Wednesday, October 19, 2011

My Gaming Confession

Yes, I'm a gamer.

No, I don't play World of Warcraft (although I am intrigued) nor any game that involves shooting. No, I am one of a growing population of "and something" women who play contemplative games, usually on the web.
Will I start to look like this if I play it?

I've noticed that there is a certain pattern to games. There is the Match Three type, like Bejeweled, in which you try and line up three or more similar objects. There is the Hidden Object type, in which you  and find things in pictures, usually within an adventure backstory: beautiful archeologist sets off to find magical icon, beautiful doctor must rescue father from the asylum... etc etc.

Never looked for so many "honey dippers" in my life.


If you like a bit of madness, then there is the crazy Time Management type of game, in which you have to make the cakes, or feed the people in the diner, or weed the garden, and the trials become more and more difficult along the way. I'm not very good at those - I'm FAR too uncoordinated.

This is my life anyway, so - not so much.

Within that genre there are the construction games, in which the object is to build a  hut, then buy plans for a cottage, then a manor house, working your way up to a castle. My Kingdom for the Princess is a good example of that type.

There are arcade games, where you have to shoot at different things like aliens or zombies. Not a fan.

My favorite games, however, are those that break the mold a bit. One prime example is the games by Last Day of Work, such as Plant Tycoon or the Virtual Villagers trilogy. In the LDW games, time moves slowly as you raise plants, crossbreed them to discover magic plants, and sell them for funds to improve your nursery.
If you're looking for a zen-like state in your gaming experience.

Or you teach villagers skills and wait for them to build temples or schools or learn how to fish

Oh, come ON! How fun!
.
Virtual games are best played for fifteen minutes at a time - perfect for a crazy woman like me who has no time to be doing that in the first place.

I'm dreadfully afraid of when it actually is my "Last Day of Work." For, you see, then I might get sucked into that World of Warcraft, and then I would never reemerge.

1 comment:

Claire Chilton said...

Great post Allie :p. If you try World of Warcraft here are some tips, that I would have found useful when I started:

1) Don't join a guild, they're full of highly addictive people that you want to play with all day long, and who you'll end up inviting to your wedding! Guild = say goodbye to the real world, because the guild is more fun.

2) Embrace the word noob, you'll hear it a lot, no matter how good you are at gaming.

3) Forget all the English language skills you know, everything ends in Z now - Noobz, raidz etc. Also there is an elements of orcish in there 'Log tar'

4) Everything is Epic! epic mount, epic gear, and epic failz!

5) Don't be offended if a player calls you grandma, when they assume you're 25. 25 is old in WoW! I would be the great grandma of my old guild, at 35 :o.

6) Don't tell anyone you're a girl, unless you want a warrior protector to follow you around asking you to 'vent' with him late at night. (vent meaning Ventrilo - it's a bit like Skype)

7) Never dance with a gnome, they like to spank your character on the ass.

It's all true I swear! lol