My Dad, the Gamer

My father is about to turn 69 years old. He spent decades in the corrugated paper business, he's the biggest automotive gearhead I've ever known, and -- beyond the Intellivision years -- he never had much of an interest in video games. Four years ago, when he retired, that changed. These days, he maintains a stack of Xbox 360 games that rivals my own. He's clocked countless hours in the most hardcore role-playing games that the system has to offer. And his obsessive-gamer nature... well, let's just say it runs in the family. So, I recently sat down with my dear old dad to pick his brain about all things game-related -- let's see how the mind of a golden-years gamer works, shall we?



Ryan Scott, Executive Editor: Hi, Dad.

Jim Scott, Awesome Gamer Dad: Hello.

Ryan Scott: So, by my count here, we have about 22 Xbox 360 games. You've been playing the last... couple of years? Right?

Jim Scott: About four.

Ryan Scott: So four years -- since you retired, I guess.

Jim Scott: Yeah, since I retired.

Ryan Scott: Why did you decide to start playing video games now?

Jim Scott: Well, I've always enjoyed video games. I remember buying an Intellivision many, many years ago. I liked all the racing games, and AstroSmash, and all the different games it had back then. I've really enjoyed playing for years; I just didn't get back into it because of my career. I was so busy with that and other things that I didn't have time to play over the years.

Ryan Scott: Lately, this has been kind of an all-consuming hobby for you. You started out with a bunch of racing games like NASCAR and Forza -- you've always been into that genre. But you branched out and started playing hardcore stuff like Fable II and Dragon Age. What caused that? That was pretty crazy to me at the time!

Jim Scott: I think one of the first ones was Fable, and it was just an accident. I had been playing online poker, and I was looking for other games to play. We had played the first Zelda a long time ago, and I believe you told me I should try Fable. I did, and at first I didn't like it too well because I was playing it on the computer. I couldn't move around that well -- I didn't know the keys. We tried to hook up a controller to it, but that didn't work. But [with the Xbox version], once I got the controller in my hand, I was able to play it and enjoy it very much, and it just went from there.

Ryan Scott: You also bought a Wii at one point, which you didn't get much use out of.

Jim Scott: Well, when I was playing, you recommended the Xbox 360 because it would be more... how would I say it? I would have a better variety of games that I might enjoy.

Ryan Scott: Well, initially, I had figured you'd just get into the racing games and whatnot.

Jim Scott: Right. That's why I traded the Wii for an Xbox 360.

Ryan Scott: That's interesting to me. With the Wii, you have the remote -- it's very simple to use, with minimal buttons... while the 360 controller has four face buttons, four shoulder buttons, two analog sticks, and a D-pad. One of the common criticisms of games, especially as it pertains to older players, is that they're too complicated, which is one thing Nintendo tried to address with the Wii. So, bearing that in mind -- given how comparatively complex the 360's controller layout is -- did you have any problems getting used to that?

Jim Scott: No. I was afraid of it at first, because I didn't realize... I didn't know how to control my characters. I wasn't familiar enough with the buttons and the triggers. I had to learn to maneuver. But for me now, to go back to playing the Wii would be very boring. With the 360 controller, you have a lot more things you can do; you can run, leap over things, and do all these different things, and without all those different controls you're not able to do that. It makes it more realistic, to me.

Ryan Scott: Well, you seem to have acclimated pretty well to games like Dragon Age!

Jim Scott: Loved it, loved it.

Ryan Scott: How many hours per day do you play games?

Jim Scott: I would estimate that I play... six to eight hours a day. It drives your mother nuts, because she has to go in the bedroom to watch TV.

Ryan Scott: And you're like me, because she'll say, "Turn that off!" And you'll say, "I have to find a save point!" and it'll take you two hours.

Jim Scott: Correct. Or I have to "go and check something."

Ryan Scott: Heh, the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. So you've played, let's see... Fable, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Fallout, Red Dead Redemption. If somebody looked at your game library without knowing anything about you, they'd say "Oh, this is the library of a hardcore gamer." You're probably more hardcore than I am, at this point!

