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I dunno, I think I'd be more likely to buy games if they were interesting to watch - and then be disappointed that I was actually more annoyed to play. I mean I've watched people play games that are just straight play, and not interesting play to just watch, they don't get me intrigued in a game I was unfamiliar with. But watching my friends play games that aren't boring me and thus seem fun would make me more likely to want it. I mean I don't think most people who are having fun watching a game be played realize that the fun is coming from watching. So there probably really is a marketing strategy in just that.

However yea, there aren't too many times I want to watch cut scenes when I'm playing, even when it's good. I don't game a lot anymore, so obviously if I'm playing all I want to do is play. Of course this is probably why I don't game a lot anymore, I'll start, get bored with story scenes every level or so, and then never go back. Whatever, it's not going to kill gaming, it's just kind of ruining it for me.

Yea...I mean because I'm frugal I personally am not too likely to buy, but I am likely to want to. Especially if I can't watch someone finish. Like when I watch my brother play then I can easily watch him play the whole thing, and then true, I'm done. But usually I don't watch other people play an entire game. We don't often have the time to sit around. Anyhow I also know I'm really fussy about controls, so it's hard for me to judge how I'll actually react to gameplay by watching, so that I'd have to try to decide whether or not I like playing the game.

Yea, again with me and games I like to invent stories while I'm playing. That's what keeps my mind entertained while I go along. So frankly I'd like very minimal character info, and I'd just like to create my own world. The more little scenes I get, the more it jacks with my fantasy. Gaming in a way is my own personal fantasy. If I want someone else's fantasy (even though yes, I'll screw with it some - i.e. the world of fandom) I'll tend to read or watch something. If I play a game though I really just want to get lost in my own world, halted only by like...walls. Not movies telling me, oh actually this character is in love with this character. Love scene! Ruins my illusion completely.

If we didn't work together and thus I get to see you practically everyday of the week anyhow I'd be very upset by this!

WAH I'M NEVER GOING TO SEE YOU NEXT YEAR, MOVE TO ENGLAND WITH ME!!!

Ok! Hehe, probably whatever works for you though, I mean you're the one who'll have to get away from things for a week. I probably won't be coming home for my spring break, so it if crosses with yours at all that would definitely bet he ideal time. If it doesn't, maybe just you're spring break and worst case scenario I will be really busy and you'll just have to find SOMETHING to do in EUROPE! Somehow, I think you'll manage. ^_~

Yea, with few exceptions I don't like watching games. I have to be feeling really lazy to do so. Or else in party mode when you have 20 people, it's not so much watching the 1 - 4 people play a game as narrating and making ridiculous noises. Like there have been times I've watched Grand Theft Auto and been bored out of my friggin mind. And then other times where I've been sitting with about 6 other people and it's been fun.

God of War III...I'd never heard of that until it got mentioned in a Cracked article a day or two ago...twas interesting, hahaha.

Ah, but that's why I don't like most new games. I mean I'm fine going with what I'm given - setting, etc. But most games kind of fail on the plot scale (one of the other points of the Cracked article, they come off like B rank movies, and they do). So I like my own plot and I've never had problems working my own imagination into the games I love. Primarily it's characterization I invent anyhow, so it doesn't matter what the progression/setting is. For me gaming is an active interest in inventing characterization and pushing buttons - yes pushing buttons. Which is why I have to like the controls on a game I'm playing, my enjoyment comes from pattern control.

I mean if I had a problem with established setting, progression, etc I probably wouldn't care all that much about fanfiction either. I like creating within established rules and confines sometimes, I fully acknowledge that sometimes I get my enjoyment purposely avoiding any semblance of originality. But of course the less that's controlled the better. Probably why one of my favorite game series features a protagonist who can't really talk. No end to what I can do there. ^_~

Helping characters with their goals is all fine and dandy. Unless I don't give a crap about their goals. Then I at least need to be able to fantasize myself into different goals, goals I can care about, goals that will make me spend hours trying to escape from the friggin puzzle trap town. razz

Hmm, that's another weird thing about me, I don't have a lot of appreciation for moving art. I don't know why, I just don't, so I guess I can't often just sit and enjoy that...not for more than minutes.

Yes...yes it was... ninja . I hope not, because see now I take that as the theme/plot/etc of the game. And I'm not having sex in real life, but that does not make me want to have virtual sex as a mode of entertainment. Ok so I make my Sims bang like crazy, but they have sparkles obscuring everything, it's not the same! But yea, games are always full of elements that are just ridiculous and it's hard for me to ignore. I'm less art focused and more detail oriented. I sit there thinking about how illogical something is - even in the context of its own world. Us Vulcans just can't have fun (hehe, j/k - mostly b/c I'm not a big Star Trek fan. I like the new movie, but I get how it's not very representative of the series in many ways). rolleyes

Yea, and again I can totally enjoy built in plot. I just don't like to get my plot from cut scenes. They are never grade A quality plot wise - even in the best of games, I think it's pretty much impossible to hit that standard in segmented bits and pieces throughout. And they just pull me out of what I'm doing. I guess the only thing I can appreciate them for is if my carpal tunnel is acting up. If it isn't though I might get annoyed. I think the worst part is games that have A LOT in the beginning. It makes it really hard to get into the game when you have to go through so much movie to actually get into serious play. Like Kingdom Hearts, I started it and haven't really gone back. I think I've watched more movies thus far then played, and people tell me the reason they have a hard time replaying is the beginning. And yea the game is great once you get into it. The problem is I can't get into it. I'll be a little more patient when I'm already into a game and it's cropping up throughout.

