Let’s, very quickly discuss how TIP will work.
Rules of Attribution:
- Where possible, I will let you know where I found out about a given game. This will include an address that lists all the posts about it.
Rules of Play:
- I DON’T have to finish a game. [but I’ll try my level best to do so.]
- I MIGHT have to consult spoilers. I expect that my audience for this blog will start [and likely remain] small. That’s at least some of what I do on the internet. As a result, as much as I’d like to have exchanges between me and you, I doubt it’ll happen at first [or at all] and so, to hedge my bets, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to consult walkthroughs or guides of some persuasion [particularly if I play some adventure games, which I aim to do.]
- I WILL play ~6 hours of a game before abandoning it. I feel like 6 hours is a reasonable time frame for me to form an opinion on a game and to know whether or not I’m going to like it. I don’t aim to cover MMORPG’s [or MMO games in general], so the idea that IT GETS GOOD LATER likely doesn’t apply.
- I WILL be CURATING the list of games I play. Much as I appreciate – for example – The CRPG Addict’s slavish devotion to playing EVERY computer RPG, ever, he is made of sterner stuff than I am. Some games are just not in my ambit for various reasons [games that are dexterity tests, horror games that I am simply not into, etc] that there will be some disqualifying reason for me not playing those. So I will be a little choosy with what I do here. Some of this is selfish – I want it to remain fun for me, too. But some of it is just the nature of the beast, given who I am [and what I’m capable of and my tastes, in general.]
- I WILL NOT necessarily be playing the best version of a game. This is espeically true for some of the older games on this list, where computer technology varied wildly from platform to platform. Some of this is down to what I can get to work, but some of it is also down to ease of use. But also – and again – this is likely a little selfish, too. My experiences with computer gaming were mostly shaped around my time with an IBM PC, and as such, my nostalgia is tied to that system in particular.
- If I pick up a game, I WILL NOT be 100%’ing it. I do this for my own amusement with some games. But there’s only really one way to move this blog along and completing a game in that fashion is likely not it.
Rules of Completion:
- Once completed, I WILL attempt to make an after-game post. These will include my final thoughts and a rating, so that you can have some kind of shorthand by which to measure the game in question. I haven’t always been a fan of numbers – I don’t feel they tell the full story of a game – that can only be gleaned by reading the preceeding text, but I do recognize that brevity /can/ be the soul of wit. And if you just want my quick opinion, numbers will likely do the trick.
- I WILL likely talk about my experience in relation to the original blogger’s experience. Part of this journey is to look into games that other people found curious enough to talk about and then to reflect on their experience as well as mine. I’m sure that sometimes, that will line up quite well. Sometimes, it just won’t.
- I WILL be keeping a spreadsheet that you can look at with data about the game. Initially, that spreadsheet’s going to be pretty bare, but we’ll flesh it out as we go along.
The schedule:
Once this handful of setup posts is out of the way, my aim will be to release a blog post once every second day or so, thus:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Monday, etc.
Final Thoughts:
Please do be aware that I ENCOURAGE discussion of the rules on this page. If you find that something is in error, or you have a suggestion for a rule to add to the list, please do so.