Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Nathan considers how his analytical mind and love of data influence his recreation time...
I’m the oldest of four brothers. Over the past four years we’ve used video games as a means for connecting with each other. But not in the way you might expect. We haven't been playing games together. Instead, we have an annual tradition of holding a weeks-long discussion and debate about games, game music, and most recently, to crown our collective favorite game ever.
Our yearly debates have been a convenient way to connect. They’ve also provided me with a unique learning experience. I’ve noticed, more clearly than ever, how my personality is reflected in how I experience gaming, the hobby that I’ve maintained for basically my entire life.
30-Day Challenges
Our annual tradition began as a COVID lockdown activity. I came across a “30-Day Video Game Music Challenge” chart on the web and thought it would be fun to fill it out. The chart has 30 video game music categories, one for each day, including “Title Screen Music”, “Credits Music”, and everything in between.
The raw data wasn’t enough for me - I had to discover the stories behind the data.
As I filled it out, I wondered how my brothers would answer those same questions, and how their answers would differ from my own. We grew up in the same house, after all.
Everyone agreed to the challenge and we took a week or two to prep. I started a texting thread and at 8am each day we collectively answered that day's question. Answers came in the form of a link to a YouTube video of our song choice, along with a brief explanation.
Crunching the Numbers
Naturally, I captured everything in a spreadsheet.
I say, “naturally” but this was the first indication that my approach to gaming differed from that of my brothers. All four of us enjoyed listening to each other’s song choice, but I was the only one who looked for trends in our answers. I wanted to dissect and analyze. The raw data wasn’t enough for me - I had to discover the stories behind the data.
Which of us was the most nostalgic? What console appeared the most often? Which franchises were overrepresented?
These were questions that demanded my attention and required my analysis. My brothers humored me as I shared my musings, but it was clear that they weren’t as “into it” as I was. My approach was different.
Leading the Way
During round one, we relied on that pre-made “game music” challenge. The following year, in 2021, I decided to get creative by crafting my own 30-day challenge. This time, each question would be answered with the name of a game.
The categories included “The first video game you remember playing”, “An underrated game”, “Favorite or memorable boss fight” (I'll never forget the first time I killed Hitler in Bionic Commando!), and “A game that would make a good movie”. And so on.
Once again, I sent out the daily survey and tallied up the results in my trusty spreadsheet. I was the ringleader, the organizer, and the driving force behind this second round of the Lockard Brothers’ challenge.
I kept the tradition going in 2022 (Essential Movies) and again in 2023, when I forged my magnum opus, the “Lockard Bros. Best. Game. Ever” tournament bracket.
The Bracket
This was our most intricate challenge yet. Compiling a list of games for the bracket required hours upon hours, and that’s not even mentioning how much work went into the construction of the bracket itself.
The full bracket sported 208 games spread across two smaller brackets (retro and modern), 189 head-to-head matchups, 15 play-in brackets, and a top-eight, double-elimination playoff bracket to cap it all off. Maybe I overdid it. Clearly, I was thinking about video games far more than I was playing them.
The tourney was a lot of work to set up, and running it wasn’t a picnic either.
Here’s a pro tip for anyone interested in running a tournament bracket: make sure you have an odd number of voters. My three brothers and I arrived at a 2-to-2 stalemate 36 times in our bracket. That’s almost one in every five matchups.
This exposed my second personality trait - I’m kind of bossy. I acted as the arbiter in these 2-to-2 votes. Maybe it’s a consequence of being the oldest (birth order, and all that), but I made sure that each deadlock was amicably resolved. Every 2-to-2 became 2-plus-to-2. And somehow, we’re still friends.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Super Mario World came out on top.
Personality Types
My brothers and I haven’t held the 2024 edition just yet. Frankly, crowning the best game ever will be a tough act to follow. If you’ve got any ideas, I’m all ears.
Even if last year’s challenge turns out to be the final one, the damage is done: I’m now keenly aware that my personality is laid bare in my gaming habits.
I had as much fun with the planning and number crunching of these gaming-related challenges as I have when I’m actually playing games. Maybe more.
