StaceyPowers

I've never heard of Madrugada. I'm going to check them out now!

That is a wonderful response. Thank you so much for sharing that. It's so easy for people to blow off video games for not being "real," but often, they allow us to express our real selves more than we can in "real" life.

I did a lot of that in the MUD I played too. I still remember some of the spots I loved very clearly.

Actually, playing that game was arguably how I developed a moral compass at all as a teenager =D

I actually like the direction VNV Nation has gone over recent years, but I do see where you're coming from. And I love Covenant's remix of Torn. Have you listened to Wovenhand as well?

I can't pick just one. Some top contenders: Seabound, The Edge of Dawn, VNV Nation, Wovenhand, 16 Horsepower, The Cruxshadows, David Arkenstone, Andreas Vollenweider, Lacuna Coil, Ulver, The Legendary Pink Dots.

You mentioned recently in a thread that gaming has helped you by giving you a way to express your gender identity. I'd love to know more about that if you'd like to share. Feel free to PM if you prefer :)

What video games do you recommend I play? Some games I enjoy on a variety of platforms from a variety of eras: Fallout, Dragon Age, Skyrim, Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us, Quake III Arena, UT 2004, Myst, Zork.

Old-fashioned flip phone. I don't own a smartphone =D

I really enjoyed a response that @Alyxx posted on this thread in regards to playing games and expressing gender identity. I could relate, because playing MMOs when I was young gave me a way to see past social constructs and get to know people on a level beyond age, nationality, gender and so forth. Since it was at a formative time in my life, it also gave me a chance to see myself beyond those constructs and form an identity which transcends them. It made me realize that while game worlds are constructed, a lot of what society takes for granted IRL is constructed too. As a Communication major in college, I wrote a few papers about this. I was wondering if anyone else has stories to share where playing games has helped to either shape your identity or express it in some way?

@Katri Marcell and I were talking in this thread about situations where we have “bent the rules” in terms of intended game play in various games. She talked about playing a support role in PUBG instead of killing other players, and I talked about an MMO where I refused to kill NPCs to level up. In both cases, we found our choices rewarding, even though other players questioned our basic sanity =D I also remember these golf simulator games when I was a kid which didn’t really interest me in terms of golf. I just played the golf in order to run around the course maps and explore. I would often try to send the ball as far to the edge of the map as possible, always wishing there was more to see. I'd get depressed when it'd fall off the edge into nothingness. Now we have open world games to fill the void I was trying to fill in childhood with the golf games. Anyone else have similar stories to share?

I’ve been playing Bioshock Infinite for the first time, and I am totally blown away by the setting. As beautiful as a lot of game settings are, this one somehow seems to go further. It is arguably the most atmospheric game I’ve played since Myst way back in the 1990s. Columbia is both stunning and grotesque. It attracts and repulses you at the same time. Its visual beauty is at constant odds with its cultural hideousness. You get a real sense for ominous vastness both in terms of its physical scale and the immensity of its oppression. Can anyone suggest other games which are equally atmospheric and have such detailed and well-developed settings?

I can relate to that in a way. In a small MMO I played for a couple of years, I got annoyed at the inconsistency of players killing NPCs without blinking to level up. I felt that in-character, they should be treated just like PCs. So I stopped killing them to level up. I took a lot of flak for that, and life was pretty hard (especially since I got banned from all the guilds for a while and had no class). But it was oddly rewarding pushing myself down a challenging path like that when nobody else would.

Awesome answer. Playing MMOs when I was young did a lot to open my eyes to a world beyond the demographic lines that other people in society have drawn. I wrote a number of papers on gaming in college and how it can help us see past social constructs and explore different aspects of our identities which might be suppressed in our day-to-day lives.

I've been looking very carefully at the statues and paintings on your advice. Not only is the artwork amazing, but you are right--there are a lot of details i'd have missed otherwise in terms of plot. Thank you!

That's great. I never thought of it like that before, but you nailed it. If I kill people in games without a reason, I remove the emotional payoff of getting righteous results.

I often hear people referring to liking a "cinematic" quality in a game, but I've never totally been clear on what that means (it seems to vary from person to person). For those who like games with this quality, what are you looking for in terms of POV, world design, cut scenes, etc?

When you are playing FPS games, what do you look for in a solid map? This is a very subjective topic, but here is what I typically like: -A reasonable amount of small, tight areas (I play better in them, and dislike maps which are totally wide open). -Smart use of vertical space to add more dimensionality to game play. -Distinctive areas or landmarks which assist with navigation. -Some intuitive "flow" to the landscape. This one is hard to explain, but there are some maps which just don't make any logical sense to my brain. No matter how often I play them, I never really learn my way around effectively. -A variety of features to support different play styles. -"Fun" features, i.e. those bouncy pads on Q3A. Or like in this player-made map called Shibam for Q3A, there are spots where you can woosh through the air and do other fun things. -Strategic opportunities. I.e. if there is a ranged weapon on a map for sniping, I want there to be a variety of exciting sniper's nests to choose from. -Aesthetics. I'd rather play an ugly map that plays well that a pretty map that doesn't, but ambiance does go a long way for me.

What are your favorite FPS maps in any game?

What I mean is … -How many video games are you actively playing at any one time? -How do you rotate through them? -What percentage of your time is dedicated to your favorite games/the same games over and over again? I usually have like three open world games on a rotation, and then something else for the fourth week, so like: -Fallout 3 for a week -Skyrim for a week -Fallout NV for a week -Dragon Age for a week -Rinse and repeat If I play more than four or five games at a time, I have a hard time focusing/keeping track of what I’m doing in each game. But if I jump game to game too quickly, I don’t really get the full immersion I want. What’s your gaming schedule like?

Not that I can use them, since I’m on PS3, but I’m curious what everyone’s favorite Skyrim mods are?

Sort of an oddly specific topic, lol, but what video games have you played that featured beautiful lighting? I’ve really been impressed with the lighting in Bioshock Infinite. Everything in that game has a kind of “luminous” quality to it. It’s just beautiful to look at.

I think a lot of people play video games to get some kind of psychological release. Obviously you see this a lot with FPS games. Games give us a chance to do what we can’t do in real life. What gives you some form of catharsis while gaming? For me, it is games which allow me to take action against social ills I can’t do anything about in real life (i.e. striking out against bigotry). Even though nothing real is accomplished (obviously), there is still a sense of emotional satisfaction I can't experience IRL.

I started Bioshock Infinite the other day, and so far I love it—except for one thing, which is the complete inability to make manual saves. I know there are some technical reasons why developers sometimes do this, but does this kind of thing drive anyone else crazy?

Actually, I'm increasingly sure you can't manually save. But at least I figured out how to see when it saved last.