During the week I have very little choice in what games I play. I need to write about certain ones, or I need to prepare for an article, or I need to familiarize myself with it. Where I used to play video games for fun as a hobby, it turned into work, and thus I have been slightly less inclined to play on the weekends because of this. I am sure that would be true for anyone in my position. One thing I’ve done to ‘entice’ myself on weekends to still find the things I love in games is to make sure there are a few around that I play ‘only for me’ and not for work. Dragon Age, Sims 3, the Lord of the Rings Online, and a few other games I have fit into that category.
I spent pretty much all weekend playing Sims 3, and I had so much fun. The game is so involved compared to the older versions, and I giggled and laughed over their antics. I also went out to EBGames (after some groceries and other chores of course) and picked up the latest expansion, World Adventures. I installed it, and then barely touched it because I was still having so much fun completing the goals in the first game.
While I was at EBGames, I also found a collectors edition copy of the Lord of the Rings Online for $10! Wow, what a deal. This comes with the original game, the Mines of Moria expansion, a map, a small bag with ‘the one ring’ inside, a poster, a soundtrack CD, an art book, and a few other goodies. Even though I already have a LoTRO account, I’m tempted to start this second one up and close down my first one (my highest character is level 19, which I am fairly confident I could reach again). Maybe I can find a friend who would like the first account and they won’t have to purchase the game (or Mirkwood, as I’ve already bought that) and they can just take over the billing, who knows.
In any case, it was a great weekend, with lots of gaming but not the usual games I play. I did get some more EQ2 time in, and worked on a few achievements as well as finishing off the Chronomagic quest from Sunday which was Acadachism. I didn’t get the three final aa that I need, nor did I work on NaNoWriMo at all, which means today I’m well behind. Hoping to take care of that as soon as I post this entry.
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
@Pete EXACTLY. I feel that way about Aion (sadly). I would not be playing this game on my own time normally, and here I am writing level guides for it. It’s not fun, it’s work, and it feels like work. It’s not a bad game by any means but it’s really not the game for me, personally. Thankfully I don’t write reviews, I write guides and walk throughs, where my personal opinion of a game matters very little to the actual context of the article. It’s so much easier to write about the content of an area and the quests involved then what I personally feel and think (at least for work).
That being said, my views and opinions don’t reflect those of my place of work, etc etc. hehe.
“I am sure that would be true for anyone in my position.”
Yup, I think so. We all need breaks from anything we do all the time. I remember crunch times of spending 8-10 hours in the office then having to go home and push through a title for a review that was due. It’s fine if you love the game you’re reviewing but folks on the outside never think about what it’s like when you’re covering a game you don’t enjoy. Being forced to play a bad game is real work!
OTOH if I had the opportunity to go back and do it all again, I never would’ve left the business!
Retail box disposal is a fabulous thing; Best Buy basically gave me a 60 day LOTRO timecard for free as thanks for taking a Moria box (non-CE, but I’ll take the extra time over the larger box any day) off their hands for the online price.
You do have to wonder how many times companies are willing to get burned with unsaleable old expansion boxes before they stop carrying the things, though. I’ve seen stores with Angmar boxes, and basically every old EQ2 expansion, none of which should be purchased by anyone since they are all included in more recent all-in-one packs. I suspect that this may be why half of the EB games in my area don’t even allocate ANY shelf space for PC gaming anymore.