I'm a software architect by trade. Another consequence of my structured, analytical personality. What can I say? I love to organize and analyze. And not just in my code repositories. I like to make lists, inventory my collections, and hunt for the best sales.
Is it any wonder, then, that I’m a sucker for tactical strategy games? Or that I always try to 100% every game I play? Heck, I probably spend as much time cataloging and curating my physical and digital video game collections as I do playing them. Clearly, it’s my mindset (which has been abundantly exposed in the annual challenges) that drives all of these behaviors and preferences.
At this point you might be wondering where I'm going with this. Either that or you're living out that DiCaprio meme, frantically pointing at the screen while yelling, “That's me!” Either way, I hope you’re thinking about how your own personality and passions are reflected in your approach to gaming.
As Socrates said, “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.” I know more about myself because of a few 30-day challenges. Here’s hoping that some wisdom is on its way.
Do you find your personal or professional proclivities affecting the way you enjoy video games? Is the effect always a positive one? Let us know in the comments.
Comments 57
As I’ve gotten older if I can’t 100 per cent a game it upsets me and I give up unsatisfied. Remember that bit in the Mexican desert in Mario odyssey where you capture a bullet bill and ride it to that pillar in the desert to get a moon. No matter what I did I always ran out of time baffled. Had to look up the solution and to go faster I had to shake the controller which was on the screen all along! Felt like such an idiot. Any review that mentions you will have to look at something online puts me right off. Why I didn’t buy animal well xxx
Switch (and by extension Steam Deck) completely changed my gaming habits. Before them I wouldn’t bother with console RPGs or huge open world games with work in the way; I’d rather play things that don’t take too long to get through but having everything handheld makes it so much easier to get through huge games. Also more likely to try and 100% games nowadays whereas before I’d prefer to move on once I rolled credits.
I'm a Lone Wolf so I tend to play Solo.
I like something cute and kiddie so I play a lot of kids games.
I grew up by DDR Arcade so I still keep playing DDR Arcade until today even I will be 40 years old this October.
I have traumatic experience from rated 18+ video games and movies when I was kid so that made me really hate and against with them in extreme level.
I have expanded the game genre diversity started from PS3 so I tried to play games I have never played before but still following my gaming rules.
I make hellish creations when games allow me to. I make the developers regret allowing gamers creativity and imagination.
Videogames were originally my means to escape out of a crowded house with many siblings. Opening a big game world where everyone wanted me to help them was hugely appealing while living in a bedroom with 3 older people who were annoyed at my existing. Professionally I work in data analytics but that runs counter to my gaming habits. I'm not into the data of games and it's still a pocket universe experience where I play mostly solo. I play Pokemon and barely look at the stats or IVs. I just want to shut off that part of my brain when I game and engage in activities where a mistake won't potentially cause massive financial issues.
OCD and ADHD can make gaming or anything a slog. Doing things repetitively to unnecessarily perfect or complete a particular objective, obsessing to the point that one game takes many hours away from others, losing interest after dozens of hours and merely a boss or two short of the game's completion. Sheesh, I'm getting tired just writing this.
I think I've always been open to see the positives in the games I play, and I think that's helped me enjoy games others have tossed aside. New Super Mario Bros 2, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Kirby: Squeak Squad, Kirby Star Allies, even ARMS. At this rate, I've convinced myself that I could enjoy Metroid Other M if I bought it.
Or is that too far?
Interesting read. I am most assuredly not an organized, analytical, or structured person and my reasons for gaming are largely emotional. I play to relax and wind down, kill boredom, and escape the stresses of life. I play single player games almost exclusively as social interactions, even randos over the internet, trigger my anxiety.
If there isn't a spreadsheet then are you even having fun?
Interesting read! While I haven't gone as far, I did make a couple of spreadsheets related to gaming in the past other than the one I'm currently using for my master's in Japanese so I can see the appeal, but more than anything what I like about gaming is the various experiences games can provide both to me specifically when I play a game myself, watching others playing or even just by discussing them and hearing about other people enjoying them - there's a reason why I'm here on Nintendo Life after all!
@batmanbud2 I like Other M. Yes the story sucks, the version of Samus in that game stinks and the exploration/discovery that makes Metroid what it is really isn’t great.
