Ask a gamer - common sense answers to genuine questions

Tornik

Hello everyone, my name is Craig, and I've been a videogamer for a little under 30 years.

In that time, I've ran into many people - parents, grandparents and sundry other confused relatives - who just don't 'get' video games. They find it hard to understand that, even at the age of 34, I still play video games, and find it hard to understand that not every game is a murder simulator.

Time and again, I've found myself answering questions and dishing out advice - why, for example, it's not OK to buy Grand Theft Auto for Little Timmy's 6th birthday.

So, I thought I might offer some advice on a wider scale, and open up this thread to questions from some of the many confused parents, grandparents and sundry other relatives who find themselves drifting onto the MSE forums.

Ask away - ask anything, and I'll try to help.

Datolite

When will The Stick Of Truth be released and is it going to be on Xbox One?

Tornik

Datolite wrote: »

When will The Stick Of Truth be released and is it going to be on Xbox One?

That is a difficult question to answer. The game's release was slowed down considerably due to the original publisher, THQ, going bankrupt. Ubisoft picked it up from the ruins of THQ, but haven't really said much about it since.

At E3 this year, they said it was going to be out at the end of the year, but it's still not showing in their official release calendar. They released a slew of new screenshots at Gamescom, but no press release or details to accompany them.

If and when it does come out, I'm not convinced it will see a retail release, and may just get a digital-only release, and I really don't think it will come out on any of the next-gen machines.

It could well be the next victim of the Obsidian Curse.

Sparhawke

When you set up a topic like this, and state "Ask away - ask anything, and I'll try to help" then you automatically set yourself up as an 'expert' and for the inevitable fall.

I have seen it done countless times and while it is fine to set up one specific topic for FIFA or GTA or even Runescape, they work because they are within very tightly banded fields and you get good conversations out of them. What does not work is saying if you have any question about anything then ask it here - all you end up with is a couple of messages at the beginning then a complete breakdown because there is no structure and the topic is bouncing all over the place.

It is barely 6 hours into the life of this topic and it has gotten away from the original aim that you had; instead you should've titled it "Is calling videogames violence inducing fair?" to make a clear point of debate

I don't recall implying that I was anything like a 'sole expert', just someone who wanted to offer some advice in a place I thought it might be needed.

The thing is too, and I personally know post count does not really matter but no one has ever seen you before. Apart from being 34 and a gamer, who are you?

What do you do for a living? Are you married? Do you have any children? (you do not need to answer those)

What I am saying is that people are much more likely to solicit advice if they know you are not just hiding in your parents attic while suckling at their retirement fund until the perfect job comes along lol

If you can say that you are a doctor (and more to the point be able to prove it) who happens to like unwinding with computer games people will be much more trusting, at least it would show that their kids can turn out alright.

Before I came here I was a volunteer moderator for a major computer technology company and also a forum admin of a major games forum.

I am only a couple of years older than you and have been on the receiving end of all that liking computer games and other geek stuff can bring (I am a science geek)

Tornik

Sparhawke wrote: »

When you set up a topic like this, and state "Ask away - ask anything, and I'll try to help" then you automatically set yourself up as an 'expert' and for the inevitable fall.

I have seen it done countless times and while it is fine to set up one specific topic for FIFA or GTA or even Runescape, they work because they are within very tightly banded fields and you get good conversations out of them. What does not work is saying if you have any question about anything then ask it here - all you end up with is a couple of messages at the beginning then a complete breakdown because there is no structure and the topic is bouncing all over the place.

It is barely 6 hours into the life of this topic and it has gotten away from the original aim that you had; instead you should've titled it "Is calling videogames violence inducing fair?" to make a clear point of debate

Wow. What a wonderfully cheery outlook you have. I guess Martin Lewis is still waiting on his inevitable fall.

If I wanted to start a video games violence debate, I would have done so, but that was never the intended purpose of the thread.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi!

Thanks for trying to help other gamers Tornik. The thread headed off into a rather interesting debate so we've set it up in its own Call of Duty, GTA: would you let your 6 year old play? poll and discussion.

Hopefully you can carry on helping people here

Andrea

Paully232000

I think this thread is not a bad idea but would it not be better to just keep an eye on the whole section and answer questions as you see them come up.
I agree this thread will just get lost, forgotten about, and superseded by other topics. It may well also get confusing with people asking different questions and separate mini-threads being discussed within the one thread.
Better for people to start a new topic thread with issues they are having, then at least others with similar problems will be able to see/search for a title that is of interest to them.

RichL74

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Datolite

RichL74 wrote: »

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Awesom-O says it's 17.

Joe_Boy_1986

Is it not the point of this entire forum to offer our advice and opinions? I find it strange that that someone would open up an entire thread just to answer questions. Would we not open up our own threads to ask for questions and advice? Nice idea, just seems a tad egotistical and was always gonna get flamed. Kudos for it though

heartbreak_star

RichL74 wrote: »

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

A woodchuck wouldn't chuck any amount of wood cause a woodchuck can't chuck wood.

HBS x