StaceyPowers

I'm over 30 and I can do more easily XD

Physical exercise is somewhat impossible for some people. Myself being one. I’m in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I have advanced muscular dystrophy. It deteriorates the body’s muscular system and is a terminal disease. I’ll die in a wheelchair. I don’t have many options to stay occupied or entertained anymore. I can’t work due to the MD. I’m stuck at home.

Ah, I can totally grok that. I always thought it’d be cool to live at the bottom of the sea and explore. And Rapture’s ambiance is amazing.
I never noticed any drains in the floor … but hey, maybe I just don’t look at the floor enough =D
Ah, I can totally grok that. I always thought it’d be cool to live at the bottom of the sea and explore. And Rapture’s ambiance is amazing.
I never noticed any drains in the floor … but hey, maybe I just don’t look at the floor enough =D
I feel like it’d have been a great place in theory, but in practice, it’s not like everyone came in with the same fair shot at success. Didn’t help that Ryan was a hypocrite either, nor that Fontaine was better at his game and an asshole. In that type of economy, I think one is counting on folks to be good for goodness’ sake—and alas, I don’t think one can count on people.

Are there any video game lines you incorporate into conversation a lot?
For example, I have a tendency to say “would you kindly” when making requests a lot, although only people who played BioShock know that I am making a joke. Everyone else has no idea why I seem to say it in italics.
@Alyxx @kingpotato @The Blackangel @killamch89 @skyfire @Executor Akamia @DylanC
 

In this thread, I cannot help but be astounded by the sheer number of unplayed games @killamch89 and @Alyxx happen to have. Yet this seems very common.
I won’t ask “how the heck do you afford all these games?” as that might be rude, so instead I’ll ask, “how do you budget for your video games?”
Like, do you set rules for your spending? Is there a certain amount or percentage of your budget monthly you let yourself use to buy games?
In my case, I usually only purchase a game if I decide I Must Have It. And if that is the case, I try to do overtime and then shop only out of that budget. Though if I see a good deal or if I am reaching the end of a previous game in a series, I will often make an exception. As a result, I do not have many games.
 
 

Thank you!

I second these nominations, and also nominate @The Blackangel!

Good choice 😄

Thank you!

I second these nominations, and also nominate @The Blackangel!

Heheh, I remember doing that with TV as a kid, but it was because of content, not the time of day.
Smart :) 
My habit was to do as much of my homework at school as possible so that I'd have just maybe one or two tasks left when I got home that wouldn't be too intensive. Then, I would stretch them out over the rest of the afternoon and evening while playing my MUD. Whenever parents would come upstairs, I'd quickly hit minimize on the game, and then appear to be hard at work on the assignments. Meanwhile, as they were standing in the room, I'd be praying nobody was killing me or robbing me in the game while it was minimized, lol.
The most dramatic thing I ever maximized and came back to was discovering that a member of one of the game's mafias had robbed me of all my money, and his brother was offering to "help" by giving it all back, thus attempting to put me in his debt =D Ironically, as a result of the incident, we became close frenemies.

With so much discussion over anti-consumer practices by game developers and publishers (not to mention console manufacturers), what are some companies which truly seem to care about customer experience, and which go the extra mile to be fair and decent?
@DylanC @kingpotato @The Blackangel @killamch89 @Alyxx @Executor Akamia @Aerielle del Rosario @skyfire

I already live in Columbia. That’s no joke. My home town is Columbia MO.

They like our money - nothing else matters to most of these gaming companies.
I perfectly understand what you mean because I also operate similarly but I am just stating how the companies in the gaming industry are nowadays. EA, Bethesda, Microsoft, Epic, Take Two Interactive, Ubisoft and the list goes on have been doing this for close to a decade.

