Games, games and more games are given in-depth coverage in “Monster Gaming”

by Louis Bedigian

 

“Men are from Tekken, women are from Everquest.”  That’s how Monster Gaming author Ben Sawyer describes male and female gamers.  GZ investigates…

 

 

Halloween may be a ways away, but that didn’t stop the GZ staff from putting on their annual Video Game Character Costume Party.  Lots of us dressed up as creepy monsters from our favorite games.  I wrapped a large, rubbery flower around my head, telling the Sony fans that I was a Cloud-eating plant from Final Fantasy VII.  (I told the Nintendo fans that I was going as a Pikmin.  Oddly, no one could tell the difference.)

 

We had a contest to determine the scariest costume.  Unfortunately, I didn’t win – while all of the women at the party were horrified by my flowery aesthetics and perfume smell (hey, the guy at Sears told me it would give off a mist that would paralyze Squall and Tidus.  Now how am I supposed to stop them from saving the world?) – the scariest costume award went to the guy who went as Andy Dick.  We all know that nothing is more terrifying than the thought of Andy Dick, and, well, after seeing someone try to imitate him, we’re just thankful it’s over.

 

Being in the monstrous mood that we are, we decided it was time to interview Ben Sawyer, author of the new book Monster Gaming.  Monster Gaming covers a wide range of gaming topics, including game tournaments, hardware tweaking, the import game scene, video game collectibles and more.

 

 

Introduce your book to our readers.  What's it all about?  What are the main points covered?

 

Ben Sawyer: Well the book is really the first book that's a how-to guide for gamers as opposed to just a game.  Today, gaming is so expansive, and so deep that it just seemed like there was room for a good book that sort of explained all this important stuff to everyone, newbie to experienced gamer.  So I put together an outline and showed it to Paraglyph Press, a new book publisher I'm doing a lot of work for and they thought it was a neat concept.  So I did it.

 

The main points covered are in the TOC, but in general it covers a lot of stuff that is of concern to hardcore gamers and anyone who loves games.  This includes how to build a modded PC, how to use MAME, how to get the best deals on games, where to buy import games, how to play import games, how to be really good at a wide range of games, the competitive gaming scene, and much more.

 

Sounds cool.  You said you're doing a lot of work for Paraglyph.  Can you divulge any details on your next project?

 

BS: Yes.  I'm doing a few things for them.  I'm producing a few new books which I can't talk about right now but one of them will be of interest to gamers and the others will be of interest to game developers.  My next personal pieces of writing are an e-book on competitive gaming which will be an extension to Monster Gaming and a totally new book on Game Development.

 

What do you think is the most important aspect of a book?  Anyone who is interested in games would be interested in Monster Gaming, but what is it that you've done to keep the reader intrigued from start to finish?

 

BS: Well, I think it's just the enthusiasm for the topic itself.  I don't think you can read Monster Gaming and not find it as a fun read from the standpoint of loving games.  It comes through that I've been playing them for so long, and that gaming is a serious part of my life.  That's probably what keeps readers interested the most.  Knowledge of the subject is one thing, but love for a subject isn't something you can fake.

 

Very true.  How long have you been playing games?  What year did you begin, and what was your first console and your first game?

 

BS: My first console was Pong.  My mom bought it for me when I was five.  I used to play people for quarters when they visited.  I kept a piggy bank right next to the TV and when I beat them I would run and put the quarter away in the bank before they could realized they'd been taken by a shark.  So I've been playing games 27 years.

 

I've owned an Intellivision, Nintendo, GameCube, GBA, Xbox, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Atari Lynx, Atari 800, Amiga, and more PCs than I know.

 

Who is this book geared towards – older or younger gamers?  Who will get the most out of it?

 

BS: In terms of gamers it's geared toward everyone but certainly the more you know about games the less you'll get out of it from a knowledge standpoint.  But hopefully it doesn't mean it's not fun, and not useful or valuable to even more experienced gamers.  That being said I hope it will be a good gift book for that special gamer out there.  I think it will really be cool for younger gamers who sort of don't realize all there is to know but I wouldn't want it to be categorized that way at all.  The average hardcore gamer is over 25 years old and I'm not exactly 17.

