Romantic relationships in gaming are often heavily debated, with lots of criticism and lots of support for the myriad experiences out there. I don't have a single specific question related to the topic, only some guiding ones. Feel free to answer any/all of these, or simply give your thoughts on the topic:

• What are some games that you feel have handled romance well?
• What are some games that you feel have not handled romance well?
• What particular advantages does gaming have with regard to portraying romantic relationships?
• What particular disadvantages does gaming have with regard to portraying romantic relationships?
• Are there any games that have depicted romantic relationships that were particularly resonant to you?
• What would you define as some "best practices" for game writers/designers with regard to in-game romance?
• What would you define as some "mistakes/errors" for game writers/designers to avoid with regard to in-game romance?

I know my question isn't worded great! If anyone has a better edit after reading all of this, let me know!

I have a half-formed idea in my head and I want to brainstorm a bit.

Here's the idea: games as a whole have a ton of different aspects/lenses through which we can enjoy and appreciate them, and I want to know what they all are. Here are some examples to show what I mean:

I feel like there are dozens of these we could come up with if we get really specific. The diversity of gaming experiences and genres really lends itself to a broad swath of these aspects. After all, the appreciation someone gets from playing something like Katamari Damacy is very different from that which someone gets from, say, ARMA 2.

I think later it might be interesting to try to apply some sort of analysis or taxonomy to this, but right now I just want to brainstorm. What are all of the different reasons we can like games? Be as specific as you can, try to cover lots of different titles and genres so that all of gaming is represented, and feel free to critique or edit my examples as well (e.g. I think it might be worth breaking up "Narrative" into "Plot" and "Characters", for example).

Aggregated List So Far

I'll keep updating this as we go. For entries that didn't follow the table format (which I didn't intend to be prescriptive but it looks like it caught on!), I've tried to incorporate them as best as I can, but if you feel I've misrepresented something let me know! Again, I'm mostly just interested in brainstorming at the moment, and then I think we can have a secondary thread later for analysis/synthesis.

I'd love to hear about some games that are surprisingly good, deep, or different. As in, the premise or the presentation of the game does not bode well or looks weak, but the game itself rises above those preconceptions and limitations to be greater, richer, or more interesting than you expected. Think games like: a surprisingly good movie tie-in, a really great edutainment experience, a well-executed corporate mascot platformer, etc.

What is it about the game that sets your expectations low, and how does the game overcome that low anchoring?

The 2010s are coming to a close soon, and I'm curious to know what your gaming highlights are from the past decade.

To be clear: these are your personal standouts so don't feel beholden to popularity, critical opinion, review scores, or anything else like that. If a game was great for you and you deem it worthy of mentioning, then by all means go for it. I'm not interested in a list of the "most important" games of the decade but individual lists from individual people.

Please let us know why you loved the games that you're choosing, and what makes them worth mentioning as your personal picks for "Games of the Decade." Furthermore, choose as many or as few as you like. I'm also not even going to limit this to games released in the 2010s, as I know that many games released before then have gotten new life in this decade through patches, mods, randomizers, online communities, etc.

Basically, there are no rules for this list other than "tell me what games you loved these past ten years, and why."

A recent discussion got me thinking about how a lot of the standard genre descriptions for games are either opaque to the unfamiliar or seemingly incongruous with what they are describing. Almost any game can be described as a "role playing" game because you "play" the "role" of a given character. Adventure games often aren't very "adventurous" and often just mean that characters talk to each other instead of shoot each other. In survival games you survive; in racing games you race; in casual games you... well, usually match 3 but not always? Also why are we so focused on camera for some games (e.g. first-person shooter) but not for others (e.g. third-person sports)?

So, let's throw away everything we know about genres and start fresh. No baggage from gaming history; no widely understood conventions; no games that reference other games (e.g. "Souls-like"). Your goal is to make gaming genres as clear and accurate as possible, at the expense of convenience, tradition, and, in some cases, good taste.

