out the ‘Extremely Hard’ option
either. As you might expect, I play a lot
of Xbox. This, say the people who have
somehow secured a grant to study
gamer behaviour, makes me a ‘core’
gamer. I play a lot, but apparently I don’t
take it seriously enough.
Now, I don’t enjoy getting out of bed
on a freezing winter’s morning to drive to
work, or cleaning the cat’s chods out of
its litter tray. I do those things because
I must, but, even though it’s my job, I
will never see playing Xbox as a chore.humans’) capabilities? I’ve been asking
myself this while trying to not die in
roguelike indie Below, or develop fast
enough reflexes to do the classic Ninja
Gaiden Black on Master Ninja difficulty.
Apparently it’s all to do with your
‘locus of control’. In psychology, this
refers to how in-control of your own
actions you believe yourself to be. If you
have a strong internal locus of control
you’ll believe a game is difficult because
you aren’t yet good enough, and will be
motivated enough to keep trying. If you
externalise your locus, you’ll blame the
game for being too hard, preserving your
ego by not having to admit you’re not
very good at it. I like to think I’m more
the former – I do like to be challenged,
and as a long-time gamer I’m well used
to it. As a child, I enjoyed Ghosts ‘N
Goblins, ferchrissakes. Interesting fact,
younger readers: there was a time that
videogames were so difficult, they were
actually impossible. No autosave. No
limitless lives or handy checkpoints. Even
broken code. I remember that time, and
sometimes wonder how and why such
games ever sparked a lifelong obsession
with videogames. But even now, if I can’t
complete a level, solve a puzzle, defeat
a boss, I will keep at it until I do. This is
bad for me. It results in a loss of sleep,
and anger, frustration and a sense of
stupidity at my gaming ineptness. But,
in spite of myself, I’ll persist until I do it.
Was it worth it? Hell, no. No, it wasn’t.
Still we seem obsessed with making
games as hard as possible. Super Meat
Boy, Cuphead, Souls, the roguelike
genre – games designed to walk a line
between compelling and frustrating. But
sometimes with these games I just feel
punished... and for the sake of my sanity,
I have to make myself walk away. Maybe
it’s time I joined the joggers instead,
and at least if I run, I will eventually be
healthier. Plus it’s got to be a lot less like
hard work than Below... QFollow us on Twitter: @oxm.So why in the name of Miyazaki would
you want to spend your leisure time in a
state of perpetual frustration, ever closer
to smashing your controller, or smashing
your TV, or smashing your TV with your
controller, as a ridiculously devious boss
level remains just beyond your (or mostINSIDER OPINION
Chris’s new year resolution is not to try harder
The Editor
Chris Burke is...
“There was a time
that ames were
so difficult they
were impossible”
022 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE