Interview: Video and Computer Games

The video game industry is something that is quite big in today’s time. With E3 2014 right around the corner, I wanted to get some feedback from gamer that considers video and computer games to be a big part of their life. One of those people would be Eric Bauslaugh, who has been playing video games since here was three years old when his “Mom would take him[me] to his visit a friend of hers.” (Bauslaugh, 2014) He even remembers his first video game, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and the feeling of “...being mesmerized by what was happening on the screen. How this little blue creature could run so fast and just how much fun it was to go through a loop.” (Bauslaugh, 2014)

When asked about the war on consoles versus PCs, Eric though “that the whole war is just silly. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.” (Bauslaugh, 2014)It was nice to see that he didn’t show any bias to either side of the gaming spectrum. I could plainly tell that this man has had a great influence from video games. Being one of my friends that I talk to on a daily basis, he would always get excited to talk about video games. It was like seeing a child in a candy store.

When asking about what type of gamer he was, he claimed himself to be a hardcore gamer. This term doesn’t have a specific definition, because everyone has their own views of what it is. (Danger, 2008) A lot of people like to relate to playing rated M+ games and shooters. There are also some, like me, who believe that being a hardcore gamer is someone that can range in experience and like playing games with more difficulty and take a bit of skill and effort to beat, as well as like to complete goals and achievements

Now we step into more intense topics. I noticed that he has a bigger interest in Nintendo when we discussed what game consoles he owns and a majority of them were Nintendo. I wanted to discuss Nintendo and WiiU in today’s time. While Eric believed that “The Wii U wasn’t a big success as they were hoping it would be,” (Bauslaugh, 2014) he also believes the system is good for what it currently has. He is also satisfied with “Nintendo making [makes] games that anyone can enjoy, not just hardcore gamers, but newcomers and people who just play games to play games.” (Bauslaugh, 2014)

Last year was the release of the Xbox One and the Playstation 4, so I wanted to hear his opinion on it. When talking about Xbox One, he was “just really, really disappointed” due to all the new policies that had put in, and feels they could have done a better job.(Bauslaugh, 2014) On the other hand, believed that Sony made the “...absolutely the right move! They basically showed that they have more respect for their customers then Microsoft does.” (Bauslaugh, 2014) Even though Microsoft did go back on those policies, Eric no longer bothered to show any interest.

Finally, we reach the end of our interview, where I get his insights for the future. I asked him if he had any plans on going into the video game industry.

“I love learning about the development history of games. Finding out about content and features cut from the game that didn't make into the final game. Valve likes to put developer commentary in their games and it’s really interesting to listen to people who worked on the game talk about how they did certain things, how a simple effect took weeks to create, and just ideas and concepts that they had but didn't end up using.” (Bauslaugh, 2014)

Before closing our interview, I asked if he had any advice for new gamers on how to get started. He responded with saying that Nintendo is good place to start off, because “their focus is making games that anyone can enjoy.” (Bauslaugh, 2014)

~Jelly

References

Bauslaugh, E.  (2014, January 31). Hardcore Gamer. (Interviewee.)

Danger, R. (2008, December 20). The 10 Types of Gamers. Spike. Retrieved February 2, 2014,

from http://www.spike.com/articles/jp1g4z/the-10-types-of-gamers-which-are-you?page=2