I've become a niche whore. Back in the 1990s, I played through almost any SNES game at least once. By 2002, I got my college computer and experimented with a wide variety of PC games. From 2007-2009, I played and only played the World of Warcraft. After getting a 360 in 2008 (for Fallout 3 of course), I have become very very selective. This selectivity has been reaffirmed this year with awful sequels such as Bioshock 2 and Crackdown 2.
Graphics mean much less to me now than in the past. I picked up Crysis in 2008, found out my comp at the time couldn't run it, fast forward two years, I buy a gaming laptop, beat Crysis, and I wonder what in the hell was I missing out on? All Crysis is, is the original Far Cry shortened with suit powers. Far Cry was a far better game than Crysis and Far Cry had cutting edge graphics for it's time.
Basically, my love for games comes down to this. I don't want a character with a backstory. I want to create a character and have his/her journey represent what I would do in the game. Real time strategy and FPS have too much production in them and aim to be movies. RPGs such as the Fallout series, Elder Scroll series, Mass Effect series, and Fable series have a bit of backstory but nothing I don't approve of.
Second, I need nonlinearity and big open worlds in my games. Any sandbox game from Rockstar I gobble up like a 2 year old and his cup of Kool Aid. GTA, Red Dead, and any WRPG that is open-ended has me hooked regardless of reviews.
Finally, I desire moral complexity. I don't like the Fable morality of good = errand boy chump and bad = a big prick. I need shades of grey such as in Fallout: New Vegas where I can create an alliance between one faction who two years earlier slaughtered the women and children of another faction. Likewise, in Fallout 3 I loved the Those! quest where I can save the orphan's hometown, promise to look for a home for him, and am confronted with 4 choices:
1. Tell him to stay home and have the scientist who created the mess look after him
2. Sell him into slavery
3. Reunite him with his aunt who lives on a derelict aircraft carrier
4. Tell him my job is finished , life sucks, I ain't finding you a home so deal with it
TL;DR: I am a niche whore. Games I buy have two or all of the qualities: 1. Protagonists who are basically you ingame, 2. Non-linear open ended worlds, and 3. Moral complexity with definite shades of grey.
