Hi guys!

Hands up if you get addicted to strategy games like Civilization and World of Warcraft? On Friday afternoon, I was stuffed from work, and couldn't bare another moment in front of the computer. Then I start playing Civilization. 5 hours later...

My ENFP housemate seems to be endlessly on his computer playing crazy strategy games. He says he's banned himself from playing games like World of Warcraft, cause he says whenever he plays them, he realises later on he emerges into the real world with long grey beard, a vitamin D deficiency and the onset of scurvy.

And I know alysaria does, going by her World of Warcraft costume that she made ;]

I was wondering if one of the reasons for us getting so lost in strategy games is cause it makes good use of our leading function - Ne? Or is it something else? What do you guys reckon? INTJ's how do you guys go with strategy games?

Strategy games like civilization, business sims and build-up-sims like Caesar (1+2+3, WOW these are GREAT games!), Pharaoh... were the first games i ever played and really liked. There are a lot of really great games from the pre-2000 era. Some of the greatest games of all times are fugglers2 and Gloriana I. Oh and Patrician 2 Gold (I think they called it Patrician 3 in the English-speaking world). Three splendid middle age business/trading sims. Build up a trading empire, get rich, famous, and important.
I also played The Guild Gold, also a great game. Basically the same concept like fugglers2 - produce wares and sell them for profit, and then become famous and important, get major, etc. But not thaaaaaat good. It gets old after a time. Patrician2 rarely gets old, and Caesar3 and Pharaoh will never get old

Only later i discovered RPGs... it all began with Diablo 2, which i played at a friends' house. Then i bought Diablo 1 (which is better than number 2 in my opinion, it is more "random" than the second one)... and soon i had Neverwinter Nights (D&D), Neverwinter Nights 2 (not so good as the first game actually)... i even once played a bit of Baldurs Gate 2, but the game takes really long to begin... My sister likes Hack-And-Slash stuff, i like the more tactical ones like Neverwinter Nights 1+2, and Baldurs Gate. You can pause the game anytime and plan your next moves. In some of them you have to coordinate a whole party.

Oh and i also have Rollercoaster Tycoon, Industriegigant, Airline Tycoon, etc.... and don't get me started with Transport Tycoon - so cool this game! There is OpenTTD - a free remake that works on windows, with extra stuff like trams. There are many many great games out there.
Civ4 is a great game - and MoO2 (Master of Orion) is also very cool. It is a turnbased Space E4 (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) game like Civilization. The really cool thing is that you can create your own species, with bonuses in science, production, growth, etc.

I like more the citybuilding sims which have a lot of detail and compexity - Simcity 2000 is not complex enough, Caesar 2+3 and Pharaoh are. You need to plan very carefully or you won't reach the highest rate for your buildings. Oh and you also need to trade stuff with other cities to get money.

I also LOVE old-school RPGs like Final Fantasy with their great tactical battles. (FF6 forever !!!) Can spend a LONG time with those tactical fights! I once dug up a fanmade ZELDA RPG with great story. The guy used the models from Ocarina of Time and put them into the games in the fight scenes. It was one of the best games i have ever played.
Final Fantasy - Endless Nova is also a great fanmade game. It is not that long as you originally think. You think it really just starts when it is at the end....
The fanmade Legend of Zelda game is very different - you think it is done, but it really just BEGINS. Sadly there were a lot of bugs in the game that often made it unplayable. (Crashing bugs.... I never got through the whole game because of them.)

Gothic 1+2 (+Night of the Raven) are cool too... Gothic3 is a bit meh, and i haven't played Arcania, but i don't think i have to. It's no Gothic anymore.

I "recently" (1 year ago ) bought Spellforce Platinum - Nice game. It alternates between RPG-Quest areas and Realtime-Strategy gaming.

I have also banned myself from playing games like WoW... for similar reasons like your housemate Too time-consuming.

Posted By Nick on 05 Feb 2012 05:35 AM

INTJ's how do you guys go with strategy games?