Turn "roguelike" into "procedural death labyrinth". Turn "battle royale" into "shrinking-zone dead-is-dead killfest". Feel free to propose not just genre redefinitions but whole a whole taxonomy if you feel it's warranted. After all, some genres need a hierarchy of identifiers.

Be as formal or loose as you want, and the main purpose of this is to have fun, though if some great new terms happen to fall out of it you won't hear me complaining.

Just an idea I've been kicking around. BL3 is pretty solid single-player, but two player is way more hectic and I imagine three and four player is even more fun. Online PUGs just don't appeal to me, but since Tilderinos are higher caliber online denizens I was thinking it might be fun to put together a group of four to tackle it together.

The way I'm thinking, we can commit to a certain time Saturday or Sunday that works for everyone, and play for an hour or two. Definitely more casual, but when you are balancing that many schedules you kind of have to be. Then we can get together weekly (or whatever interval works for everyone). I think it would be a lot of fun to play with four people where everyone has to know and fill their role, I imagine four player is less of a shoot em up and more strategy involved.

This is just checking on interest, please say what times you're available and if you have a mic.

BTW this is based on this post from mid 2018.

In my case it would be 1:

A grand strategy game but with way deeper simulation of not just the nations warring but the land they are warring in as well, complete with procedurally generated worlds. Thankfully for me this already exists.

2: a dating or just general social interaction sim that isn't just for fapping or fetish indulging with randomly generated people with personalities which aren't just anime archetypes which you can socialize with as the game gives advice to you and explains what you are doing right or wrong.

3:KSP but with top-notch graphics and more planets, dwarf planets and star systems. This one is also real thankfully, and even coming somewhat soon!

4:Outside: the game. Please.

For those of you that have setups, how's it going?

• What have been your favorite games/experiences so far?
• What are those of us without VR missing out on?
• In what was does VR still need to grow?
• Do you think it will eventually catch on more than it has?

So, I quit Hearthstone recently. Not just because of current events, but because I lost my taste for the game. Which is a shame, because Hearthstone is pretty well made and what it simplifies from Magic the Gathering and comparible card games is pretty inspired.

But to prevent this from being a one sided breakup post, I ask you, dear Tildos, what would you want out of a Digital Card Game? Be it a weird mechanic, playing mode, ideal platform or like this except with that, what would keep you coming back to such a game?

A "hidden gem" is a game that is considered to be great but not well-known at all. It's something you believe deserves far more recognition and reach than it currently has. A diamond in the rough.

Though a hidden gem certainly can be a highly polished experience, the term also allows a bit of roughness, leaving room for clunkiness or flaws on account of the game's scope and production values (hidden gems are rarely, if ever, big-budget). It also seems to place a slight premium on novelty and innovation, favoring but not requiring games to be fresh or experimental for their time.

With this in mind, I'm curious to hear people's opinions and hopefully get some new stuff to check out for when I find myself needing to take a break from Crash and Spyro.

• What games would you consider "hidden gems"?
• Why do you feel they fit the criteria?
• Why do you think they aren't more widely known?

If there's a better or more commonly used term for this let me know, but my idea of an "expired classic" is a game that was acclaimed and beloved at the time of its release but that would be nearly unplayable or unacceptable by modern standards. Not just less impressive or weaker, mind you, but outright bad. Think "aged poorly" but like, REALLY poorly.

The quintessential example is Goldeneye 007. While absolutely landmark for its time, gamers that pick it up now would likely be baffled by its controls and appalled by its significant, unforgivable framerate issues. Even some people that used to love playing it have a hard time enjoying it now (myself included). It is a game that has "expired" over time.

The expiration doesn't have to be due to technical issues either. It could be due to cultural issues, design issues, or any other factor that makes the same significantly less palatable today, even to those that want to play it!

What are some other examples, and why have they expired?

What have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.

Sorry, I usually post this on Monday and just realized I didn't do it this week. I'm bad at this and obviously need to add a proper scheduled-posting feature.

Doesn't necessarily have to be that you cried, though it certainly can be. It can also be that you connected with the characters or plot, or maybe you clicked with the game's sense of humor. Maybe it creeped you out something fierce, or maybe it forced you into difficult ethical decisions. Any strong personal response counts.