Play it as a Metroid themed action game though and there’s a lot to like. The action is fun and fluid, it looks great and the cut scenes are beautiful even if the story that they tell is nonsensical and badly written. Ignore the story (it’s not like Metroid’s story was Shakespeare before Other M anyway so who cares) and go in knowing that the Metroidvania elements are pared back and you’ll probably enjoy it
@larryisaman I mean, it's sub-15 on eBay, so there's no reason for me to NOT try it eventually.
Naturally, I don't do spreadsheets.
I don't view gaming as a chore, so a soon as a game becomes predictable, I sit it down and pick another one up. If the game was good enough, I'll return to it after an extended period of time.
Example, Diablo 4. Grinding for materials. It's the biggest waste of time, in my opinion. I'll level to about 80..but as soon as the game turns into 'days of grinding' for a slight power increase, I'm out.
I just picked up Tears of the Kingdom again and I'm having fun with it...but as soon as it becomes a chore, meaning I've replaced my sense of exploration with a systematic grind of finding and completing shrines...I'm going to have to sit down the controller again.
All I know is, when I play fighting games I tend to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and hear the lamentation of the women.
Hm, haven’t thought about that before! Great soapbox.
When I play games, I really like to play them for fun and to make me happy, since I tend to be very negative and have a very bad self-esteem, and I just want to get lost in some of the worlds the games have. I am open to playing a lot of games of different genres and trying to find the positives in them all, even if the game does stink in certain aspects. I had a ton of fun with games that have been considered disappointing by others, like Perfect Dark Zero, which I thought had solid gunplay but I also liked it from how stupidly cheesy it was.
However, I am sort of a perfectionist when I play a few games since I am very obsessive (thanks, disorder) so depending on the game, if I can’t get things entirely right in the game, I get pretty frustrated and keep retrying over and over again and waste time, but if I still can’t get it, then I just get really angry at the game and it never helps me. That happened with me recently when I was playing a rhythm game since I could not get a full combo on a song, and usually I am able to full combo songs in that game with no issues. I also feel compelled to get a 100% completion on a few games I have played, for example, Rare’s platformers, and I remember being so bothered that I didn’t 100% Banjo-Tooie because of this race near the end of the game where the AI pretty much cheats the entire time. I finished it with 89 jigsaws out of 90, so being one jigsaw off really bugged me. It’s pretty difficult for me to not break out of the perfectionist mindset since I’ve gotten too used to it, and it honestly makes gaming all the more frustrating.
I'll play a game or ten at a time, not finishing most.
I enjoy games (games must be fun and not aggravating) horrible controls turn me off to some games.
I also get bored with games sometimes.
Sometimes, depression also kicks in while playing.
I miss having friends in real life to play games like Super Mario Kart, Caveman Games or GoldenEye with... Nothing beats couch Co-Op!
But I prefer Single Player Off-Line Games.
I did however like the way XenoBlade X incorporated online though.
It was optional and not intrusive, and even if you didn't help in the pop-up quest, you still got some reward if it got completed.
It helps the feeling of multiple people stuck on a planet trying to survive and help each other, even though you never see or hear from them otherwise.
@Burning_Spear Eesh, see a lot of myself in that with regards to ADHD. I have Lost Judgement just sitting there on the final chapter meanwhile I’ve gotten the platinum in 2 Assassin’s Creed games and I’m working on the platinum for Kingdom Hearts 1. Breath of the Wild is sitting on my Switch with 4 beasts but no pressing desire to go back and finish it.
I’m a big AAA campaign game player, prefer open world or very good linear. New games not backwards compatible or remasters.
BOTW, TOTK, Mario 3d platformer Mario Odyssey are top of the tree.
Also like a good fps as well.
Side scrolling platformers ok.
It maybe pretty niche nowadays and across all platforms there definitely is not enough to satisfy me nowadays.
During the xbox360, PS3, PS4 and Wii era there was loads and it was amazing. I mean Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 truly exceptional and in the same console within 3 years of each other.
Today’s gaming in my niche especially big AAA across all platforms is long development times and the quality can seem harder to achieve.
