StaceyPowers

Makes me wonder if there are actually fewer kids' games being made, or if they're just less visible with more adult titles in the mix?

I was reading @The Blackangel's intriguing post here, and responses from @kingpotato and @Shagger. I definitely agree that games have moved away from kids and toward an adult market, at least in some respects. But I think this leads to the next question, which is "why?" Here are some of my theories: The initial target market generation that played games as kids has now grown up, and is simply still being marketed to. Video games have evolved into a genuine art form which is as suitable for exploring adult issues as books, film, TV, etc. The majority of books are not written for small kids, nor TV shows, etc. Neither are games anymore. Culture has opened up a lot. Streaming has loosened up viewing considerations in terms of violence, cursing, nudity, etc. I would expect this to lead to a similar loosening up in other mediums, gaming included. I am guessing--though not positive--that kids today have a lot less parental censorship to deal with on average than I did as a kid. Your theories?

@skyfire, you were differentiating writing as its own creative category in this thread which is worthy of a deeper discussion, so I thought I'd make a second topic here. Same basic question I asked on that thread, but focusing specifically on writing. Who are your favorite video game writers, and why? I am inspired by Neil Druckmann. I like his approach to writing, which is deliberately minimalist, and I know he has said that he likes a “simple story, complex characters.” That is exactly what TLOU is. The story is almost painfully simple, but it doesn’t matter, because he writes his characters so beautifully. They say so little throughout the game with words, but so much through their actions, and nothing is ever wasted.

I was going to say you demand respect from those you associate with, and that is a sign of self-esteem, but I suppose that is more precisely a sign of self-respect, which isn't quite the same thing, I'm the opposite. I like myself, but I have to make a conscious effort to treat myself with respect. I have better tools to communicate with others now about those differences, so that helps a lot.

This sounds sort of like how it felt for me being autistic before I discovered I am autistic. I just felt like a failing neurotypical person, because so many people around me seemed to react to my social differences so badly. Surviving that with any self-esteem at all is pretty impressive to me. When you're a child, you have zero psychological defenses, and that shit instantly gets ingrained.

What accomplishment are you most proud of this year?

What is the most interesting thing you learned this year?

Night owl.

Oh man, I would have been so furious. Wow, that is terrible. And here I used to flip out as a kid when my cousins came over and messed up my toys …

I suspect I spend around 30% of my time on RDR gambling in one form or another, lol. Not much of a “redemption.” Just a descent into gambling degeneracy.

Like you, I am on a perma-loop with Skyrim and Fallout. They just have started feeling like a second home to me or something. My first Skyrim character started glitching the other month after many many hours of play. I have two others, one which I’ve had for a couple years I think, and the third is brand new. I have to keep making new ones so I can adopt all the kids =D We have a very similar schedule for playing games. I have my open world games on a constant loop (well, Fallout 3 is de-rotated temporarily—I just have too many in progress). Linear games I too am aiming for once a year, but so far I haven’t been able to keep up with that.

Bonus points for an impressive level of detail, though.

Ouch. Both of you deserve better from yourselves--and from the people throughout your lives that have put these negative narratives in your heads about yourselves. It takes time, but things can get better. One of the things that helped me most was realizing that most people are at least somewhat self-absorbed, and when people criticize us, it often has more to do with the sum of their life experiences than it does to do with us.

I'm looking for suggestions for low-pressure, predictable games. My partner likes playing video games, but it takes next to nothing for him to rage quit. And when he rage quits he does it for months at a time, not days. What annoys him the most are: Puzzles Getting lost Overpowered enemies Or anything in general that causes a disruption to the expected experience. Like, he usually enjoys Skyrim, but he can get really destabilized if he gets lost in a dungeon or has to solve a puzzle. Can anyone recommend any games that might suit him? He enjoys exploring and activities that involve building in some fashion (i.e. building and decorating in Skyrim). I was thinking No Man’s Sky might be a fit, but I haven’t played it. PS3 or PS4 recommendations are preferred, but PC is okay. @DylanC tagging you because you are a particularly good source of recommendations.

