StaceyPowers

I'm not making fun of your anxiety at all. I literally thought you were being humorous where you posted it--or maybe hoped you were, for your sake. Being made anxious is not fun 😞 It is easy to mis-read tone on the web, and I apologize for misreading yours. There certainly is a lot of toxic behavior on some servers, and I can see now how that could cause social anxiety. I am sorry you've had bad experiences.

I’ve never heard anyone comment on this before, but I just started Mass Effect for the first time, and I feel like I’m back in time in the late 90s or very early Aughts, lol. The game obviously looks much better graphically than anything from that timeframe, but the art and music style feel so retro, and I kind of love that. Are there any other games that anyone can think of that also look/sound like they are from that approximate era, even though they were made later?

I was reading @Shagger talking about a game called Knack which was designed for kids, with a co-op role built in for parents or older siblings to help them out with tough sections, and @kingpotato and I both liked the concept. I was wondering what other games you all are familiar with that feature interesting co-op mechanics?

I just started my first playthrough of Mass Effect a couple of nights ago. So far, it seems very similar mechanics/interface-wise to Dragon Age, but mixed with some shooter elements. But like DA, I am finding it a bit overwhelming in the beginning. A couple of stupid questions: -How do I see how many grenades I have? -How do I see how much medi-gel I have? -Why is there an annoying vignette effect when I am out and about, even when I am not wearing any sort of helmet? The screen is darker around the corners? Is there a way to disable this annoying visual effect? Finally, does anyone have any useful tips in general for getting the most out of Mass Effect? I would especially appreciate any tips for combat and resource management as well as which abilities you recommend leveling quickly. @DylanC @Alyxx @killamch89 I believe I've heard all of you mention you like Mass Effect, so I'm hoping you might have a few tips/answers for me. Thanks!

Nor the difference between reality and fantasy. I mean, my perception of FPS games as a kid was that they were a form of "sport" with simulated gore, rather than that they were actually violent. That's still my perception of them. I know some kids have trouble with that distinction though, so I can see where one might want to delay before giving them such games. I also had a very active imagination as a kid, and found attempts to censor my media ridiculous, because my brain was R-rated from a very young age heheh.

And cultural and individual perception of that content. I mean, my mother highly disapproved of Doom, but in a rare moment of live-and-let-live, ignored it. But my father didn't find Doom objectionable at all. And as a kid, I didn't have a hard time distinguishing video game violence from the real thing. So maybe it also depends on the kid and what is appropriate for that specific kid?

Quake.

I suppose there is also the question of "what does it even mean to say something is a kids game?" I mean, obviously adults can enjoy a game marketed at children, and the reverse is true for some kids too. I clearly remember growing up playing Doom.

So, I have moderate OCD. I’m mostly functional most of the time, but I do get panic attacks, and I do have trouble sleeping. Literally the only thing that reliably distracts me and calms me down is gaming, so I game before bed and I do so consistently every single night if I can. Anyway, a friend with OCD just told me that her psychiatrist “prescribed” her to play video games for her anxiety! So, apparently this is a thing, not just my thing. He explained that the task-based nature of games is an ideal fit for hijacking the compulsive part of the brain and redirecting it away from the anxiety thoughts and toward doing something relaxing and enjoyable. Makes sense to me. Kind of how I figured it worked, but cool to hear that a psychologist somewhere thinks the same thing and actively advises patients who like gaming and have OCD to game more.

Simple question from someone who knows nothing about sim games: which ones are your favorites? @LadyDay Mostly directed at you. I know you'll mention The Sims 4. Any others?

I saw @skyfire joking (I think!) that games might have caused him social anxiety. And while I think he was kidding, it did make me wonder if gaming has instilled any good/bad habits in each of us, making us more or less effective as people? I think gaming has actually improved my social skills, and made me a more confident decision-maker. I can’t think of any deficits to my personality which gaming has caused or made worse (though my cat may disagree when I am immersed in TLOU). What about you?

Makes me wonder if there are actually fewer kids' games being made, or if they're just less visible with more adult titles in the mix?

I was reading @The Blackangel's intriguing post here, and responses from @kingpotato and @Shagger. I definitely agree that games have moved away from kids and toward an adult market, at least in some respects. But I think this leads to the next question, which is "why?" Here are some of my theories: The initial target market generation that played games as kids has now grown up, and is simply still being marketed to. Video games have evolved into a genuine art form which is as suitable for exploring adult issues as books, film, TV, etc. The majority of books are not written for small kids, nor TV shows, etc. Neither are games anymore. Culture has opened up a lot. Streaming has loosened up viewing considerations in terms of violence, cursing, nudity, etc. I would expect this to lead to a similar loosening up in other mediums, gaming included. I am guessing--though not positive--that kids today have a lot less parental censorship to deal with on average than I did as a kid. Your theories?

@skyfire, you were differentiating writing as its own creative category in this thread which is worthy of a deeper discussion, so I thought I'd make a second topic here. Same basic question I asked on that thread, but focusing specifically on writing. Who are your favorite video game writers, and why? I am inspired by Neil Druckmann. I like his approach to writing, which is deliberately minimalist, and I know he has said that he likes a “simple story, complex characters.” That is exactly what TLOU is. The story is almost painfully simple, but it doesn’t matter, because he writes his characters so beautifully. They say so little throughout the game with words, but so much through their actions, and nothing is ever wasted.

I was going to say you demand respect from those you associate with, and that is a sign of self-esteem, but I suppose that is more precisely a sign of self-respect, which isn't quite the same thing, I'm the opposite. I like myself, but I have to make a conscious effort to treat myself with respect. I have better tools to communicate with others now about those differences, so that helps a lot.

This sounds sort of like how it felt for me being autistic before I discovered I am autistic. I just felt like a failing neurotypical person, because so many people around me seemed to react to my social differences so badly. Surviving that with any self-esteem at all is pretty impressive to me. When you're a child, you have zero psychological defenses, and that shit instantly gets ingrained.

What accomplishment are you most proud of this year?

What is the most interesting thing you learned this year?

Night owl.

Oh man, I would have been so furious. Wow, that is terrible. And here I used to flip out as a kid when my cousins came over and messed up my toys …

I suspect I spend around 30% of my time on RDR gambling in one form or another, lol. Not much of a “redemption.” Just a descent into gambling degeneracy.

Like you, I am on a perma-loop with Skyrim and Fallout. They just have started feeling like a second home to me or something. My first Skyrim character started glitching the other month after many many hours of play. I have two others, one which I’ve had for a couple years I think, and the third is brand new. I have to keep making new ones so I can adopt all the kids =D We have a very similar schedule for playing games. I have my open world games on a constant loop (well, Fallout 3 is de-rotated temporarily—I just have too many in progress). Linear games I too am aiming for once a year, but so far I haven’t been able to keep up with that.

Bonus points for an impressive level of detail, though.

Ouch. Both of you deserve better from yourselves--and from the people throughout your lives that have put these negative narratives in your heads about yourselves. It takes time, but things can get better. One of the things that helped me most was realizing that most people are at least somewhat self-absorbed, and when people criticize us, it often has more to do with the sum of their life experiences than it does to do with us.