Your Favorite Games

Philistine said:
I just don't understand why role playing games are so fascinating to people
The only role-playing games I've ever played have been with people in the same room, and in those cases it's fun to "act" the parts out, trying to "become" the person (or whatever) you are role-playing. It's kinda fun, but I am not very good at the acting part, unlike some of the people I've played with. In some cases, I continued playing simply to watch them, because they are so good at the acting. :)

Sometimes it can be fun to play a person or thing or creature that you could never be in "real life", either because it's physically impossible, or because you havent' had the chance (and probably never will) to do the things you can do as that person. If you have the imagination for it, role-playing games in groups in person can be really interesting, entertaining, and fun, as well as sometimes educational.

The ones I have played were plain old Dungeons & Dragons, but it sucked because our DM was way too literal and tight-assed about the rules, preferring to keep exact adherence to rolls and rules and events rather than making it fun for the players. Usually if something is going to kill a major player or make it impossible for them to continue the "quest" or game, a DM or GM is practically obliged to work out some way to get around that, simply so things can continue, even if it's with a major change. This guy would rather end the game and kill off all the players' characters than have fun or continue things.

The one I had the most fun playing was Hero system, both in regular alternate-universe "America" and in the Fantasy Hero game setup. In both of these I played various characters that were totally different from anything the GMs had expected or even had anyone attempt, and it made things fairly interesting. Whenever I had a choice between doing something the "normal" way and some other way that would get everyone looking at me funny, and usually that would cause a totally unexpected turn in the game, I would choose the latter, and in all cases the GMs just rolled with it and altered the game scenario to work with it (same when other players did similar things). Those were the right kind of GMs and players, as they made things fun and interesting.
 
Platform: PC
Games: Half dead portal fortress three, but seriously, all the valve games are pretty good, Portal was the best game ever, deep meaningful plot, great backstory, and an awesome ending. skyrim was addicting, but quick. ME3 was somewhat of a letdown, came into the game rocking and rolling with a char that went thru both me1 and me2 on insane, twice... only to have all but one of the people I care about die in ME3. Im debating on whether to do a second playthru until they release new ending DLC...until then, multiplayer it is...
 
Philistine,

It's not hatred. There's nothing wrong with video games in moderation. While you and I may be trying to limit our kids in these non-productive non-learning activities, to a large extent the world is allowing video games to be their children's friend and babysitter. The social impact this brings is only beginning to be recognized. Then there's the opportunity cost. Don't you think something productive could have been done with the 5 million odd man years spent playing WOW, and that's just one of the many games.
 
Philistine,

It's not hatred. There's nothing wrong with video games in moderation. While you and I may be trying to limit our kids in these non-productive non-learning activities, to a large extent the world is allowing video games to be their children's friend and babysitter. The social impact this brings is only beginning to be recognized. Then there's the opportunity cost. Don't you think something productive could have been done with the 5 million odd man years spent playing WOW, and that's just one of the many games.

I completely agree with you John, and I suspect that you and I have similar feelings about TV (certainly its impact on children). There is burgeoning evidence that the amount of television your children watch has a directly negative effect on (for example) the vocabulary they will develop. They are actually able to calculate the roughly accurate reduction in vocabulary your children will have for every hour that your child watches TV. I don't mean to sound like a saint, because I have four kids and twin babies, so whilst my first child didn't watch a single minute of TV until he was two, I regularly rely on TV to keep the peace whilst I deal with different duties amongst the kids. But it is amazing to me the difference in speech development and vocabulary relatively between my oldest and my youngest age for age. The evidence is astounding as to the negative impact, and the theory turns around the passive nature of TV, and the need for constant interraction in language development. And that is actually the reason I hate TV so much (in parenting), is that it is such an easy out, rather than engaging with your kids. It takes effort to engage properly with children, and TV makes it way too easy to fail in that task as a parent. Recent research shows that 90% of brain and language development in children has occured by age 2 (this was previously thought to be age 4). Televisions are quite simply put total poison for children's minds, because they require constant active engagement, and before the existence of TVs we had no choice but to do this, even when we were tired and didn't want to. There is also fascinating research that is showing the human brain (due to its plasticity) is changing its form as a result of this fundamental change in how we engage in information exchange. The research suggests that we are becoming better at processing large amounts of information on the fly, but are losing the ability at deep analysis (what psychologists call "system 2 thinking" - system 1 thinking being pre-intellectual understanding as discussed in Malcolm Gladwells popular book "Blink").

As I said in my post, I wasn't meaning to reflect on you particularly, it was just that you had posted on a thread totally dedicated to a love of video games, that you wanted to destroy every video game mechanism within a 50 metre radius, and I considered that somewhat extreme. Imagine if Kingfish had posted a thread asking "who loves card games? Tell me about the card games you love?" and then I posted "I want to see every card game within a 50 metre radius destroyed!". People would either think I was a crotchety old cunt with no sense of fun, or I was mentally ill, or I had drunk half a bottle of scotch (BTW all three could be said to be true of me at any given time on ES).....

I was genuinely ruminating on the issues I discussed, because there is no doubt to me that there is a massive element in society who HATE video games. Just like there is a massive element in society who HATE Scientology, or HATE gays, or HATE Communists. And my theory is the hatred comes from the (probably natural) discomfort that arises from becoming aware that other sentient beings are dramatically attracted to something we ourselves hold no interest in. Basically I am making the proposition that the pretty common hatred of video games emanates (in my opinion) from the strength of the addiction or interest that video gamers show, compared the seeming disinterest that the haters hold.

