I feel like they're more engaging than any other entertainment medium, and on a variety of levels. The emotional levels a good game can produce from you is quite astounding; titles like The Walking Dead and Crisis Core. And many games, really, I loved the characters! I feel the same with movies, but they don't last as long. After 20 hours of being with a certain character, I definitely get attached and genuinely care a lot more than I have a book or movie. And then of course, the interactivity I adore! I've said it before that the thing I love most in games is choices and organic gameplay. Do what I want and make decisions that impact the game and characters significantly. It's why I love titles like Mass Effect, Witcher, and The Walking Dead cos I really felt like they were my stories. And, going back to my first point, the fact that my decisions make things happen for a character I like just makes them that bit more emotionally engaging to me.
Also, I love how fast gaming is progressing. Loads of creative, unique, innovative ideas constantly coming at us, I feel like there's a new must-have game almost everyday. My future log of games I want is absolutely huge because of it, and they're full of big, expensive triple-A titles as much as they are small, cute, quirky Indie games. Which adds another point that I like, which is the community. I really feel a connection between myself and the Industry; companies like Valve and CDP, pretty much every Indie studio. To the point when I can tweet at an Indie studio and get a reply! Makes me smile. I tweeted Tripwire a long time ago and they sent me a thank you back, which is really cool of them.
Also got to talk briefly with a guy from Valve while playing TF2. I only got 1 reply cos he was getting absolutely swamped but I got a "Our games are good because we want to make them." Wise words.
So, yeah. I love gaming. I'm training to be a developer, is how much I do love them, and I work with them too.
Tis a passion.
