Current games: Satisfactory, Valheim
History
I've always been fascinated by video games. My first home system was an Atari 2600. Yes, I played ET—and I knew it was terrible, even back then. I also played a lot on the old computers at the Kent Free Library, getting into stuff like Zork and whatnot.
I had an NES, with stuff like Marble Madness and Dragon Warrior, and then an SNES, which is where I really fell in love with RPGs. Final Fantasy, Lufia, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, etc., I played them all (and still have some!) On the original Playstation, I did play some RPGs, but I also branched out into action games like Syphon Filter and Colony Wars.
Then in 1996, my family got our first PC, and some of the first software to go on it was games. Myst and Riven, Heretic and Quake, Descent and Starlancer. With an internet connection, gaming became social, and I played a lot of Diablo and Starcraft online with friends, as well as some MUDs.
Of course, consoles were still a draw. A Dreamcast and PS2 followed, and I played far too much Phantasy Star Online and Okami. My most recent consoles are the Wii and Xbox 360—for a while I had two 360s, used for parties at school. Gears of War co-op on two side-by-side big-screen projectors is downright magical.
In the future I may get a PS5, but the only significant draw right now is Horizon: Forbidden West. We shall see. Until then, there are always Steam sales.
Thoughts
Games are an interesting, multifaceted phenomenon. A medium for storytelling that's only begun to be tapped. A mode of satisfying some very real needs in the human psyche, but thereby possessing the potential to become a rather frightening addiction. An outlet for artistry that continues to evolve.
It's hard to say specifically what most catches me in a game. I can generalize by saying 'story', but it's more some combination of worldbuilding and focus. I can forgive a lot gameplay and tech-wise if the story interests me, but it rarely goes the other way around.
I love Final Fantasy 4 more than 6, 8 more than 7 or 9, and I actually like the entire 13 trilogy. I love Halo 1-3 and ODST, but 4 and 5 were disappointments1. I can't stand the Elder Scrolls games, or Fallout, but enjoyed Dishonored, all three Diablos, and all of Starcraft. Dark Souls bores me, but Bloodborne fascinates.
And of course, I can get pulled into things if enough friends have it. I would not have played much Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, or now Overwatch without good company. There's this stereotype that 'gamers' are entirely solitary creatures, their biggest social interaction being screaming at strangers on open voice chat. While there's plenty of that to be found, the dynamic changes when you're playing with friends, especially cooperatively.
Then there's Minecraft. I got it right near the end of Alpha, and have had an on-again off-again relationship with it. Vanilla is fun, but so are server plugins, and full modded. Single-player challenge and quest packs are great, and I've run a few servers for friends over the years.
I used to think Netflix and its ilk would be the thing that replaced television as my 'background noise', but lately I've found that Twitch.tv and similar 'gaming streamer' services are what has really done so. This is another facet of the social side of gaming, and for me calls back to sitting with my friend Robert, sometimes passing the SNES controller back and forth, other times just watching the other play. If you have enough empathy to rejoice at another's accomplishments (be they friend, acquaintance, or just someone whose personality resonates with you), games can be a background to building a friendship, or a community.
Footnotes
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Actually I can say definitively why Halo 4 and 5 were disappointments, and even Reach. I enjoy tie-ins with games, including novels. I read a lot of the Shadowrun and Magic: The Gathering books when I was young. I love the Myst novels. And I really got into the Halo novels, particularly the ones by Eric Nylund.
Bungie said the novels and their worldbuilding were canon, and the games would blend in seamlessly. They broke that promise a bit with Reach, and then 343 went off the rails with 4 and 5, as well as breaking from the tone of the secret messages in 3. They've now 'revised' some of the novels, and released new ones...meh.
Games I've Played (WIP)
To be honest, compiling the initial version of this list was just an excuse to nostalgia-out for a bit. Then displaying it turned into an exercise in refreshing my PHP, SQL, and Javascript skills, and learning knockout.js. SO FANCY.