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Title: Gaming 
Date: October 6, 2024

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  Something's happened to my love of gaming, or at least what games I'm able to
enjoy. I can't really get into most modern games if I'm playing by myself, but
some I can enjoy when I'm playing with a few friends. Satisfactory and Factorio
are two such titles, where if I'm by myself, it's boring beyond tolerance, but
when I'm with my mates and friends, I'm able to have fun with them. Minecraft
and Necesse are two more where they seem like they'd be a great time while I'm
on my own, but no, I can't really have fun unless I'm with friends or family.

  Meanwhile, I'm willing to play older titles for MS-DOS, and consoles from the
PS2/XBOX/GCN/GBA era and prior, on my own without issue. I enjoy the absolute
crap out of titles like Xargon, Pokémon Emerald, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy
VII... Hell, I just finished giving Corridor 7 for MS-DOS a try, and despite a
tendency to hide things behind pushblock walls, it's a pretty good game with
the Wolf3D engine. I also recently finished all six episodes of "Blake Stone:
Aliens of Gold", and the first episode of Xargon.

  Like, I'm enjoying games solo. I'm just not enjoying most *modern* games solo
for some reason. And I say *most*, because a vast majority of modern text
adventures and interactive fiction titles will keep my attention. I've been
grabbing Twine games like "Forgotten"[0] by Matilde Park, some Inform 7 titles
from IFDB[1], and just relaxing with some old-school style gaming in that way.

  Maybe I'm just tired of the overly-complex stuff. Maybe it's the way some
games tend to be overly hand-holdy, or just completely broken in difficulty,
with no good middle ground. Or maybe I'm just focused on /old/ stuff, like I am
with operating systems and hardware.

  Dunno, but as long as it works, I'm not gonna complain. I've got plenty of
games to keep me occupied for a *long* time.

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[0]: https://aetherinteractive.itch.io/forgotten
[1]: https://ifdb.org/