StaceyPowers

Regarding the girl who ditched me, you mean? I quite agree. It irritates me how much time/energy/devotion I spent on her considering she didn't really warrant it. I try to count my gains though. I did learn a lot about my relationship values, how I prefer to conduct myself whether with a casual correspondent or a serious friend, and I learned more about how my mind works too. In the end, she threw me away when she found a more ideal crutch to lean on, and I'm better off than she is. At least I can stand on my feet.

@mont86 mentioned recently that he likes to play at his own pace, and prefers single player games for that reason. That hadn’t occurred to me, but it is one of the reasons I probably like single player games too. Though in MMOs, I think you often can do a lot of things at your own pace, if you aren’t always interacting with others (how true this is would depend on the game). It made me curious about what everyone’s “pace” is like with games. I can tell you I am really, really, really slow. Like, I’m that gamer who stops and examines every single detail in a room before moving on, and who sometimes just stands around and soaks in ambiance and pretends I am in a place. I imagine watching me game can be tremendously boring if I really get into that zone. So there are games I will play with people or with them watching me, but there are some I prefer playing entirely by myself. I am pretty sure watching me examine the design elements of every poster in BioShock in exhaustive detail would be a drag for anyone else =D What is your gaming pace like? Fast, slow, somewhere in the middle?

While reflecting on this post and reading responses from @LadyDay and @The Blackangel, I noted that some of us are turned off by the idea of gaming with a lot of strangers. Well, I actually am fine with it in short, controlled bursts in FPS games, and I never minded it when I played MUDs. But nowadays, I almost exclusively play single player. The reason is that I want to relax at night, and the social aspect of multiplayer games is just too exhausting. Plus, I have moderate social anxiety, and I just feel a heightened state of agitation when I know other people are in my game. At the same time, I can say that playing MUDs actually helped with my social challenges in high school. I always expressed myself better in writing than with speech, and I found it easier to interact and take on leadership roles in the game than I did at school, plus I had more in common with my fellow gamers online than a lot of people I knew offline. Does anyone here have any sort of social anxiety or social challenges? Do you find that single and/or multiplayer gaming helps with these issues?

I was curious too, so I looked up the videos of the other BioShock endings online. I don't think I'd sleep better next to someone I didn't understand though, even if they felt bad, or acted like they did :/ I'd rather know what I'm dealing with so I know where it fits in my life, and I'd rather be able to trust someone and know they aren't lying to me/themselves. I don't think she tried to take advantage of me. We both made a selection error with each other, I think, and only after she knew herself better did she realize she didn't need/want me around anymore. Control is her main issue (and mine--one of the reasons we connected), so I think as long as I don't mess with her (i.e. try to get revenge for her ditching me), she'll probably leave me alone.

I remember I stayed on the fence for so long the first time in Skyrim, and then I was furious when Markarth got traded during the treaty council. So much for that being a "good decision." I have no idea. I mean, I am sure there are examples of people who would kill the pixel girls happily, but never harm a fly IRL, and people who might always spare the pixel girls, but kill real ones. I suspect that value attribution and goals play a role here too. I tend to try and learn about myself and practice decision-making via games, so I usually make what I feel is the "righteous" choices by my own set of chosen ethics. But someone who has no interest in practicing decision making may behave differently. There is also, I think, some question as to the value of the lives of pixel girls. Do they matter or not? They are just data. But to a large extent, so are we. Regardless, I'm less fascinated by the act of killing the pixel girls, and more fascinated by why someone would feel a need to give an excuse for it if the pixel girls have no meaning to them =D I was going to mention that. My former BFF was very open about fantasizing every day about killing people. I felt comfortable with her because she didn't conceal anything about her psychology, and I had value to her at the time. Eventually, I lost that value. At that point, I recognized the vulnerability of my situation. I don't think she'll likely make the leap to RL, but if she did, I think I might be on her list.

I didn't forget it. I just was more focused on/drawn curiously to players who seem to exhibit a schism between their own beliefs about themselves and the behaviours they carry out, and what those behaviours might reflect about their actual motives. You're upfront about how you are wired and how you behave, in and out of games. Oh, I don't either. Likewise, I don't expect someone who kills the little girls in BioShock is going to start killing little girls in real life, or even has a desire to (in most cases). I just think their minds may have more dimensions to them with regards to sadism (even pixelated sadism) than they are comfortable admitting. Why make excuses for in-game behaviours, unless someone is bothered on a deep-seated level by their own in-game behaviours? Why not just admit that killing the little girls is fun? Somebody hiding behind pragmatism seems to be morally conflicted. The MUDs are a more concrete example, since they are multiplayer games, and peoples' actions really do affect others. I mean, I remember actions in games I played that destroyed peoples' real-life relationships. There was a fine line between "in character" and "out of character." A lot of peoples' IC relationships had RL components (or even moved entirely into RL). Such a good point. I do this too sometimes. That's one of the most succinct descriptions of the difference I've read. I always looked at as "hot" versus "cold." Your explanation is more concrete.

