Let's Talk About Video Games

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Nerve.com had a ten-day feature up about video games, appropriately called The Video Games Issue. It ended up with thirteen articles relating video games to sex (Nerve's usual topic of choice). Most of the articles are from people with little prior video game experience, which leads to some odd bits of misinformation at times but can also give some interesting perspectives. One writer used Maxis' The Sims as a form of therapy after a failed relationship.
I'd always written off video games as a waste of time. But after being dumped at age twenty-one by the first boy I'd ever truly fallen for, there were plenty of hours to be wasted. ... My concerned co-workers thought going out might help. Instead, I went home and installed The Sims. ...

In The Sims, relationships develop on a numerical scale, and they make sense. I liked this because my relationships at the time made none. SimSpeak is simple: if an initial conversation (Talk About Interests) goes smoothly--like, say, the first time Devon and I talked--the relationship score raises and further communicative options appear on a pop-up menu--Tell a Joke, Friendly Hug, Flirt, Juggle. Yeah, juggle. Unable to engage in typical modes of ridiculous couple entertainment like imitating Napoleon Dynamite, the Sims juggle.

There's an article about where the game adaptation (and film adaptation, for that matter) of Aeon Flux went wrong, a couple who try out the interactive drama Facade, a bizarre retrospective on Leisure Suit Larry, and interview with that grandmother who plays video games, and more.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    December 26, 2005 12:13 PM

    The writer of the Leisure Suit Larry passage is a idiot. I liked the rambling style, lack of cohesion, and utter disrespect he gave to the subject at hand. Five bucks says this guy is someone who's traditionally been "too cool" for gaming. Not one of those "Gamer dorks" like we are. He's the kind of guy who loved Final Fantasy VII, and makes fun of the previous six.

    Douchebag missed the mark totally. The Leisure Suit Larry games weren't created to be sexy: they were created rather to make fun of people who behave as Larry does. Numbnuts writer here I imagine was like the guys back in my highschool (where installing and hiding the Larry anthology make me famous waay back when), to too busy trying to see pixellated boobs than trying to play the game. Humor, Mr. Tit-Obsessed writer was the point of those games, not seeing little Larry score. Humor and observations, one being that Larry, the biggest loser (in game), despite all this attempts and tricks...never scored (Fawn and the hooker don't count. ;)) The point of these games was never to be sexy...it was to be funny.

    Dude wants to be turned on by a game. Ew. Wasn't there enough Lara Croft/Nell McAndrews fapping back in the mid 90s? Haven't we already been through the naughty era of gaming? Can't we return to just making cool games, despite their gimmick?

    (And just for the record...first time I played Diablo, I choose a Rogue. I remember accidentally right clicking while in town, to be greeted to the sound of a very sentual voice saying "I don't have a spell ready,". Now *that* was hot. Everything else is just polygon'd boobs and bitmapped nipples.

    • reply
      December 26, 2005 12:19 PM

      Yeah I agree. He completely missed the point when it came to Leisure Suit Larry. The Larry games actually had a lot of charm, and his interpretation of them is bizarre to say the least. They weren't actually about turning you on, they were about the ridiculously hapless hero who stumbles through all these encounters. Plus, Al Lowe was actually a pretty competent designer. As the series progressed, he got pretty clever in terms of puzzle design and overall game structure. He's a good natured, funny guy, not the pimply nerd the article's author clearly assumes he is.

    • reply
      December 26, 2005 6:05 PM

      You like to stereotype people dont you? Thats sweet cause I totally stereotyped you as a complete fat nerd

      • reply
        December 26, 2005 6:57 PM

        Ad hominem all around!

        • reply
          December 26, 2005 7:56 PM

          404: English Degree Not Found

          • reply
            December 26, 2005 10:50 PM

            Oh, stop with the sarcasm and just say what you mean.

            Most dictionaries list the main definition of Ad Hominem as using emotional appeals over logic or reason. However, it can be used to mean a variety of different things.

            In this case, I meant it as shooting the messenger. Which both you and revraven did. As well as the guy who wrote the article.

            And for the English Degree comment, you should know that "thats" has an apostrophe in it. I'll let you figure out where.

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