 

What kind of research was conducted for this book?  Who were your primary sources for information?

 

BS: Well let’s put it this way, my girlfriend thought I was having an affair with some woman named Google.

 

(Laughs)

 

Most of it though was from stuff I knew, knew of, or had read in various magazines.  I did some interviews but not many.  People who know me, know I have a semi-photographic memory for gaming stuff.  Basically once I spec'd out what I wanted in it I just did a lot of plowing through Google and many, many magazines on gaming I own.

 

Monster Gaming covers the topic of import gaming and where to buy games that cannot be easily found in the United States.  Do you give advice/recommendations on online stores, local shops, or is there some other place to buy import games that most people don't know about?

 

BS: Yes I do.  I cover a lot of the stores, mention a couple to avoid, and endorse my friends store Tronix as one of the better ones.  I cover also the ethics behind the whole scene as well.

 

Another topic covered is "how to live the hardcore gamer lifestyle."  What exactly does that refer to?  Aside from sacrificing sleep and hygiene for entertainment, we don't live any differently than anyone else.  Do we?

 

BS: No - that's marketing gobblygook from the publisher.  It's just meant to signify that we see gaming as a lifestyle in that you can really build a life around it to some extent.  Such as going to LAN parties, buying game inspired goods, etc.  Sort of the same idea that fishing is a lifestyle for some people, or golf, etc.

 

Does Monster Gaming give any tips for installing and/or tweaking PC graphic cards?

 

BS: Yep.  It doesn't go into every last detail but it does cover some utilities to check out, mentions stuff like 3DMark for people who don't know about Benchmarking, and makes some basic sense of the battle of ATI vs. NVIDIA.

 

How did Angel Munoz come to do the foreward for Monster Gaming?  Have you guys worked together before?

 

BS: Well I've know David Laprad and Brian Clair at Avault for a while.  I've even written a few times for them.  When I got to the point to talk about competitive gaming I had to admit this was an area I was a bit lacking on.  It's just not something I've spent a lot of time doing due to time.  So I realized I needed some help and I asked Brian to see if Angel would spend some time talking to me.  So Brian wrote a note to Angel and Angel gave me a call.  We talked for a while.  It was really interesting and I realized Angel had a lot of cool stuff to say and so I asked him if he'd do the foreword.

 

If you read the book and read the foreword, it makes a lot of sense.  Because what Angel has done, first with Avault, and now with the CPL represents what is going on with gaming.  That it's becoming more than just the games, that it's become an entire community and area of it's own.  So Angel agreed and put together the foreword which you can read on Paraglyph's site, and I'm really happy with it.

 

Are you familiar with the upcoming game console DISCover, which promises to play all PC games without installation, or Phantom, which promises pre-loaded games and games on demand?  If you've heard of either or both, what are your thoughts?

 

BS: DISCover I must admit to being ignorant of for the moment- I've been lacking in my reading as I've been working on other projects and enjoying the summer.  Phantom I am familiar with.  In general there are dynamics attached to the console business that make it really hard for me to envision these projects will work.

 

However, I do think that there is big growth in the idea of games-on-demand, and in terms of the PC in the living room.  Maybe not huge, huge demand, but solid demand, and I think that things like Alienware's media PC and other devices like that may be more interesting to gamers.  The problem with the console market is that hardware has to be subsidized in order to reach the price points mass markets form at.  Without controlling the supply end (i.e. the games for it) and earning a royalty off each game the market doesn't really work.  This, coupled with the fact it costs hundreds of millions to really get into the hardware side makes me wonder how anyone can really make it happen.  Anyone remember indrema or Nuon?

 

As for Games on Demand, I think that has a market and Yahoo! and others are doing some good business there.  Sega of course had a system via it's Sega Cable channel that did the same thing.  And people I knew who had it said it wasn't half-bad.  It just couldn't really get going given the state of cable infrastructure.

 

That's true, but those are mostly simple games, like chess.  And you're right, Sega did it, too.  That was pretty cool.  But I mean, can you ever imagine a time when we'll hook up a console, go online and download, say...Final Fantasy XXVIII (28)?

