StaceyPowers

What items do you bother picking up in the games you play? I always pick up ammo of any type along with money. I generally pick up health-related consumables. Aside from that, I only pick up things I plan to use myself and/or items I feel sort of sorry for—i.e. the teddy bears in Fallout. But I don’t collect much else. It rarely seems necessary to pick up other items to sell after one is done being a newbie.

I play long video games on a rotating schedule from week to week. I notice some games are super addicting and just impossible to tear myself away from. Mass Effect was like this when I played it, and right now, it’s hard for me to put down The Outer Worlds. What are some games like that for you?

Almost every open world game I’ve played is extremely buggy. The only exception so far for me has been Red Dead Redemption, which I don’t think had even a single major glitch. What are some other open world games that run very smoothly?

Nope. To some though 🙂 I sure wish one had recommended it to me! =D

I've read there has been a kind of mass crisis regarding psych studies not being replicable: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2015.18248 My guess is that the reason for this is that there are likely so many individual factors that vary that it is simply hard to conduct psych studies. What works for one person with OCD with neurotype X and cultural belief Y may not fit another person with OCD and neurotype Z and belief Q. I don't think that necessarily means the study data isn't sometimes potentially valid and useful--just that it may apply to a narrower slice of the population than assumed in some cases.

I think that the ability of video games to induce "flow" also exists across a wide range of hobbies, and could account for many of their potential mental health benefits. I am suggesting though that I think video games may have a particular and unique effect for OCD based on a specific mechanic involving hijacking a malfunctioning reward system and putting it to better use. That is not necessarily applicable across all hobbies. Video games are programmed with our reward circuits in mind. Again, I do not get this effect from my other hobbies. My friend's therapist did actually suggest she play video games to manage her OCD.

What are some games you just HAD to get and anticipated for many months … and then discovered were even better than you’d hoped for?

If you could go back in time and give your child self one video game available today, what would it be and why? I would gift my childhood self BioShock Infinite, because I think it would have done the most to help expand my mind. My second choice would be Skyrim, because all child me wanted to do in games was explore.

Is gaming the best part of your day? It is for me. It is the time of day that I get all to myself with no distractions or issues, and I finally get to decompress and relax.

Are there any choices you make regarding armor, weapons or combat styles across all or almost all games you play? For example, I don’t think I have ever deliberately used heavy armor, no matter what I am playing. But I am a lot less consistent with weapons choices.

On average, it seems to me like open world games tend to have a lot more bugs and glitches than linear games. Does anyone know why this is the case? Is it to do with the sheer amount of data in open world games and all the variables being juggled? Or is there just more quality control with linear games?

What do you want from A Plague Tale: Requiem? In terms of story, I feel like I can answer this in one word: answers.

If there were going to be a The Last of Us 3 game, what would you want from it? I would want it to be about Ellie, Abby and Lev joining forces to find or create a cure.

The Outer Worlds PS4 version on PS5 is incredibly buggy. In fact, I am now suffering the Ultimate Consequence every time I die in the game, which is a complete freeze of the system, often resulting in the system shutting itself down. … I now have to be really focused in combat.

What games have you played that function as extended deliberate references to other multimedia? For example, The Outer Worlds extensively references the TV show Firefly. BioShock extensively references Ayn Rand’s book The Fountainhead.

Both The Outer Worlds and BioShock deliver pretty strong critiques of extreme capitalism. Are there any other games that also tackle this subject?

Adulthood.

Never. But if I have to pick, 40! More life experience/wisdom to make for better parenting, more financial stability, etc.

I pick languages. That way the kid can get different life perspectives and form their own ethical values based on inputs from diverse individuals and cultures.

I love this topic! Mistaking NPCs for real players in MMOs.

I'm not sure it's that simple. I say this as someone who uses video games to manage my anxiety. They help in ways my other hobbies do not. I have OCD, which means my brain compulsively fixates on its anxiety-inducing obsessive thoughts. The task/reward-based nature of video games seems to hijack my compulsions and steer them instead toward the game. I do not get this effect from writing, crafting, or outdoor hobbies. My OCD also keeps me awake at night. But the dreamlike quality of video game exploration facilitates a smoother transition into actual sleep/dreaming as well, and this also seems unique.

What characters in video games did you want to learn more about? Not necessarily having them more involved in the game they appeared in—but wanting access to more backstory on them, or even seeing them featured in a spin-off.

I feel like the only way I survive about 50% of difficulty spikes in Bioware games is to take advantage of loopholes in fight designs or even bugs. While this makes me feel incompetent, the spikes are so ridiculous I don’t feel that bad about it. Still, I am surprised how often I do this. Does anyone else find you frequently exploit flaws to beat hard fights in games?

When I used to play MUDs a long time ago, taking even a week out of a game could mean falling hopelessly behind. Even a short break could cost one a lot of one’s relevance in the game world. I always have wondered what the consequences of taking breaks from large, popular MMOs are. Are they that dramatic? Or do you just miss some stuff and then get right back to whatever you were doing before?

One of my friends the other day mentioned taking a break from ESO subscription and thus not playing at all for now. I asked her about this, as I thought ESO is free after the initial payment. She explained that it is, but due to paid crafting (I think?) features, so many things break without the optional sub she’s paid for that her existing character would be borderline unplayable. I wondered how common situations like these are with freemium games. Have you ever ended up relying so much on optional paid features in a game that you didn’t feel you could play without them?