Struggle
I’ve just begun playing Dark Souls. I’m not very far into it. I’m not used to this degree of relentless pressure, this viscous viciousness that must be pressed through to progress. It’s clear that there is a path to victory,…
Category Life in the Machine
Sleep
“I don’t know. Why do things happen as they do in dreams?” Things are a bit confused. Things start blending together. I’ve been sleeping a lot. I remember at one point I was hanging out at one of the community…
Pursuit
I’ve always been interested in the idea of a horror game where the player is the monster. Though not generally regarded as a horror game per se, in the party game Werewolf the players each take on the role of…
Trapped in Amber
In the Chronicles of Amber novels (at least the early ones), the premise is that there is one real world, called Amber, at the center of existence. Some people with special ties to Amber can walk through the shadow worlds…
Song of Myself
I imagine it to be raining. The drops tap against the panes of glass and I can imagine the cold wet outside and I savor my imaginary cold-weather melancholy. I have an affinity for the melancholic: It reaffirms my instincts…
Cave Stories
Cave Story was an important game for me. It was playing Cave Story, 6 or 7 years ago, that made me realize that I still liked games– that, in that respect at least, it wasn’t me that had changed, but…
Finding Ways
All too often, when I start writing a post, I do not know where I’m going with it. I drop thoughts like breadcrumbs to lead my way, and their relationship to each other forms a constellation that casts light on…
Saving Worlds
The nice thing about having to save the world is that it’s a goal most people can get behind– particularly since the world happens to be where most people live. Nearly any other objective we could set would probably suggest…
Competency
I often end up choosing which games to play on the basis of which I am best at– familiarity begets skill begets more familiarity. It’s very fulfilling to do something you’re good at, even if it’s pointless. This kind of…
Drive Failure
“For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn” Ernest Hemingway (maybe) I’d guess maybe fifteen years ago we were driving along on some sort of road trip or camping trip, my dad and my brother and me. I was riding in the…