@DylanC @Cleopatra92 tagging you both since I think you both have mentioned playing this game. So, I have Dragon Age: Inquisition set to “Casual.” Mostly it has gone just fine. But for some reason, the Emerald Graves region has given me a lot of trouble. Pride demons popping out of rifts, crazy overpowered red templar fighters, etc. I went into the “tactics” screen to see what I could do, but it seems like they have completely scaled down this screen compared to what it is in Origins and DA II. There is no way to tell fighters to use a ranged style, specific abilities, etc.? Or did they move this to a menu I still haven’t located? I am a little at a loss as to how to tackle difficult combat scenarios in this game. Most of what I fell back on in the other two games just doesn’t seem to be available here. I keep feeling like I am missing something. All I can really do is pause combat and order people around. If anyone has any explanations/recommendations, I’d be very grateful. I was about ready to light the Dales on fire I was so angry the other night. It is alarming to be struggling literally at the lowest difficulty level.

Done

Well ... now that's depressing. 😞

Thanks! I suspect you're just easier though, because we are similar enough that I can "guess" and get you right =D I theorize this is also true with many people who are deemed to have good theory of mind, but they "pass" to themselves and others because they are close to middle of the bell curve, so if they project via golden rule, they get it right by coincidence most of the time. Here, why don't you take the self-esteem test: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/RSE.php I got: Your score is 16/30. Scores below 15 indicate low self esteem. I beat your score on primary, but your secondary is way up there =D Also @LadyDay , @Shagger , @The Blackangel , if it ever loads (it seems broken right now), take the Short Dark Triad test: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/SD3/

We all scored as I had guessed. I think my secondary psychopathy is lower than average because my OCD makes me cautious/paranoid/careful. I think my primary psychopathy is higher because I have empathy deficits, especially with ToM, and cultivated survival adaptations. @LadyDay Interesting self-analysis. I have some of those same traits. Seems some of us are trained pretty effectually through socialization during childhood to consider ourselves to be of reduced worth compared to others. I've been working to train myself to remember that I am a person too. Always remember, you count just as much as anyone else :)

Done

Wow, that is a harsh reality. What methods do you use to cope throughout the day and keep up with whatever it is you intended to be doing? I have to send myself dozens of reminders each day just to work around poor executive function--which is nothing to what you're describing. Makes me wonder how many strategies you've had to devise for a dramatically worse situation.

I put this in this section because I suppose it could be "controversial," but it isn't here to start debate. https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/LSRP.php I thought after a recent discussion on sociopathy and video games, @LadyDay and @The Blackangel might enjoy taking the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale test and (if they're willing) share their results :) I'll go first: Your score for primary psychopathy was higher than 75.61% of people who have taken this test. Your score for secondary psychopathy was higher than 29.26% of people who have taken this test. Have fun!

What is the largest amount of progress you ever lost in a game because of a bug, forgetting to save, etc.? For me, it was weeks of play on a game called Return to Zork on DOS back in the day. But it can be frustrating even losing a day of progress in a game. So I save a lot nowadays.

If you take a break from a game you’re playing, how long does it take your brain to forget where you’re at in terms of your progress, quests, etc.? I forget a lot within a couple of weeks. Thankfully, I usually remember most of it within about half an hour of getting started again. But I have five games in rotation, and I’m worried that adding a sixth will just break up the flow too much because it’ll be an even longer gap between sessions with each.

In this discussion, @The Blackangel , @LadyDay, @killamch89 and @kingpotato and I were talking about what I consider to be the curious case of gamers killing the little girls in BioShock and often claiming the rationale is pragmatism, when sparing them really is no less practical in terms of rewards. This made me think more about what motivations go into making choices in video games all around. How do you make choices in video games, especially single player games where you are essentially in a vacuum in terms of other human beings? Do you do what you would do? What your character would do? If so, how similar to you is your character? Or how similar are they to what you wish you could be? Or do you pick based on curiosity? Pragmatism? Ethics? Randomness? Some mixture? In my case, I usually try to make the decision I myself would ideally make in that situation based on my own ethics. I do this mainly because I am practicing decision making for RL, especially balancing others’ opinions with my own considerations and ignoring peer pressure. It also helps me practice separating the result of an action (which I can’t control) from the action (which I can). But if I’m playing a game with only a few decisions and a character who is well-constructed, I usually try to do what that person would want to do. I figure it is his/her story, and I want to live the most authentic/likely version.