The Essential Posts

The best and most central pieces on the site, chosen in a completely ad hoc, inconsistent manner by myself and a few other people, ordered as inscrutably as possible.

Camp – Games cannot be taken seriously because they are “too much”.

Adam Jensen, DMPD – Human Revolution uses active characterization to establish a character the player elaborates.

Bellum omnia contra omnes – War. War never changes.

Actor, Director, Producer: The player role in RPG battles – Because “turn-based” and “action” miss some important characteristics.

Cinematic Action Games: A Brief Critical Assessment – Alas, games can only be bad films.

Downward Spiral – (aleaffalls)

To clear the crowded sky – Perhaps Reapers are the galaxy’s constant gardeners.

Values and Characteristics of the Cinematic Action Genre – How games try to emulate film.

The Crying Game – Brings a tear to my eye.

I was a teenage reaper – And you thought your high school years were bad…

A game divided against itself – Where public flatulence meets your dead sister.

Engagement and Storymaking – Games stories are made with, not told to, the player.

It’s about how you feel – Challenge-free gameplay can be characterization.

The Gringos Who Saved Mexico – When you need something done, call whitey.

System and Story – Let’s try not to analyze just one aspect of games.

The Uncertainty Principle – Fear comes from not knowing what happens next.

It’s just lines and colors – Sometimes, Suda Mondrians games.

A Tale of Two Chesses – Videogames are necessarily representational.

It’s only temporary – Actually, the guns are biodegradable.

The “real” John Marston – The West was full of legends, or perhaps the legends are all we remember.

Requiem for the ME Universe – How it all went so wrong.

So long, sucker! – I should have turned it off.

“Time is an ocean in a storm…” – How Sands of Time works as a trilogy.

You can’t put a price on your soul – Maybe the point of the Little Sisters is just to make the player think about how he’s deciding.