November 20, 2003

Games 'N' Me

Al (of Nova Notes) recently posted the question on Journals-L:

What's your favorite game? Video, professional sports, whatever?

My answer (with more commentary added):
Tricky question because my typical answer is: whatever I'm playing at the time. Hehe. I play so many games!

So, my two current computer games are URU (which just came out on Tuesday and I'm about halfway through already, nerd that I am) and Star Wars Galaxies (which I've been playing since early July).

URU is the next chapter in the MYST series. It is fantastic so far. The graphics are stunning. The puzzles are interesting, although a bit frustrating at times. There is an URULive component, which would allow users to play in a MMORPG environment, but I haven't received access for it yet (they are introducing groups slowly). Since it is unnecessary to enter URULive in order to enjoy the single-person game, I can understand their slow user roll-out. There's a part of me that is very impatient and want access to the live component NOW NOW NOW, but I would wait until I can get a stable version of the game. I do not want to be disappointed with a buggy online component.

Star Wars Galaxies is the MMORPG (my first hardcore one!) that puts users into the Star Wars Universe. Woohoo! I currently live in the Valcyn Galaxy on Tatooine relatively close to Jabba's palace. I play a ranger (a great hunter-type) and I'm in a really cool guild, The Older Gamers. They play all sorts of games (I am considering Battlefield 1942 because of them) with the minimum age requirement is 25... which is sort of sad and strange if that is the requirement to be "an older gamer". They come from all around the globe, mostly the US and Australia. I've made a lot of new friends and it's a lot of fun! We have hunts together where we get credits and resources (hide, bone, meat, other exotic items from the more dangeous types), playing on TeamSpeak to coordinate ourselves most effectively. If anyone joins SWG, look me up on Valcyn and I will be more than happy to start you up with whatever you need.

In terms of "classic" computer games that I find fun, I like: NetHack,Zork-like/MYST-like games, Startopia (an underplayed, fantastic game), real-time strategy games like Age of Empires (but not Warcraft because I think the building styles are too non-distinctive... plus I like playing in that historic-style), and Sim-style games like SimCity and SimGolf.

Always interested in what Startopia's creators Mucky Foot Productions is up to, I hopped over to their site to discover that they've gone out of business! How depressing! I wrote the creators and email to gush about how much I love their game and will want to know what they are doing in the future. In memory of their company, they posted their quote list and it's hilarious. They are the type of people I want to surround me. Funny, silly, gamer-types. Bonus, Mucky Foot people are funny, silly British gamer-types! Alas, I wish them well.

In terms of board games, I'm a huge fan of Settlers of Catan, which is probably THE best boardgame ever developed. There's a large amount of replay value and it's always interesting. The original game is the best, although the expansion of Seafarers of Catan isn't bad. I also love Puerto Rico, a game that is pretty amazing with the two-player variant. It's a non-direct-competitive game where you try to build up your colony. In terms of two-player games, I also love Lost Cities, a card/board game where you hope to get the best expedition return for your investments. I haven't found enough players (5) to make History of the World genuinely satisfying, so I haven't played it in a long time. At that number, it approaches 4 hours! But, it's a great game and less intimidating to newbies than Axis & Allies. History of the World is a land conquering game, but it helps prevent people who are losing to continue losing as you progress through the ages. I like Apples to Apples, but the group composition is really important.

I've never been too much of a card game fan. Traditional card games, I like gin. I've only collected three types of cards seriously: Star Wars (only the first collection, and I do have a rare Luke Skywalker!), Illuminati: New World Order (because I liked the pictures on the cards) and some other game that I no longer remember the name but they had extra-long cards and images of angels.

I also love roleplaying, typically in the In Nomine, Over the Edge, Unknown Armies, and Call of Cthulhu universes (yeah, I like my games DARK and genuinely SCARY). I like Paranoia, but that's more silly than scary. I also like LARPing, specifically Interactive Literature-style LARPs (as opposed to NERO or Vampire LARPs). I'm hoping that next year, I will have a "gaming weekend" once a month and probably will run a LARP two or three times next year. We'll see.

Yeah, games. I love them. I can't say too much about physical sports, because I've never been into them (watching or playing). It's not something that I'm really aware of.

Aside: in other gaming news, there is a report out staying that James Ernest (the man behind Cheapass Games and a funny, brilliant guy that I have a bit of a crush on) is teaming up with Fleer Trading Cards to create a card game based on "American Idols". Sigh. I'm sad about that. I equate Cheapass and Ernest with these cute, indie games. Fun, well-made, and don't smack of commercialism. This does and it makes me sad.