I'm a huge fan of turn-based strategy games. I've sunk more time into Civilizations 5 than I'd care to admit. There's something extremely satisfying about planning in that game for me. I remember consistently planning civics, wonders, and research agreements to complete at the same time to give me a ton of free technologies in one turn. Then using the money I'd saved up to that point to buy or upgrade the newly researched units to field immediately. Running over opponents' horsies with my mechanized infantry always makes me feel like I've accomplished something. I think more than anything else in my life, that game makes me feel like a true mastermind. I guess to relate this to cognitive functions, the game is probably an excellent playground for my Ni and Te -- I actually know a few other INTJs who get a similar pleasure out of the game. Not sure what you ENFP folk get out of the game though.

The only MMO I really got into was Ragnarok Online and I swore off MMOs after that game. I had started a guild, developed my team into a frighteningly efficient group, attained max level before anyone else on the server, and dominated group PvP with my guild. Actually I learned some important leadership skills from that game -- giving my guild members rare stuff really raised their team morale. I'd get personal satisfaction seeing a guildmate use a terrifying weapon I'd given them to lay waste to other players or monsters. Then I'd disappear off the face of the game and never appear again because there was nothing left to accomplish.

Suikoden, Ogre battle, Tactics Ogre, Heroes of Might and Magic, and Master of Orion 1/2 are some favorites that come to mind specifically. Actually, just about any game that Yasumi Matsuno has directed (except for Final Fantasy XII) has spurred my interest in one way or another.

I've played all the flagship Final Fantasy games, and enjoyed primarily the earlier ones to greater degrees. I specifically recall arranging materia in Final Fantasy VII in such a way where if an enemy so much as sneezed on me the entire world would collapse on them in the form of counter summons and magic. It would be like some maniac succeeded in dividing by zero or something. I also enjoy Demon's Souls and Dark Souls for the different ways you can build characters, handle levels, and develop stats.

On the contrary, I can't really get into most real-time strategy games so much. In games like Starcraft, things happen so quickly I don't really have time to react to them. Learning the hot keys just for one game doesn't seem worth it to me either. I did enjoy Warcraft 2 and Rise of Nations though. Some real-time strategy games allow you to pause the action to make decisions, react to conflicts, and get things started which is a happy medium for me. As much as it seems like I'm a hardcore gamer, I only play a few games for a really long time. When I worked in the games industry, most of my coworkers played a lot more games than I did but never went into as much depth in those games as I would.

Yeah, I'm really intense and passionate about this stuff; I'm convinced I have some sort of megalomaniacal thing going on that only manifests itself when I play these games. It's actually an effort for me to keep this side of me under control.

I started with strategy games with Age of Empires, and have played the whole series (except for Age of Empires Online, which sucks) heavily. Actually, let me list all the strategy games I've had over the years. Rise of Nations (plus expansion), Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2, plus the expansion for the second. Civilization 3-5, Empire Earth 1 and 2, every Total War since Rome: Total War, and many, many others. I've been playing starcraft 2 heavily and have gotten relatively good at it.
I'm more of a call of duty guy, though. I'm one of the best in the world at it .

I really like games that involve unlocking and exploring different worlds. You know, games like Mario. I was never competitive about them. I just wanted to see what the next level looked like. I've never played WoW and don't think I know enough about it to say if I would like it. Having seen what it does to people though, makes me want to stay far away from it.

...i just noticed that whenever i play turn-based strategy games, i rarely finish a game that i started....

The only time I don't finish a strategy game is when I know that victory is futile and I have nothing to gain from continuing the game.

The one thing that bothers me the most about MMOs -- especially WoW -- is that you can never finish a well-designed MMO, and they're usually carefully designed to get you addicted to them. The time sink is the biggest reason I don't play them, but I can understand why people enjoy the games and wouldn't criticize someone who does play them. MMOs are social games -- you probably aren't going to have profound discussions in an MMO, but you could make some new and interesting friends. And almost everyone I talk to knows someone who met their soul mate in an MMO.

@Nadette: Have you ever tried Morrowind? ^^ Or the Gothic series? Those games live from an open world in which you can wander around endlessly... especially Morrowind. The one factor that is the coolest about Morrowind is how big this one Island is... there is ALWAYS something new to see... and those landscapes.... splendid... the whole graphics of that game were made with totally great imagination (I think it still looks great today! - because of its unique style... btw i love the music of that game)

Isn't it great when someone asks a question, but doesn't respond...

Um.. Sorry (urk).

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a strategy games problem. I've since uninstalled the game from my pc. Have been clean for a couple of months now.

Strategy games and cats have been my lifelong companions since birth.