What did the sign say? "Severed Heads. Please Keep Back"? =D

Do you have any favorite designers, programmers, writers, etc. in the gaming world? I don't know enough about anyone in the industry to say I admire them as a person, but creatively, I admire Ken Levine. I like the way he thinks, and that he incorporates topics that interest him (i.e. history, politics) into his games. I wish he hadn't gotten burned out making BioShock Infinite. @DylanC @Executor Akamia @LadyDay @The Blackangel @Alyxx @kingpotato @killamch89 @skyfire

Have you ever made any interesting observations on human nature/morality from gaming? I mean specifically concerning players, not characters. Like, I have two examples. The first is BioShock, where you have to decide whether to harvest or save the Little Sisters. Ask most players who harvest why they do it, and they will say it is the practical choice, given that they receive more ADAM. But having played through with zero harvests of Little Sisters, I had zero resource difficulties (on normal, anyway; I haven’t played on the hardest level). The Little Sisters gift you with ADAM, money, etc., and plenty of it. Thus, citing pragmatism as a motive for harvesting seems to be an excuse. It appears to me that the only valid reason to give for harvesting little girls is for the fun of harvesting little girls. They are pixelated little girls, but it surely says something curious about the people who consistently choose this on their playthroughs. My second example is my experiences playing MUDs, where the things I found out about people were far more straightforward and obviously linked to the real world. People who consistently did rotten things in MUDs gave as their excuse that it was “just a game, and isn’t me.” But I would argue if you are spending 5+ hours a day pouring energy and emotion into a world, it is a valid metaverse, even if it is virtual, and therefore one’s actions there “count.” I would say in both cases, the insight is that 1-a lot of people do enjoy hurting others, and 2-they don’t really want to admit it even to themselves. Does anyone here have any insights into human nature or morality to share from your experiences gaming? @killamch89 @skyfire @kingpotato @Alyxx @The Blackangel @LadyDay @DylanC

I was reading this thread from @mont86 about how long it takes to learn a new game, and it made me think of a related question. A lot of games for me are "dive right in" games where once I figure out the controls, I'm good to go pretty much the same day, and a couple days later, it feels natural to play. But some games definitely have a really steep learning curve. I never got through the learning curve with Souls, for example. What games have you played which you felt had the steepest learning curves? Were any so steep you gave up?

I'll tell you privately, Just remind me if I forget :) Anyway, same question back at you?

On this thread, @The Blackangel, @LadyDay and I were talking about how we dread single player games ever potentially going away. I don't think they will, but it is obvious that a lot of devs and publishers would love it if they could for obvious financial reasons. It got me curious as to what percentage of time most of us here spend on single player versus multiplayer? When in high school, I spent almost ALL my game time on multiplayer while playing MUDs. But nowadays, it is zero percent of my game time. I do sometimes play LAN games, but not multiplayer games online with strangers.

Yes, if it means getting her before she gets me.

Off the disc. I don't think space is the issue (I have lots of free space, and just deleted a bunch of saves). But maybe it's the disc being dodgy? It can't be overheating. It's freezing in here.

DA Inquisition ran pretty close to flawlessly to this point for me on PS3, but within the past two days, I’ve had it freeze up tight on me to the point of needing to do a hard reboot on the console. The most recent time, it did this during a save, so my save file got corrupted and I lost progress. Thankfully, an autosave kept me from losing days' worth. Anyone know what causes these freezes or if there is anything I can do to avoid them, especially while saving?

What possibility do you dread most concerning the future of gaming? The end of physical discs? Everything turning into microtransactions? Needing to be online to play any game? No more single player games? Not being able to play your old games because you can no longer purchase compatible hardware? A move away from types of games or game content that interest you? Something else altogether? @kingpotato @skyfire @The Blackangel @Alyxx @DylanC @LadyDay @killamch89

If you had the money and resources to make a sequel to any game you wanted, what game would you make a sequel to? And what direction would you go with it? @The Blackangel @Alyxx @DylanC @skyfire @killamch89 @kingpotato @LadyDay

How often do you replay your favorite game? Most of my games are open world games, so I just keep them on a semi-permanent rotation loop—so I am basically always playing Skyrim, Fallout, etc. I’m finally getting around to my second playthrough of TLOU, will probably start in the next few weeks. And I recently finished my first full playthrough of all BioShock games and DLCs. I think ideally, I want to play through BioShock and TLOU every year. But I am sure it will be impossible to keep up with that as I expand my video game library. How often do you replay your favorite game or games? @kingpotato @DylanC @The Blackangel @Alyxx @killamch89 @LadyDay @skyfire

Do other people here who enjoy open world games spend a large percentage of time just messing around and doing mundane things? I literally spend about 50% of my time in RDR working on the hunting/gathering challenges and gambling. It makes the world feel more “lived in” to me, rather than something I’m just passing through. I mess around a lot in Skyrim and Fallout too, but not to the same degree. I think RDR’s mundane tasks are just more fun to me than, say, the radiant quests in Skyrim. Then again, I spend a lot of time in both Skyrim and Fallout arranging items around my house. What percentage of time do you spend in the open world games you play just doing random slice of life activities? And what “slice of life” type activities do you wish were available in the games you play which aren’t? Like in Skyrim, I like that there are some activities you can do with your kids, but I wish there were more, like taking them to town to shop and such. And there are literally no spouse activities, which is kind of lame. It would also be cool if you could go fishing.

I am playing Oblivion right now for the first time. @DylanC told me about how when it came out, it was a mindblowing experience to console gamers, who never really got into Morrowind. So the whole open world experience was still very new and amazing. I try to picture myself in that time when I play it so I can imagine that excitement. The game I most remember changing what I thought was possible with games as a kid was Half-Life. It showed me that it was possible to have a shooter which did an amazing job weaving in a story and incorporating other gameplay elements. I just had never seen anything like it up to that point. I feel to this day like it was one of the most groundbreaking and trend-setting games ever made. What games do you remember changing what you thought was possible in video games?

What is your favorite time of day visually in Skyrim?

Constant. My chronic pain.

Not bad. You? :)

@LadyDay It is great to see you around here again! :)

As @killamch89 recently pointed out, a lot of free game sites are filled with adware, but there are still lots of opportunities to play free games that don't involve putting oneself at that kind of risk. To everyone here, what free games do you play and recommend?