I guess because I like most of my fanfiction to be accurate to canon I see it as just as restrictive. I can get into AU stuff, but very rarely, which is why I still think it's weird that I'm writing an AU story. I usually like to keep the same universe, characters and time line, and basically what I"m looking for is more. I look for fanfiction that seems like it could have actually been part of the series. I'm not looking for whatever, I'm looking for more, usually because a series has ended and I'm still addicted. Usually the only twist I like to see is pairings that don't exist canon, but even then I like it believable. No Kaiba singing sonnets or any such nonsense. I like to see fanfiction forced into believable, I appreciate "whatever," but it isn't why I got into that.

Which is probably why I want the opposite with games. They don't have to be established - I mean why would they, THEIR fan base is based of idiots who are going to post rants about pixels. PIXELS! I get a world, I get characters, I don't get much else. I mean my favorite game is the Sims for a reason. But even with other games, I don't want to sit and watch movies spilling out the plot. I mostly want to play and daydream. Imagine what my character is thinking.

I think the other thing for me is that I don't find games connective. I don't connect with just anyone, and I can really hate a main character in a game if they annoy me. This won't stop me from playing a game, I'm just saying I can totally not feel connected to a character. My favorite games I usually do. But like, one of my other favorite series, Legacy of Kain. Ok you get it, he's manipulated and thus vengeful, but that he was always kind of an arrogant d**k. But I love him. And I don't get hours and hours of seeing how he is an asshat, I get enough of a glimpse to know that he is. And then I get to go wild getting into the a*****e mentality, yet being self-righteous, justified - at least to myself. My Kain is probably more complex than the Kain, and he gets to be because you don't get a very complex Kain. I love that. I like playing a game imagining that at this moment this character is thinking this, he's picking this object up because blah blah blah, he's blah because blah because whatever I want. And I can do that, because there isn't really much motive established. He's gotta save his girlfriend, he's gotta kill the people that killed him, he's got to cross the street before the truck runs him over. What comes between is up to me.

So yes, I don't get into a wide variety of games, and the games I usually like are either racing/puzzle games or adventure games where there isn't much interaction amongst protagonists. Everyone just runs to get to the end of the level. And that's great, because then I can fill in the blanks as I jump over sand pits and alligators and plants (and oh man I can totally imagine what these killer plants are thinking). I mean hey, I do this in real life when I'm driving, and I now am realizing this is why. I think elaborate things about the people in the other cars, mainly in relation to what they are thinking about me. And later I realize, well why the heck would they think that? Why should they care? Because I do, because I do that, and that's what makes sense to me damn it!

So yea, I will never call myself a gamer, most games aren't designed for me. I get that, so I'll enjoy the few I've got until the day I die...and try to play a few others from time to time to switch it up. I guess if I'm playing Crash, Kain, Sims, Frogger, Bust a Move, IQ and a couple of racing games over and over and over again until I'm 115 I'm ok with that. razz

Haha, nice, I've never even heard of that game until the article. But are you sure Kits? I mean I hear the pixels aren't up to par soooooooo... xd

Ah, well I'm very particular about my cartoons too. Most of the cartoons I've liked are dark and twisty (Zim, South Park, Drawn Together) or are still rather realistic in most parts (Rocket Power, Hey Arnold), and I haven't really gotten into "new" cartoons in recent years. I did like Kim Possible, but if you take the super hero aspect as just canon it's in other ways pretty "normal," it's not ridiculous. So yea, I'm just picky about my worlds I guess.

I hadn't even heard of God of War until the article, but I highly doubted that is what the game would be about. I mean I can't even see a 14 year old boy wanting to play a game that was continuously that.

Yea, I'm going to try and play it again when I have time but I might concede defeat and just try to finish Blood Omen II before I move in fall. I just want to see if I can get through it, but yea the KH games are my brothers and I don't want to continually borrow them. So if I'll really have to be convicted in my opinion to give up if I do.

Characterization is definitely the most important thing for me - I think that's what really got me so set against AU though. Most AU stories tend to screw up the characters. I have no problem with differences based on stuff that didn't happen, but a lot of AU stories I tend to find it's just all AU, even the characters. I have found some that are really good, but I'm just very likely to avoid them, because of so many bad experiences. Usually if I'm reading AU it's because I really want something with a pairing or series that just doesn't have very many fanfic options, so I'll give it a shot.

Yea, we've already established the opposite interests. There are very few racing games I probably like, most of them are really stiff and annoying (such as Gran Turismo, awful!). But the games I like I love and will spend years playing, and then pick up again from time to time later. Such as CTR (it's Mario starring Crash for Sony), Rage Racer and Jet Moto. I'm very good at puzzle games, and then let me enjoy that pattern control thing I like without distraction. I'm just that creepy kid who likes to play by herself I guess...I don't even want computer people/bots taking up my space. xd

Yea, I realized that about a year ago (after driving for over 7 years now), I actually sat and cognitively thought about what I'm doing. And while I don't like to believe I'm a unique and special snowflake, because none of us are of course, I feel like the people around me can't possibly be doing this. At least at the volume I attributed them to do so. Oh well, I guess being a freak isn't that bad...

I know it really was. Although I've luckily never had to deal with pixel type people, probably because I don't online game, so the gamers I know have already proven themselves capable of facing reality by knowing me. Hahaha. At the same time though, I think the main point that article never made - it's not ok to reveal yourself as a gamer after high school (maybe college)...if you are male. The 2/3rds of us who are female are actually in the clear. Hooray for ovaries. rofl ninja