Games

Games are an intrinsic part of my life, providing me with both wisdom and entertainment. I strive to be an excellent gamer, and by that I mean I strive to fully experience the game itself, not obsess over my success or failure at it. I am extremely lucky because my husband owns Gamescape North, so we are surrounded by plenty of games and gamers.

In 1992, I logged into a MUD variant called MUCK, and I have been involved with them ever since. MUCKs aren’t quite games, so my musings on them and on Second Life get their own page.

Despite some desultory forays into turn-based games on BBSes, I didn’t really play games online until Game Neverending. Soon after that I played Star Wars Galaxies, EverQuest II, and eventually World of Warcraft. Nowadays, my time is so limited that I spend it exclusively in the glorious world of Glitch.

I still consider Myst to be the best video game of all time.

So far as board games, my favorite is still Scrabble, as it is a puzzle game based on words that can be as simple or as complex as you make it. It is both an addiction and a sentimental habit. I made a friend once by posting to alabama.birmingham.general, looking for Scrabble players. Her name is Rebecca, and together we created the Birmingham Boardgamers, which I hear is still going strong. Lest you think I am some sort of Scrabble genius, I am not rated, nor have I competed in any tournaments. But I do remember my best bingo to date, which is BANJOES.

Second only to Scrabble is Qwirkle, which has key similarities but is quite different and challenging on other levels I enjoy deeply.

Chess is another favorite. It is infinitely complex, fascinating, and fun. In Birmingham, I had an excellent chess teacher and friend named Freeman. I have just started to explore the world of online chess; I much prefer to play in person.

My all-time favorite party games are Dixit, the card game of visual metaphor, Fluxx, the card game of ever-changing rules, and Zobmondo, the game of hypothetical questions that appall, amaze, and generally disturb.

My newest game obsession is geocaching, an activity that blends puzzle-solving, mapping and hiking into both simple and complex adventures, depending on the experience you would like.

Alone, I like puzzles of all sorts, especially sudoku and crossword puzzles.

Last but never least, I love tabletop role-playing games. I will play any system with the right GM, and I enjoy “guest-starring” in my friends’ games as NPCs. The pinnacle of my RPG career was a one-shot that Erick Wujcik ran at Gamescape North shortly before he died. He was, in short, astounding.