One thing that never seems to affect the hero of any given video game is the awful weight of their actions. Killing another person isn’t something most people can deal with easily, and a lot of people die because of the actions of game characters. It is often to save their own life, yes, but in the real world, people are heavily affected by taking the lives of others. It’s a big, big reason so many people suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the armed services. It is very, very difficult to put that level of conscious or subconscious guilt and shame aside.

Some people don’t have that problem, however. Those people are called sociopaths.

In any discussion about any controversial content in games, one argument tends to get repeated over and over by a certain type of gamer.  It runs along these lines: because games aren’t real life, and because gamers know the difference between games and real life, it doesn’t matter what gets depicted in games.  Shooting people in the face?  Not real, doesn’t matter.  Massacring tigers and other endangered animals in Far Cry 3?  Virtual tigers, you idiot: not real, doesn’t matter.  And so on.  This reasoning has been repeated here on GON in countless threads, and the wider gaming world is awash with it. Our community member caitsith01 explains why this attitude needs to stop.

Backups are a vital part of any computer lifestyle, especially when games are involved. Who wants to lose their 100+ hour Skyrim save game? Some may simply forget to back up regularly, some may even just think its too hard and give up entirely.

If you are any of these people, then I have a juicy treat for you — and it isn’t an apple.

So then. You bought Aliens: Colonial Marines, didn’t you? I know some of you did. Own up. There is no shame here, no judgements. We are all brought together by our pain, born of our hope, and made all that more terrible when we now know it was a hope misguided.

The reviews speak the truth. It’s not a good game. It’s not even mediocre, most of the time. It descends into outright bad all too often. And let’s not get started on the sheer awfulness of the graphical downgrade the game got somewhere along the line. It’s bad. We all know this – at least, now we do.

But some of us saw the Green Man Gaming deal. Some of us had hope. Some of us believed. And regardless of commentary made of how foolish such a silly thing is, it happens. So now, some of us have a game we don’t really want to play, and would rather forget. Fair enough.

But surely, I say, there must be some way to enjoy this game… right?

Welcome back to another Community Soapbox article! If you’ve got something you’d like to say to our community, check here for more information about how to get your thoughts up in lights.

With the recent announcement that BioShock Infinite would require a 3 DVD install and 30GB of HDD space (along with previous titles having 20GB+ installs – RAGE, Max Payne 3 and Hitman Absolution to name a few), the time has come to ask the question: Should game companies be using Blu-ray for PC game installation media?

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft on and off since the initial release of the game. Generally I get excited when hearing about details of an upcoming expansion pack — however with the details being released on Mists of Pandaria I wasn’t happy at all. I felt that jumping on the Kung Fu Panda bandwagon and releasing an expansion based on a small part of the lore of the world was a mistake, and it didn’t help that the released intro for the expansion had comedic elements to it. So I had decided this would be the first expansion I wasn’t going to play.

That was until someone decided it would make a good birthday gift.

Far Cry 3 has already inspired more than a few articles here at games.on.net, and now here’s one more to round out the year: our resident Neverwinter Nights DM Nemesis is back with an examination of the game’s roundly-criticised storyline. Perhaps, he says, there’s more to the ‘rich-white-kid-turned-mass-murderer’ plot than meets the eye.

Everyone I have seen dive into Far Cry 3 (both on YouTube and my real life — with a pulse — friends) picks it up so quickly. The familiarity of the entire experience has been realised perfectly by the Ubisoft team — in fact, as I delved deeper into the ‘insanity’ of Far Cry 3 I started to feel a little too familiar with the game mechanics, to the point of of déjà vu. Far Cry 3 does not feel like its own game. It feels like a Greatest Hits collection of the mechanics from other games, and not a lot of its own IP.

Welcome back to another Community Soapbox article! If you’ve got something you’d like to say to our community, check here for more information about how to get your thoughts up in lights. Mild spoilers for Borderlands 2 may follow.

Jelly or custard. Chicken or steak. Kelly or Liara. Troy or Abed. Borderlands ‘Originale’ or Borderlands 2. Some questions cannot be answered without some serious examination and/or exposition, unless you are Marius (red heads man. Red heads. I hear ya).

Forum lurker that I am, I’ve noticed a bit of a trend lately when it comes to Borderlands 2. Some people can’t bring themselves to finish it. The game doesn’t seem to capture the attention of some, but in many cases these are people who played the ever lovin’ heck out of Original Borderlands. Why is that?

Here at games.on.net, we know that one review isn’t always enough — and that’s why, when RSOblivion came to us with his thoughts on Need for Speed: Most Wanted, we couldn’t help but put them up as well. With both this and our official review to read through, there’s more NFS:MW than you could ever need. Take a look.

Nemesis_22 joins us with the first of our Community Soapbox articles! If you’re interested in submitting a soapbox article, check here for more information.

As I grow older, more jaundiced and fatter around the middle, I find that there is still one tried and true method to RPG games which never, ever, seems to die the death it so richly deserves: fetch quests.

Every so often, I get a message from one of our many forum members, or an email out of the blue, with an epic rant in it. What BioWare did wrong with Mass Effect 3, what BioWare did right with Mass Effect 3 and why everybody else is wrong, an opinion piece on DRM, or even just an essay about why they love a game they love.

There’s never really been a place to put these on games.on.net and so we very rarely get to use them, but as of now I’m going to change that. Say hello to…

The Community Soapbox

What’s it all about then? Well, once a month (at least — hopefully more) we’ll try and publish an article by a member of the community on the front page of games.on.net. Consider this an open call for expressions of interest: if you’ve got an opinion about something or want to share with the world, or maybe you’ve written a review of an obscure game you’re dying to see in print, this is your chance.

If you’re interested in being a part of it, head on over to our forum and send me a PM about it. We’re open to all subjects and topics, though please be aware your submission will of course be edited for spelling, grammar and so on in accordance with our general standards of content.

Please note this is unfortunately not a paid position! But we do not seek to take advantage of anybody — your submissions can be as small or as big as you like, on anything at all.

Sounds great! I’m really angry/passionate/incredulous about X!

I’m glad to hear it! Send me a PM and let’s talk about it! If you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask them below or in the forum thread. Looking forward to hearing from you all!