1. What kinds of games do you avoid?
Any with excessive nudity or adult content, because it’s most likely not the main focus of the game/used for advertising (GTA, God of War), or it’s horrendously offensive (Duke Nukem: Forever)
2. What’s your favorite quality in your gaming buddies (kids or not)?
Friends who can critique their favorite games as much as they love them!
3. What’s your main fault as a gamer?
I don’t have enough patience when I lose. I get frustrated when I’m not as good as I expected to be.
4. How has gaming shaped your identity?
I didn’t have a lot of self-esteem growing up. Being the hero in a game gave me the chance to be important: too often I was shamed for standing up against injustices, but in games, everything I did to help was meaningful. They made me matter, and helped me through dark times when nobody else supported me.
5. Which game did you find most visually appealing?
Mass Effect 2 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution: clean, futuristic aesthetics and interfaces, with realistic yet fantastic architecture, lighting, and design.
6. Which game soundtrack would you listen to on repeat?
The soundtrack to the Half-Life 2 mod “NeoTokyo” by Ed Harrison is AMAZING. Many tracks never made it to the final release, but Mr. Harrison has released the full OST free for download.
7. Which game has your favorite story?
The Mass Effect series is so full of dramatic moments, ultimatums that shape the fate of your favorite characters, and absolutely brilliant pacing. I’ve never been more affected or invested in the outcome of a game more than this series.
Gone Home also gets a very welcome mention: what begins as a tense, terrifying journey into a dark and empty house melts away into one of the most heart-wrenching stories I’ve experienced.
8. Which video game character would you choose to be a hero for your kids?
Perhaps this is cheating but: themselves! Many games allow players to create their own characters, with imaginary origins and whatever skills they want. I want to teach my future children to pursue their happiness, unburdened by the expectations of other characters or archetypes.
9. Which video game ability/item/superpower would you most like to be gifted with?
The ability to look up the strategy guide!
10. What video game character would you pick to cosplay if you had unlimited time and resources?
A Turian from Mass Effect
11. Most interesting way you’ve ever died in a video game?
Technically not dying, but in the original Motocross Madness, you could drive on top of the cliffs meant to keep you inside the race tracks. If you rode too far away from the track though, you’d be expelled backwards with great force and fly through the air, helpless, until you landed back onto the track. See for yourself here.
