Playing DOTA 2 as a Newbie: First Impressions of the Beta – Part 1.

Valve has a reputation for producing highly polished games that communicate themselves clearly to the player.  What can they bring to DOTA 2, a sequel to the grandfather of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre?  I was lucky enough

Breaking Up With "League of Legends."

Hi everybody, I’m Kevin and I have a problem with games. (Muffled chorus: Hi Kevin.) I’ve uninstalled Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri because I stopped doing anything else.  I’d sit down to play at my desk for fifteen minutes and then

The Campfire: How Star Control II Introduced Me To Lovecraftian Horror.

Star Control II is my Lord of the Rings. At a time of life where many of my friends would return to Tolkien’s works with an abiding fondness and nostalgia, I favoured repeated explorations of the rich world-building and characterisation

A History of Mutual Looting, and What Videogames Can Learn From Non-D&D Tabletop RPGs

The historical relationship between videogames and tabletop RPGs is not hard to spot, and they work together very naturally (1): computers present the opportunity to automate the underlying mechanics of game play.  Although the majority of games based on tabletop

Death and Storytelling

One of the distinguishing – though not universal – features of playing games is that you die.  The natural phrase people use – even small kids who’ve not learned it via experience – is to say “I died,” not “Mario