• Why was the game so meaningful for you?
• How did the game use the medium to enhance its resonance?

Please give adequate spoiler warnings!
(You can use a <details> block to make a convenient collapsible section.)

Sorry, I was away last week and didn't post this, so it's been a couple of weeks now since the last one.

So, what have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.

I started this last week, and plan to continue posting this topic weekly.

So, what have you been playing lately? Discussion about video games and board games are both welcome. Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game(s) as well.

A few of the other groups have been doing recurring topics like this, and I think we should really do it more regularly in ~games too.

So, what have you been playing lately? (Please don't just make a list of titles, give some thoughts about the game as well.)

It can be a remaster (like Resident Evil HD), a faithful recreation (like Spyro Reignited Trilogy), or a complete reboot (like the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake).

• Which old game do you choose, and why?
• What should they change to make the game more palatable for modern audiences?
• What shouldn't they change so that they can remain true to the original?

So, I just finished playing Sleeping Dogs. It's a kung fu action game with a heavy emphasis on the hand to hand combat. It feels like it's the Arkham games roided up with some hack and slash juice. Almost all the upgrades are hand combat based, the vast majority of combat encounters are hand to hand. It's how the game was advertised, it's what all the reviews talk about, it's why I was interested in it, and why it was recommended to me. And you know what? I was way more into the shooting than the hand to hand combat.
The game does not seem all that proud of its gunplay, there's not a place to buy or customize guns, you just have to pick them up when a firefight starts and drop them after, and there's only like 3 guns total in the game. But it's some of the most fun gunplay I've played in years in a third person shooter. It heavily utilizes slow motion when you jump over cover or kick an enemy and leap into the air, incentivizing you to not just stay in cover the whole game. It really reminds me of Vanquish, which is one of my favorites in the third person shooter genre of all time.
So this got me curious, what are some games that others have enjoyed for "wrong" reasons? Wrong is in quotes, because, well, it is still something meant to be enjoyed if it's in the game, but it clearly wasn't the focus of either dev time, or marketing, or general hype around the game, or all of the above. Although if you want to share something that wasn't something meant to be enjoyed at all, like something left in totally unintentionally by the developers, feel free to share that too.

I'm not necessarily asking for the scariest one you've played but for your personal favorite/best, based on whatever criteria you choose. Games that are more horror-lite/spooky still count as well, so feel free to consider and include those.

With regards to your pick: what made it so good? In what ways did its use of horror add to your experience?

Given that a lot of horror relies on surprise, subverting expectations, or the unknown, please give spoiler warnings if you plan to discuss important aspects/plot points that might ruin the game for others.

Hey everyone !
Post in here if you wanna squad up with people on here.
I'll start : Anyone wanna run some apex or titanfall 2 on Xbone comment in here. I play most evenings. Feel free to comment in here looking for people to play a different game with.

I'm not sure how many people here are into board games, but I figured I'd make a post about it. I'm going to be at dice tower con this week. I'm hoping to get a game of Blood on the Clocktower going. If you see a guy trying to gather people for a game of botc, that'll be me. Come say hi.

Video game's approach to storytelling usually comprise of mixing gameplay mechanics (gunplay, health system, enemy AI...) and storytelling elements (cutscenes, dialogue trees, environment details...). There are also special systems designed to work both as gameplay challenge as well as narrative carriers (quick time events, the nemesis system in Shadow of War...)

However, there's also a third approach, where traditional gameplay elements when put into appropriate context within the game gain additional narrative significance (the way Thomas was Alone's basic platforming mechanics are personified via narration, or Undertale's combat system being integral to how the story develops...)

Have you ever noticed if a gameplay element also doubled as a storytelling device in the games you played before? If so, what was it and what did it "tell" you?

I personally usually heavily mod my games, due to finding the process of modding itself fun, along with me preferring to spend a LONG time at one run through.

As an example, I'd give minecraft where I usually play so-called expert packs, which are basically taking a lot of mods and making them depend on each other for progression.