All the platforms give their reasons for this but I think it’s the business being very mindful of costs, budgets and not employing at least in the office work place like they used to.
Keeping a very careful eye on budgets more to maximise profits etc.
It’s a business for all three but it sucks for me.
Love this article. I too have always had lists and spreadsheets to organise whatever gaming endeavour I'm undertaking at the time. If I can't tick an item off a list or fill in a cell, did I even really play the game?!
An interesting tangent on this is trophies/achievements. I got addicted to playstation trophies and it ruined games for me a bit. I prefer Nintendo platforms for the lack of achievements, yet at the same time if the switch 2 has them I won't be able to resist it lol.
As a a completionist, I like to finish games 100% if it can be done. I also like checklists a lot, so I maintain a list of games I've finished and games I have yet to play. It helps keep me organized.
@Pastellioli I actually quit 100% completion of Banjo-Tooie a long time ago because of that exact same racing challenge. It was pretty frustrating at the time to have to leave the game without beating it.
But just earlier this year, at least like 15 years later, I looked up online a strategy for winning the race, got out my old N64 and the game, and finally won the race to get that last Jiggy and cheat page. It felt really validating lol.
So I definitely feel your pain.
Nice article, Nathan! Those contests we did were a lot of fun. I still can’t believe the scale and amount of work you put into that best game ever bracket. You’re pretty awesome.
It's become a common trend among young woman (19-25) in many parts of the world to pick a competitive video game like Street Fighter or a puzzle game and get CRAZY good at. Then, on your first date with someone, play the game with them and just school them like a little baby.
The idea is that how you lose at video games is a window into how you're going to handle conflict and disagreement in other areas of your life. If you can't handle someone being better then you at Street Fighter, you're probably not going to gracefully accept when one of your opinions or traditions needs to be rethought.
I personally disagree. I've spent most of my life gracefully learning about how I'm wrong about basically everything and re-learning every belief and opinion I've ever had and I'm generally thankful rather then offended when people point our where I'm still wrong, but if some button mashing POS spams Akuma against me because they can't figure out how a to play an actually challenging fighter WHILE MY CONTROLER ISN'T WORKING, things are going to get ugly.
But I get where they are going with this. I think I might be an outlayer.
@niner For this year's edition, maybe you could do "The Best Video Game Enemy" (If you need to narrow it down you could do "First Enemies" i.e. Goombas in Super Mario Bros. and Deku Babas in Ocarina of Time, or "Final Enemies" i.e. Bowser in the former and Ganon in the latter.
@CaleBoi25
That’s a cool idea. A first enemy that comes to mind right away is the zombie ghost guy at the start of Symphony of the Night.
@niner Very much the same as you, it seems. I’ve got a very extensive spreadsheet for tracking my backlog and what games I have / haven’t 100%’d.
Anyway, the obvious next candidate: Worst Video Game Ever (that you’ve actually played)
@SuperBro64 I still haven’t tried to complete the race and while I do think it would be nice if I did get a 100% on it, I think I shouldn’t feed into my perfectionist mindset further since I think it’ll make me more upset if I can’t get it on my first try. When I was unable to finish the race a few years ago, I think I got too obsessive and tried to find turbo controllers online for my Xbox (since I heard that one of the ways to complete the race is by having a turbo controller) but I didn’t buy any and so I left the race alone. People say that the way to finish the race without a turbo controller is by avoiding getting in front of the AI in the beginning of the race and then gaining speed right at the end to win, but I don’t know how well that will work. It still does slightly bother me that I wasn’t able to get a 100% in Tooie like I was able to in Kazooie, but oh well. I think I should just appreciate the fact that I was able to nearly 100% it.
I'm a creative, curious, philosophical, troubleshooter, not necessarily all at once, but that does get into my gaming. Case in point Zelda: TOTK peaks my curiosity, creativity, and troubleshooting all in one-- I gotta know "what's in there", gotta "make a bridge" outta boxes, and "how the hell am I going to get this way up there?" Philosophical tends to inspire and come out of deep story RPGs-- Sometimes of which fed my philosophy love in the past, with such games as Illusion of Gaia.