I began my second playthrough of BioShock Infinite last night, and it ended up making me think a lot about immersiveness in video games.
I was both looking forward to it and dreading it for around a year now. It’s rare for the second time through with something to have the same magic as the first time, since there are fewer surprises.
So I was surprised to find that the game has much the same effect on me so far this time. I have the same sense I did before of being transported from my mundane life, and really being in this other place and time, immersed in this different atmosphere. The sense of place there remains unique.
Having played BioShock 1 and 2 now, I have to say those are also very atmospheric games—but not quite on the same level for me. And now I think I can list factors which play into why BioShock Infinite seems to have this uniquely immersive pull on me:
It’s in first person. Third-person is too detached and limiting, which is why this game beats TLOU for immersion to me—even though TLOU is very immersive. You have time to stop and look around, and are in fact encouraged to do so. BioShocks 1 and 2 spawn too many continuous enemies to do this conveniently. The soundtracking is often minimal, with the ambient sounds of the city in the foreground. This is more like “real life” than continuous soundtracking. There are often things going on in your environment, many of them unique events. These are timed with your movements so that they seem spontaneous, both drawing you forward and encouraging you to stop and pause and pay attention. In short, the game is paced for you to explore and savour. This is entirely subjective, but I find Booker very easy to relate to. We have a lot of the same reactions to what we see, so it is easy to be immersed both in the world and in his mind. From your experiences gaming, what factors do you think help make a game immersive to the point where you truly feel like you’ve left the room and travelled to the game world?
@DylanC @killamch89 @kingpotato @The Blackangel @Alyxx @Aerielle del Rosario @Executor Akamia @skyfire
 

@kingpotato and I were talking about followers in Fallout: New Vegas, and he mentioned that he has a preference for going it alone in games in general.
So I thought I’d ask everyone here: Do you prefer to travel with or without followers, and why?
I originally thought when I first started playing open world games that I’d find followers annoying, but I now usually trail as many around with me as I can. I suppose I just like the “being in a party” vibe, and I also like that sometimes they make interesting comments, have quests (i.e. New Vegas), and so on. Plus, they are fun to dress up in nice armour (i.e. the Daedric armour in Skyrim).
Mind you, I hate when they get stuck in Skyrim—what a pain. But in NV, this seems to happen less often, and they also tend to be more helpful in combat (especially Boone).
@kingpotato @DylanC

For those who are old enough to remember the DOS era on PC, what were your favorite DOS games?
A couple I remember fondly are Return to Zork and Heaven and Earth.
@DylanC @killamch89 @kingpotato @The Blackangel @Alyxx @Aerielle del Rosario @Executor Akamia @skyfire

Makes sense. There are some hassles with followers, especially in Skyrim.

Exactly. Because they can.

Oh man. Memories!
 

This is a very sensitive topic, but I feel personally that it's wrong to say that people wanting non-binary gender choices in games and more female heroes is due to SJW's. I feel it's progressive and shows that gaming is maturing enough to appeal to everyone. And developers and publishers do have to take into consideration all feedback they receive (to a degree) so that includes groups who are very vocal about cultural representation in gaming.

I posted a thread titled, “Has gaming increased your empathy?” It led to a bit of a side conversation where @kingpotato and @killamch89 were talking about some of the most empathetic characters they've noticed in video games.
 
So I thought I would make a thread on that topic and ask who the most empathetic characters are in games.
My vote for most empathetic character in a game is Ellie from The Last of Us. Both she and Joel are very reserved people, each dealing very privately with their own grief. Despite the fact that he is standoffish toward her for the first part of the game and both of them are very much conversational minimalists, she manages to intuit and make sense of what he went through with Sarah, and what he’s going through with her. I’m not half that smart with people as an adult, much less when I was her age.
Who do you think the most empathetic game characters are?
@kingpotato @killamch89 @Alyxx @skyfire @Executor Akamia @The Blackangel @DylanC
 

You'll develop withdrawal symptoms if you don't play it for an extended period of time. Ask @StaceyPowers or @kingpotato

Exactly. The ability of the child to reason is important too. I never really saw a connection between video game "violence" and real-life violence--there's nothing harmful occurring on a screen. But some kids may not have the ability to make the distinction, and as a result, may behave problematically.

I agree with @kingpotato. I too played violent video games at a young age, and wasn't affected adversely in any way. I think it depends more on a child's personality and maturity level than their age. So different ages for different kids. Hopefully their parents know them well enough to make sensible choices.
 

Bless you for writing this. It isn’t so much that I hate reviews as that I tend to get irritated with the way they are expressed. It is extremely annoying when someone declares that something is a good game or a poor game. A game is either a good fit or a poor fit for each specific player. I do think that there is some degree of objective measurability in some respects (i.e. how buggy is the game?), but most of it is entirely based in opinion, just as you said.
I also feel this way about book reviews, movie reviews, TV reviews …