StaceyPowers

That sort of behaviour would be a deal-breaker for me. It's not that the sexualized characters are all that important, but I don't like people feeling they can restrict my activities. Same ... lol. To each his own, right? =D Anyway, back on the original topic, my family looked at games more as communal property. If a game ended up in the house, everyone who felt like playing it did, regardless of whom it was purchased by or for. My family was pretty repressive regarding media use in general, but that was mostly my mother, and she didn't really "get" computers, so it was the area where she had the least influence. As a result, I got to play most things I wanted without any issues. It was books, movies, TV and music where she had all sorts of restrictions. Actually, one HUGE stupid restriction she had was a strict ban on ALL RPGs, whether digital or tabletop. She thought they were devil worship or something.

True, but we are waiting, lol.

That looks so awesome.

I agree. In fact, I think of my horses in Skyrim as my pets as well.

It shouldn't. It's been developed by Obsidian, not Bethesda. Obsidian is the reason NV stands out in so many respects. If they put that same care into this, it should be great.

Yeah, I have no idea what the appeal was. Everyday sadism is quite common though, especially online. I mean, what do trolls get out of trolling? Apparently quite a lot, since they keep doing it. One of the things I love about VGR is that there is a surprising lack of trolling here, which is especially refreshing on a video game forum. Posting here almost reminds me of the way the internet was back in the early days.

@Alyxx @killamch89 I can relate to that. I don’t have a hard time taking things apart and putting them back together, but I’m dreadfully afraid of screwing something up with static cling. There was also the time I used a screwdriver I had no idea was magnetized … @DylanC Totally! It’s so customizable. Same for Fallout, really. I also like Fallout’s skill distribution a bit better, especially since some games (New Vegas) really let you use Speech and other abilities in surprisingly effective ways.

I can relate to that. I don’t have a hard time taking things apart and putting them back together, but I’m dreadfully afraid of screwing something up with static cling. There was also the time I used a screwdriver I had no idea was magnetized …

@SpaceExplorer I forgot about Freelancer! Good call. I also have been following along with No Man’s Sky since development, but still haven’t had a chance to play it. It sounds like my ideal game, hypothetically—I mean, exploring space is pretty much all I wanted to do growing up. I had this delusion I’d grow up and join the Federation, lol. The turn of the century was coming up, and surely that meant the Future, right? Real life is such a letdown. Can you tell me more about EVE? I’ve always been curious about it. How much actual player interaction is there? @DylanC I’ve heard of FTL, but don’t know much about it. Have you written a review?

@kingpotato rofl, perfect. @LadyDay https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Angi's_Camp One of the more remote locations on the map! Worth taking a trip up there just because it’s so high up in the mountains, plus it’s one of the only actual tutorial-type things in the game, weirdly enough (she actually walks you through firing at targets). Obviously you don’t need a tutorial, but it’s curious that it exists, all the same. So you may find it interesting. I still haven’t played Dawnguard. You’ll have to tell me how it is! Yes, get New Vegas, it is awesome! A quick word of warning—Fallout seems to have more of a steeper curve as a newbie than Skyrim, at least in my opinion. Here are a few quick tips: 1-Do not try to take shortcuts to Vegas. If you head north, you’ll run into like a million deathclaws right outside the newbie town. The route I tried to use to shortcut to Novac/Vegas had a bunch of scorpions in it which are very hard as a newbie. Just use the route it guides you through. 2-The game is much easier with a follower. There are only a few followers available in the game. I recommend Boone in Novac if you don’t know where to start. 3-This may not be an issue on PC, but skip the gory mess perk. It literally breaks the game on PS3, at least for me. 4-Like me, you will almost certainly detest Caesar’s Legion on sight, and want to kill them all. The moment you make an attack on them, they start sending assassins to kill you like … all the time. It’s the one thing I find super annoying in the game. So if you want to delay that, delay attacking them for a while. The assassins are easier to dispatch with a follower. Let me know when you start the game!

@killamch89 @The Blackangel I totally forgot about those. That might be something to think about. My configuration is still very odd--one of my plugs is on the ceiling, lol. Can those multioutlet thingies be plugged into power strips as well?