I'm very action-oriented in my gaming preferences. The tighter, more nuanced the combat is, the more I tend to enjoy the game. At the same time, I recognize that it's not the only contributing factor. Cat Quest III, for instance, is relatively simplistic in its action, but I instantly fell in love with the demo regardless. I'm not sure what seals the deal for me in cases like these. I guess I need to understand myself more.
Pretty cool read! As someone with adhd, I HAVE to completely 300% the game or it just kinda bugs me at the back of mind (you never got that one achievement.....) kinda stuff, I love games that have a captivating art style, new mechanics, and interesting story's, this way I can explore every part of it!
Wow. I love this article. I’ve definitely tried to do similar things with family and friend groups, but then I get lonely because I become the only one contributing to the spreadsheets by the end of it (by the first quarter of it 🤦♂️). Love spreadsheets, love lists, and I genuinely feel better when I can make them. I feel like gaming eases my own ocd tendencies. Looking forward to doing that 30 days of gaming music project for myself!
I’m very big into art and design, including character design and graphics and menus and fonts. The design languages of video games fascinate me and I’ve bought too many games just purely based on a unique and interesting art style only to regret it lol (looking at you, Blood Roots)
@Pastellioli "It still does slightly bother me that I wasn’t able to get a 100% in Tooie like I was able to in Kazooie, but oh well. I think I should just appreciate the fact that I was able to nearly 100% it."
That's a good mindset to have, glad you're able to find contentment there. I know it would not be easy for me to do that myself, being a major completionist.
I don't think my personality affect my gaming habits.
Either that or I'm legitimately not sure how my personality affects my gaming.
When i play rpgs I kinda make decisions and dialogue choices that match who i am.
Great soapbox! I thought I was a little strange making a simple spreadsheet of games I’ve played with simply genre and my personal score of how I liked it. You take it to another level. Good article!
@batmanbud2 I like other M. One of the best looking games on Wii. It used video clips of graphics running on more powerful hardware, and integrated it quite cleverly. The characterisation of Samus was not what some people wanted, but I didn't care. It is one of very few Wii games I returned to when I got a steam deck. Not perfect but a great game.
I would say hugely. It's like asking how someone's personality impacts their music choices. When it comes to video games I am largely pursuing my interests, there is no shortage of critically acclaimed games and entire genres even that do nothing for me.
It means i get anxiety anytime I try to play a fighting game and trying to find motivation to do it as been all for naught ): even though I really want to play them.
In my teens and early twenties, I had a big problem finding a balance with gaming and life responsibilities. I played a few games excessively… Diablo 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Tony Hawk, Tekken 3. Dropped out of uni and was staring at stacking shelves for the rest of my life. Gave up gaming until the Wii and 3DS and by that stage I had so many other responsibilities in my life I couldn’t fall down the gaming rabbit hole again.
So yeah, the 100% comments resonate with me and I had to learn to be okay with good enough rather than perfect.
Cool and all, but where can I get that shirt?
@HotGoomba Your playstyle reminds of of Josh from Let's Game It Out. ◡̈
Well, I know I’m considerably more likely to enjoy a game than the average comments section
This was a fun article, and if you've done something as crazy as this then it's definitely worth writing about it. But the headline and thesis were not fulfilled in the slightest.
How does your personality affect your gaming habits?
The competition described here is not your gaming habits. It's a bonding exercise with your brothers. The output of the competition would be more telling - i.e. What games did you prefer as opposed to your brothers, and why. But we barely scratched the surface of this. Right at the end you briefly mention that you're a sucker for tactical strategy games and that you always try to 100% every game you play. But that didn't seem to be part of the competition, and in the end the classic most goated game won in Super Mario World.
I think this thesis question is really interesting and it's something that I've struggled with for a long time. Growing up in the 90s, I always felt that gaming was a wonderful shared hobby which helped me make friends and connect with people. But as an adult I have realised that gaming has become so broad that it can be a double-edged sword to even bring it up in conversation. Here is a bunch of personality types which which I've either lost contact due to them just being too different to me, or failed out of the gate to make a connection in the first place:
Basically one's gaming tastes can be incredibly unique and divisive. I haven't even mentioned my own, here - that would take another thousand-word comment. I don't mean that I dislike the kinds of people mentioned above, just that bringing up the topic of gaming often achieves the opposite effect to breaking the ice: raising a big wall which makes it clear that you don't actually have shared interests and experiences in this area. It's like getting halfway through a conversation and then realising that someone is on the complete opposite side of the political spectrum to you.