Anyone who would suggest that there is not a strong passionate hatred for video games in popular culture is deluding themselves in my opinion, and I think a thread on a love of video games is the right place for me to raise my theory. Was never having a go at you John :D
 
I find this incredibly interesting...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110918144955.htm

here's a snippet
Gamers Succeed Where Scientists Fail: Molecular Structure of Retrovirus Enzyme Solved, Doors Open to New AIDS Drug Design

ScienceDaily (Sep. 18, 2011) — Gamers have solved the structure of a retrovirus enzyme whose configuration had stumped scientists for more than a decade. The gamers achieved their discovery by playing Foldit, an online game that allows players to collaborate and compete in predicting the structure of protein molecules.

anyone here play foldit?
 
Google 'Zerg Rush' Easter Egg Invades Your Search Results

News of the game quickly made the rounds this morning, with "Zerg Rush" topping the trending topics on Google+ and Twitter as users urged friends to try it out.
"Just Googled 'Zerg Rush' and spent the next 40 minutes clicking on O's...I think I need to get a life...still; it was good fun!" one user tweeted this morning.
"Type "Zerg Rush" into Google. If you've ever spent any time with an #RTS, you'll enjoy the results. #GG," another person wrote.


http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403653,00.asp
 
wassup guys

3 year old on the iPod

7 year old on the Wii

and me on Falcon 4.0

spring, we normally go on long family bike rides for a bbq or picnic but the radiation threat is a great reason to stay our asses home lol!

wasted too much time on Falcon shooting everybody up but I did throw caution to the wind to go out raving during the hanami weekend. I found one fist pumpin party with beautiful electronica music. great music here is pretty rare.. fuggin hate that twangy psytrance shit that these people here OH-SO-LOVE LOL! got shit faced at the party and went on a drunken rage… HAHA! relieving so much post apocalyptic pressure is just what the doctor ordered.

I'm good for a while.. CHEERS! 8)
 
The platform was my iPhone due to it is always on me, but currently I'm playing on the pantech element tablet because the big screen nice when I'm at home.

The game is "Robot Unicorn Attack 2"
images


The version was just updated to 1.2. I can't wait to see what killer upgrades are to be had, but its hard to improve on what is all ready such an awesome....

Player, the unicorn!!!
blogger-image-1989359515.jpg


That's a state of the art UV N-7 body equipped with tentacles of horror, void piercer horn an chronoscopic wings making it the fastest 'corn this side of the celestial sea.

The why is because its only got two controlls. Dash and jump. Plus I get to listen to the never ending story theme on repeat for hours on end collecting fairies and dashing giants before they get me with their solar beams. Its like I'm back I sixth grade and I just fell into a portal in Bobby Sue Nicholsons trapper keeper.
 
Best game.......love Craps
P8160223.jpg


Thats my 6 foot table. Built one for me & one for my father who taught me the game starting about 4 years old.
After that there is poker, (favorite is Omaha hi/ low...whatever limit I can afford that day)

I have a (sons abandoned it when they moved out) ps2 with one game in it....Mx unleasshed :lol:
 
gestalt said:
The platform was my iPhone due to it is always on me, but currently I'm playing on the pantech element tablet because the big screen nice when I'm at home.

The game is "Robot Unicorn Attack 2"
images


The version was just updated to 1.2. I can't wait to see what killer upgrades are to be had, but its hard to improve on what is all ready such an awesome....

Player, the unicorn!!!
blogger-image-1989359515.jpg


That's a state of the art UV N-7 body equipped with tentacles of horror, void piercer horn an chronoscopic wings making it the fastest 'corn this side of the celestial sea.

The why is because its only got two controlls. Dash and jump. Plus I get to listen to the never ending story theme on repeat for hours on end collecting fairies and dashing giants before they get me with their solar beams. Its like I'm back I sixth grade and I just fell into a portal in Bobby Sue Nicholsons trapper keeper.
Did a market research study on this game a couple weeks ago. Can't talk specifics per a NDA but I can say improvements are on the way and seem pretty interesting. Certainly addressed most of the small issues I had.
 
I've played a lot of games, what gets the favorites the most is what speaks to me perhaps on an emotional level the deepest. A lot of games have nostalgic value within. But games that I have ever enjoyed the most were multiplayer ones that brought people together within a great and balanced concept for a cooperative effort against other humans.

While I won't say what games were my favorites, their names are irrelevent, I can say I am hunting for a new game. There are a lot of really terribly balanced games, plenty of play to win or they simply lack essential features. What I'd enjoy most is a multiplayer game with excellent matchmaking, no pay to win, and little to no way for the game to be imbalanced.

A lot of multiplayer games cannot be balanced because in single matchups, there is so much variety in what each person may have, it often comes down to a game of rock paper scissors and that feels kind of pointless to try and compete against. What I am getting at is, games where everyone starts out with the same equipment, abilities, gear or whatever you want to call it and that is it for the match. That is balance, anything else is non-sense.

Some might argue that my vision of balance would grow stale. Absolutely, if there weren't different modes. Even a game like dota can be balanced if everyone had the same hero. Some people seem to want to play a game that is based around finding an advantage and exploiting it. I want to play a game based around skill. I had a machine gun, you had a shotgun so you won in the settings we confronted each other, it just seems like less than a game and more like a shallow attempt at strategy.

If you are a strategy gamer, play a real time strategy game.
 
It's hard to beat chess as far as games go.

When it comes to games that are essentially just a computer that gets you to push buttons wasting your life brain and time, the heavy price society will pay for the trillions of man hours wasted has yet to be determined. If you think about it playing video games isn't too many steps away from being plugged into the Matrix.
 
Time You Enjoy Wasting is Not Wasted Time
 
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