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| EVE Templar One from CCP ISBN: 978 575 09021 7 (Trade Paperback) |
Triple-A, Indie, shareware, freeware, abandonware, shovelware, exploitationware, play anywhere. A plethora of games are released daily; the choice is immense, the variety bewildering and with only 24 hours in a day, how do you choose what to play?
Reading Reviews is usually a first answer. There are many sites that review every game and while this can point you in the direction of what's biggest, what's best, what's selling the most, you can and most probably will at some time or other, miss what you want to play.
Peer Pressure. My mates are playing it so I should too. The social aspect of games is undeniably important and has grown more so as time marches inexorably on. Playing multiplayer games without the 'multi' bit doesn't work ;-)
I've Started, So I'll Finish. Way back in the mysts of time, when memory was measured in bytes rather than gigabytes and voxels were just a twinkling in a pixel's eye you came a across 'Game'. You played it, it was great. The sequel; 'Game II' was published and you bought and played that too. Part three; Game: The Return' (Game III) was rushed out. Before you know it, version sixteen is knocking on the door. It's a part of life now.
It's So Big, It's Made It To The Mainstream Press. It must be good, the big newspaper that people in pinstripe suits with rolled up umbrellas read says so. What this means is that it's an investor's dream, not necessarily a gamer's.
Nostalgia. Think back to the days before Griefing, before lane pushing, before 3D ultra high definition. If you can remember what you played back then, you can find it now. There is a whole back catalogue of the mind waiting to be explored.
They Made A Film Out Of It, So I'll Play The Game. OK, the game, may be fine, just don't expect the film to be. The track record for successful films made from games is, there isn't one.
My personal favourite
OXFAM Book Find. The random nature of walking into an OXFAM, finding their Science Fiction & Fantasy book shelf, finding a book from a game, reading the jacket cover, dipping into the first page, being unable to put it down on the train home, continue reading it at home even though you have another great book on the go, going to Wikipedia, going to the game website and finding that you have been missing out on one of the greatest games of all time, that you can now no longer live without is one of life's great wonders. You are also, in some small way helping to eradicate poverty and injustice around the world, which is a great thing.
The above method of choice can lead to all sorts of games. It led me to EVE Online from CCP via the excellent EVE Templar One by Tony Gonzales. I still haven't plucked up the courage to sign up yet. It has a reputation for not suffering fools gladly (for fools, read hopeless gamers). I'm currently fueling my thirst for knowledge of all things EVE and trying to find a few strategies that may help me exist for more than a 'Wow, look at all the stars... What? Game Over!'
RP
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