I don't "Gotta go fast", I "Gotta systematically explore every nook and cranny so I don't miss anything". I like to try and 100%, and feel some frustration when I can't, I feel it's a shame when a game I really enjoyed has achievements that are way beyond my capability (finish VVVVVV without dying once etc). I like puzzle games, I don't like looking up solutions for stuff and would rather try and figure it out myself even if it takes forever, and therefore have a whole bunch of games that I want to finish but am stuck on. Am interested tho to see if I could change that for something like Animal Well where the dev's intention is for people to collaborate online.
I don't do spreadsheets/written records to track my gaming, but I do get nerdy about working my way through certain series etc (currently playing through all the Zeldas, have an ongoing mission to get through all the Metroids etc).
@hippydave ha ha, VVVVVV without dying, I remember seeing that listed as an achievement and laughing, just laughing myself out of the room and switching the computer off.
I love that game and have 100%ed it 4 times (including once on mobile with touchscreen controls!) but doing so with anything less than one million deaths is a joke.
@N64-ROX veni vidi vici on touch screen? That's impressive!
So you guys are completing games and 100% the content after that? Meanwhile me struggling to get to level 2 then moving on. 🥲
@hippydave it took like an hour, but I did it! Veni vedi veci!
For a second I thought this was a picture of the same pac-man boxers I own and therefore a picture of somebody's butt wearing it.
I was like wut.
@N64-ROX for my first playthrough, on 3DS, it took me ~3 hours and ~100 deaths to do everything else, then another ~3 hours and ~100 deaths to do veni vidi vici 🤣😭
@Anti-Matter Wow, after all this time we unlocked more Anti-Matter lore. You're completely valid for your tastes, not that you need anyone to tell you. Traumatic experiences will change your brain. Sorry you experienced that.
while not a "personality" trait a lot of my gaming habits and other such things are shaped by being on the autism spectrum.
one such thing is often replaying certain "comfort" games multiple times often returning to them between playing newer games, its why im a fan of things like retro collections, the virtual console and whatnot and why i hate the NSO's inability to buy and keep games so much.
it also makes it harder to enjoy PC gaming due to all the variables and options when it comes to visuals and the like (i love having options but PC gaming feels a bit much for me)
its also why i tend to prefer things like framerate over visual detail since it makes it easier to focus on the game world, am generally fine with 30fps but when things drop below that i tend to find it harder to get a focus on the (in game) space around me which can make it harder to play.
these aren't specific "autism" traits for the most part but it does feel like they are amplified by it.
@HeadPirate I wasn't aware of this trend, but am well out of this age range. We talking SF II-IV and to a lesser extent V, or Guess Fighter VI?
@Djreisat
Depends on the individual. It's also happening throughout SEA, but I can really only speak directly to Japan.
Popular games include SFV, Tekken 7, VR5, or even Smash. Puyo Puyo is likely the go-to puzzle game from what I've seen, although rhythm games are pretty popular as well.
There is even a variation where, for people who don't have the time to master a video game, you simply get CRAZY into the fandom of a team based game (with Splatoon being the obvious first choice) and insist they play a few matches with you .... but then you preform COMICALLY BAD. Same idea ... you want to see how they react to not just losing, but to the fact that it's more or less your fault.
I only play a few games at a time, due to a few factors such as work & household responsibilities. Being both autistic & adhd means I can get obsessed and look to 100% a game or get bored quickly and fall off. I also tend to primarily play solo, I've no interest in multiplayer aside from games like Splatoon 3 and even then only sparingly.
Turn based rpgs and strategy games tend to be my forte as I can actually think about what sort of outcome I want. Not to mention I do have a list of games I'll go back to replay every so often.
@HeadPirate interesting stuff! Thank you for that!
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