 

BS: Yes but it's going to be a while before that happens in a big way.

 

How far does the research span at your company, Digitalmill?  Do you study things like male and female game playing demographics?

 

BS: Research wise it's me [and] a few unnamed assistants.  We don't study those things per se.  But we do watch for other studies and the growing amount of academics studying games is doing stuff in that regard but for the moment I'm not 100% familiar with what they're finding.

 

The research I've heard third-hand is that women are a more significant population within gaming than people think.  Women also tend to like more social style games (not to be confused with socially concious) so they're a bigger portion of online gaming players then they are say fighting or racing games on console players.  Women are also bigger fans of casual games such as Bejewelled.  They also tend to be into the gambling and chance games as well but that's a segment I don't care to follow.  And finally women tend to drop out of gaming during their younger years.  They're into it as kids, drop out as teenagers and maybe come back to it later after high-school.  Women tend to want games that are more about social interactions with others.  Men are more loners and into things where they're totally in control.  As if we needed a game to tell us that. :)  Men are from Tekken, women are from Everquest.

 

(Laughs)  That's a funny (and clever) way of looking at it. 

 

BS: Thanks.

 

What is the purpose of your company?  What is your goal?

 

BS: Well Digitalmill was formed to basically be a company of interests.  We find stuff we're interested in and then pursue ideas around those interests we can do to keep the doors open.  So in essence we're a general consulting firm.  As time has gone by and we're finding areas we can be leaders in we're narrowing our focus.  Gaming has always been a top interest and with the Serious Games Initiative we're working on I think in the next 3-5 years we'll pretty much be known mostly for game stuff and within that mostly for the Serious Games Initiative

 

What is the "Serious Games Initiative"?

 

BS: http://www.seriousgames.org/.  The initiative is a project we are working on with the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars to find ways we can apply games to serious issues, needs, and projects.  Not that we don't think almost all games are serious.  But with the name we're also trying to advocate games, and game developers are great ways to build a new generation of learning applications, training simulators, and more.  There is a lot going on in this area.  And we have done some significant work to help organize it all.  Over time we hope it will become a major segment within the games industry which is a good thing because it is getting harder and harder for developers to make money without some new markets for their skills.  And it's high time the rest of the world realize that the skills that make Mario so cool can make learning how to run a school interesting, or how to deal with nation building, or a refugee camp.  So that's the idea and you can read more about it on http://www.seriousgames.org/.

 

I hear you're working with the U.S. Government to adapt addictive game technology and design ideas to public policy planning and training.  How is that going?

 

BS: Well, Woodrow is a division of the U.S. Government.  It's sort of like the government's private think tank.  The project there is going well and we hope to announce a bunch of new things this fall as we gear it up.  We're currently working on several game ideas and we're working on a number of advocacy items, and organizing initiatives.  So far with the work we've done the project has gotten a lot of attention and brought together a lot of people to talk about and coordinate on the creation of more games.

 

One PC is a must, and in some cases, having a second one is a necessity.  You have four!  What do you do with all of them?

 

BS: Funny.  Yeah I have a bunch.  I have one just for games and development stuff.  So it's got a GeForce, 256 MB Ram, etc.  Then I've got one at the office, and a laptop.  I just got a second so I could do some other gaming stuff on it.  Even experiment with head-to-head in the house with friends.  For my next PC I was thinking of building my own MINI-ITX system to screw around with and I'll probably build a new gaming PC later next year.  I just got a new GeForce that supports multiple monitors and I have to say that is really, really cool.  As soon as I can get a plasma or LCD screen for the living room I'm putting a PC in there

 

Very cool.  Thank you for your time Ben.  It was great interviewing you.

 

BS: No problem.  I hope people like the book, and recommend it if they do.  It's sort of a risky title so my fingers are crossed.  And if people want to email me ideas for updating it down the line I look forward to getting them (bsawyer@dmill.com).  If anyone can email me a way I can stop working and spend more time playing BF1942 without starving that would help.

 

 

To read Angel Munoz’s foreward, visit: http://www.paraglyphpress.com/foreword-monster-gaming.php

 

To purchase Monster Gaming, visit:  Amazon here