Control Issues; Watching Games

It is widely known that I have control issues. I like to be in charge of things, and if I’m not, I like to think things won’t work out as well as they could have. I’m totally stroking my ego here, but, when faced with a problem I can usually come up with a fairly logical solution rather quickly. I can think on my feet, probably due to all the puzzle solving I’ve done in Zelda titles.

Why am I telling you all this. Well, there’s a segue coming up so bear with. I am very bad at watching people play video games in a single player context. When I was younger, on the shared Nintendo I may have spoken about, I could never stand to watch my older cousins play through Super Mario Bros, or Punch Out or any game, really, because I would do it differently and it irked me. Once I had my own system things changed and I got to play when I wanted and then I was in the drivers seat, so to speak.

Lately I’ve been playing through BioShock at my new apartment with my new roommates watching. One of them, Matthew, (former writer of one article ever here on this site) has pretty much been with me the entire length of the game and was as shocked and speechless as I was when I reached the twist. Now, since I know how much I hate watching other people game, I thought it spoke very highly of the story, and the story telling of BioShock that someone else could sit down with me for probably 9 of the 12 hours I’ve put into this game so far. The story is so compelling and you really get a sense of the character and all the story elements even if you aren’t the one playing. I still maintain that I could never watch someone else game, because of the control aspect…

And then Matt downloaded the skate. demo (its obnoxious that there is a period at the end of their game, makes it look like the sentence ended, but it didn’t). I have watched him play it for hours. I have no desire to play this game, at all. But I sit and I watch, a lot.

There is something about this game that makes me actually go into the living room now when I hear it starting. I am drawn to the sound. I’m baffled by the amount of time I spend sitting and watching digital skateboarders. Seriously this is crazy. My life as we know it may end on Monday when the full version of the game is picked up. I need to finish BioShock before then or it will never be complete.