As a gamer I’m glad I had the opportunity to witness the release, rise in popularity, and success that is Minecraft. I remember fondly spending countless hours playing the Classic, Indev, Infdev, Alpha, and Beta versions. I had certainly had my fill by the time it was officially released with…

There is a theme, or feel to some video games — or some parts of some video games — that lend to a serious tone. You’re a soldier in a war, or a surgeon at an operating table. Perhaps you’re…

A Looter Shooter is a genre of video games that fluidly mix RPG elements with a point-and-click style shooting game. RPG Elements In my post What is the MMO Holy Trinity I gave a short primer on what an RPG is, with focus on games in a high fantasy setting (think elves…

As I’ve written before, video games often server up a power fantasy. Be it an amazing space marine or a medieval knight of justice — you can find a world that is distinctly not our own. One enjoyable part of a power fantasy comes from a feeling of growth. If…

Role-playing games (RPGs) are one of the greatest genres of games this world has to offer. It’s also a broad category, which leaves a lot open to interpretation. My experience with them is digital, but their origins are on the tabletop. Board games (you may have heard of Dungeons &…

Though they can be subtle, every video game has some sort of resource that the player must manage. Resources are designed to constrain the player, to limit what they can do. Anyone that has spent any time…

As you play through a video game you get a very clear sense of progression from beginning to end. Sometimes this is like an arcade game, where you progress to the next level, and you are challenged even more. Here I will talk about skill and tech trees, those video…

Content. The vague term for how a player spends his or her time in a game world before they get bored. It is burnt like fuel, and what a precious resource it is. Precious because it is the lifeblood of video games, and because it is oh so very difficult…

I love chill games, but before I tell you why let me explain the difference between a chill game, and a casual game. Casual Gaming The casual gaming experience is a phrase used to describe games played by those either new to gaming or that have little time to dedicate to a…