Jim Scott: You left out Assassin's Creed.

Ryan Scott: Haha, right, that too. And that list encompasses a lot of different genres and subgenres. What kinds of games do you like the most, and what do you like about them?

Jim Scott: Well, I like the RPGs, which... I just learned recently what "RPG" was. But I like role-playing games, especially when you get to build your team, go out on missions, and direct your teams in different ways. It's challenging, because when I'm building my team, what I try to do is always play -- and I'm going to use a Mass Effect 2 term -- a Paragon role, if you will. I try to make all of my team members like me, keep them happy...

Ryan Scott: So you pick the good choices. You don't like to be the bad guy.

Jim Scott: No, I do not enjoy playing the bad guy.

Ryan Scott: You've never gone the evil route in any of those games?

Jim Scott: No.

Ryan Scott: You played a lot of BioWare RPGs, and they're known for that dichotomy. I bet you'd probably like it if you went back and tried the bad choices. It's a different experience, you know? Different outcomes.

Jim Scott: But there's things that are built into a human being. If it's against your nature...

Ryan Scott: You'll pick what you would pick in real-life.

Jim Scott: Exactly. It's very difficult for me to go in and play a bad guy. I'll always choose the good-guy answer if possible. Once in a while, if one of the enemies really ticked me off, I'll pick the Rebel answer, but only if I'm really mad and the person I'm talking to did something to one of my team members.

Ryan Scott: Video games are power fantasies, in a way. One game I played is Tropico 3. It's a city management game, where you play the dictator of a banana republic. I'll make little rules for myself when I start the game, like "No churches on this island -- I am the only God here." That's fun sometimes.

Jim Scott: I'm unable to go there. It's against my nature.

Ryan Scott: Maybe you're just a better person than I am!

Jim Scott: I don't think it has anything to do with that...

Ryan Scott: "What happens if I kill this guy, hmm..."

Jim Scott: Especially in older people like me, who... you're stuck with what you are. With these games -- especially the role-playing games -- they're an extension of yourself. If your nature is to want people to enjoy working for you... like in my career, you know, I wanted at least 51% of my employees to smile. I play the roles that way.

Ryan Scott: Fair enough -- I think a lot of people would probably agree! So, moving on, you buy a lot of strategy guides with your games. You certainly have a lot of crazy hardcover collector's-edition strategy guides. Do you find yourself consulting the strategy guides very often? Do you get stuck a lot?

Jim Scott: No... actually, I don't. I get mad at myself because I'll play a game, and I won't like the outcome very well in my first playthrough. I'll wish afterward that I had looked at the strategy guide more. But I do use the strategy guide when I'm in trouble, because I don't... I don't work on the computer very well, so it's hard for me to use the computer and find the wikis you're always talking about.

Ryan Scott: Yeah, I'll say "Just go Google the Dead Space wiki." And you'll say, "No, I've got the strategy guide for that."

Jim Scott: I just go ahead and buy the strategy guide and refer to it as necessary. Like in Mass Effect 2, when I went on Thane's mission, had I read the strategy guide before I went on the mission, I could have succeeded and won his loyalty. But I played through and failed it, so I didn't get his loyalty. Now I have to go back and play it again!

Ryan Scott: That brings up another interesting question: How obsessive are you about doing everything in these games? Finding everything, doing every side quest, getting every unlockable, and completing games 100%?

Jim Scott: Well, I try to make the game last as long as I can. Games today are $60, and if you buy collector's editions, they can be $100 with the guide and everything. So what I try to do is get as much play as I can out of it. You get more by doing side quests. But as far as the achievements go, I don't count 'em. I hardly ever look at those.

Ryan Scott: Yeah, achievement-hunting can take you to some weird places.

Jim Scott: Yeah. To me, I think that's getting a little bit too involved in it. I just try to do all the side quests to extend the game as long as possible.