Geekin' Part One

I consider myself at least a peripheral member of the gamer/nerd sub-culture. As with so many things in life, it's complicated. One on hand, I can talk the talk. I know what Bioware bought to the last E3, I know what a Halo-killer is and I know the name of the only such product that has lived up to that dream so far (Halo II). Hell, I could even give you a sketchy outline of how mods are dfferent from expansions , and laugh at jokes about getting a critical failure on your saving roll.

Nathan says: (10:47:02)
For someone who doesn't even own a console, I seem to know an awful lot about video games.
Amolith says:(10:47:22)
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Amolith says:(10:47:23)
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Amolith says:(10:47:25)
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Amolith says:(10:47:26)
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So that's one side of the debate. On the other hand, there's the fact that I don't, you know, in so may words, uh, play video games. I mean, I'm pretty fond of Civilization III , but that's about it. Oh, I've lost a goodly few hours of sleep to Knights of the Old Republic, but that (and this is critical) was on a friend's machine. I don't own, and have no plans to aquire a X-Box (strong in hardware specs), PS2 (broad RPG library), or Gamecube (It's, uh, well, it's a cube).

I've got the itch, though. Sometimes it'd be nice to have a nice RPG to escape into every so often. I remember Jerry Holkins once saying that gaming was the inverse of sport: instead of seeking physical self-awareness, gaming is the active dismissal of it. I embrace that. I don't even want to be under the pressure of pressing buttons in a well-timed series of moves. That's why RPG produces the games I enjoy most. In the end, it's primarily a framework for imagination. My ultimate game, and some have come close to this, is a film that I direct as it's playing.

With Winter holidays coming up, I'm hoping to pick up a little bit of RPG soon. And this got me around to thinking about character classes. Hey, I bet you didn't see this coming, but my next post is going to... oh. Did the title give it away?

Song in my head: "Reuben" by The Be Good Tanyas