Confessions of a gamer

To be honest with you I really wanted to tell you about my game experiences in GTA Online, to tell you how cool it is and the fun things I did. But unfortunately it was impossible for me to get in the game so I don´t have much to tell you. I think I spend most of my Tuesday on trying to get in GTA Online, but failed every time. I even went so far to accept the no save version, which meant that everything I did wouldn´t be saved but so I could at least have some experience with GTA Online so I could talk about it. Well guess what? It still didn´t work!!! No matter what I did, no matter what I said or tried it just didn´t work! I tried to play the quick play option, the one with crews, the one with invite only, the only with friends only and even the one where it´s just you. Somehow nothing works and nothing gets me in the game. The worst part is when you see your friends playing GTA Online, at least they got past the introduction, and that really makes me even more frustrated. I mean ...

As a kid this was something I could see myself doing and for some time it was exactly what I was doing. But you really have to wonder, is this a smart way of spending your time? Playing games is fun, I think everyone that plays games can agree with that. Ok some games are less fun but most games are usually entertaining. It´s tempting to stay at home and not go to school or to your work just to play games. Of course this will probably not have positive effect on your grades and your boss might not want to keep you in the company for much longer. So giving games a place in your life seems like a smart idea, but what if you´re addicted to games? Then it´s even more important to slow it down, leave your console or pc off for a day or two and then play some games again. As much fun games might be, don´t let it ruin your future. Can I have a job that allows me to play games? I think when you look on youtube you´ll find several places where people have a job that involves playing games. Bu...

These days it´s better to have your private information protected, which makes perfect sense of course. But I can´t help but notice an overkill with security updates. It´s not just your mailbox that needs this, no Xboxlive has been crazy about it as well. Give us your phonenumber, multiple alternative emails adresses.  Of course let me just pull that out of my magic hat! Even if I had all of that then I´m not certain I´d be comfortable giving that information out, but unfortunately you don´t have much of a choice. Because this is forced upon you, sure for the greater good but the fact that you can´t play a game because something needs to have private information from you kind of sucks! Protect your stuff! Well this makes sense, you have something you care about and so you want to protect that. I think that´s why most of us have a pretty good password to keep unwanted guests out of our personal stuff. But for some that´s not enough, no you must have two or three passwords, add som...

We might all have a different taste in music, but I think it´s safe to say that most people like music. So why not combine something you like with something you like to do? I doubt I´m the only one that listens to music when playing games, but I would like to add that I don´t do that in multiplayer because it´s not nice when others have to listen to your music. But you can always unplug your microphone and listen to your music anyway. Personally it helps me focus and it feels good to have some music playing while you do your thing in the game, it makes it look a bit more cool when you kick ass and have your own soundtrack in the back. But it also makes your defeat a bit more tolerable when you have some nice music to listen to. But what if the game has some decent music? Of course I don´t listen to my music when there is good music in the game, especially in games like GTA V and Saints Row IV you have a lot of music to choose from. So there´s usually something that you like and i...

In the good old days when you had some friendly competition on your console playing against a friend, it was fun and if someone was annoying you could smack that person on the back of his or her head. But sometimes things get heated up and frustration, often due to failure, isn´t good for your mental health. I guess some people can handle that better, they really play just for fun and when they lose then it´s not a big problem for them. If you´re more like me then it´s almost the end of the world, you play to win and you really want to win! This type of behaviour is really one of the reasons why I don´t get involved with most competitive games, because it really brings the worst part of me to the surface. Especially when I play with friends I don´t like to be that guy who takes the game too serious, which is often why I either bite my tongue when playing competitive games or I just don´t play them. So you can imagine that things are even more extreme when I play with strangers online, ...

I think in most game videos on youtube you´ll find a discussion in the comment section about how pc games are superior compared to console games. It´s excellent material for trolls to do their thing, but is there some truth in this? If I´m going to be honest then I have to say that pc games probably look better compared to console games, because the pc keeps improving while a console is stuck for several years in what it´s launched with. There aren´t really upgrades for a console, at least not like with a pc. But at the same time that also makes the pc a lot more expensive and it needs more maintenance. So the pc isn´t superior towards consoles, but it will often let you get the most out of your gaming experience. Perhaps for the die hard gamers it´s the only thing they want and thus for them the only one that counts. But I think it´s quite bold to say that consoles are crap compared to the pc. So you don´t need a console, just buy a pc? That´s probably not a smart thing, especially ...

In a lot of games you find a tutorial, so when you play it for the first time you usually go through some lessons how things work in the game. Which is a good thing if it doesn´t take too long and if it´s not boring, unfortunately that´s not always how it goes. Sometimes you have to go through annoying lessons that you don´t really need. It´s nice if people want to tell you how things work but do you really need to spend 15 minutes on that? Better yet, why don´t you just put a little guide in the box with the game and put the controls in there. That way people can decide if they want to learn the controls or just dive in the game. Do games still have a little guide book in the case? It´s actually getting rare to find that these days, some games do have them but other games just leave them out. They prefer to bore you in the game with a tutorial. Then you really have to wonder if it wasn´t better if they just printed that on paper and added that with the game. Sure it´s a bit more wor...