I think I’ve already started a thread on important life skills learned from video games (like how MUDing taught me how to type quickly), but what about really silly/random life skills learned from gaming? When I started playing Red Dead Redemption the other month, I joked that steering the horse was a bit like “steering a grocery cart”—a basic life skill that for some reason I’ve found ridiculously hard my whole life. I’m that idiot in the store who can’t seem to turn their cart in a circle—or at least, I was. Yesterday, I had no problem steering my grocery cart for the first time ever. I just thought of RDR and maneuvered it accordingly, lol. Finally, I am functional at grocery shopping.

As a disabled person, I thought I would start a thread for others to check in who would like to talk about gaming with disabilities or handicaps of any nature. What challenges do you face as a disabled gamer? Has gaming helped you in any way to overcome or cope with your disabilities? I am hoping @LadyDay and @The Blackangel might chime in, as well as others. I have chronic pain issues relating to a structural abnormality in my jaw and spine, as well as executive function issues due to my OCD and suspected ASD (I don't consider ASD a negative, but the executive function issues can be a challenge). @LadyDay and I have talked about gaming with executive function issues a bit in this thread. My pain issues calm down at night a lot of times, so I game before bed. Even though OCD leads to executive function difficulties while gaming, gaming has been a HUGE help in reducing my OCD-related looping/anxious thoughts. As a result, I sleep much better at night. In this way, gaming helps me to overcome one of my difficulties. I would love to hear other stories. You can also ask questions and offer tips in this thread.

That sounds like me. I usually dual wield in Skyrim, but I use conjuration a lot. But I see the atronachs as auxiliary to my swordfighting, not the other way around.

@skyfire @The Blackangel @xXInfectedXx @killamch89 How often do you clean your console?

I think the idea would be an app which would "gamify" real life but be customizable based on one's needs. I too certainly would be angry at the thought of needing to meet unreachable task standards (I have a restricted amount of "energy/willpower units" on many days due to chronic pain), but I wouldn't mind if real life were more ... well, rewarding. Games do well activating a dopamine response, but real life chores do not. And even with my disability, I must rely largely on myself to exist :/ Incidentally, dopamine helps to reduce pain, so anything that spikes it can help me with my life. I often feel better while gaming. I think this is largely because it is night time, but I sometimes wonder if the dopamine effects of gaming also help.

Are you more of a warrior mage, or a magic-wielding warrior? Jack of All Trades = my class in real life, I think 😉 But I wouldn't say master of none ... more like master at systemizing.

Sounds a lot like my list. I'm also curious about A Plague Tale: Innocence.

@DylanC @Alyxx @SpaceExplorer What fighting classes, weapons and armor do you prefer?

I also tend to be a melee fighter, and likewise pair well with a ranged fighter (another melee fighter just tends to get in the way). I am so bad with the bow and arrow, lol. Have you found the gal up in the mountains who gives you practice arrows? I love the Daedric armor. It’s so gorgeous! I levelled up smithing so I can make it for all my followers =D I wear the Forsworn armor you can win as a quest reward. Anyway, what’s funny is that in Fallout, I usually am a sniper, and stay as far away from melee combat as I can. The VATS system makes it so easy. And if you pair up with another sniper (like Boone in NV), you can pick off a lot of enemies before they ever get near you.

Yeah. My worst story is an admin whose real life boyfriend was sexually harassing my friend in-game. So I asked my in-game brother to help her, and he intervened in the situation so my friend wouldn’t have to log out just to stop being harassed. So the administrator permanently killed off his character, all because the harasser was her real boyfriend, and she was that mad at my brother for having a conscience. She then stood around in a public square in-game mocking me for my loss of my brother. Ironically, she and I were sort-of friends before that at one point, and she gave me some good advice about dealing with people and being willing to kick the toxic ones to the curb. Glad I took her advice and kicked her to the curb before that whole thing went down.

Oh, I do. Power strips. But I also only have so much floor space to put them, lol.

How do you mean? I'm disabled too.

Funny. There was another thread about usernames, and I was going to @ you and ask you about yours, and then I found your new thread here. That answers that =D I grew up with the Wing Commander games. I thought those were great! What are your favorite space games, past and present?

I'll be completely honest. While the Borderlands games interest me (especially for their art style and odd sense of humour), I have yet to play one. As a result, I don't think I can provide any useful impressions, save that I will be curious how it does, particularly being as I've heard so many people mention that the second game didn't live up to the first.