I thought that at first, and in the case of a game like Wayward Souls, in spite of the dead-on controls and atmosphere, it can be genuinely irritating. JayG recently got pilloried for calling Tiny Rogue a high score chaser, but some of the best Rogues are effectively just that- arcade games which can either be completed pretty quickly with a risk-reward score system (Nightmare Cooperative, 868 Hack) or endless games which never had the intention of being completable. There are also those that fall more in line with what you're talking about, in which you're forced to tiptoe on egg-shells everywhere because mistakes can be so costly. Point is, it's a big, variable chunk of games smushed together in one bracket, and you may surprise yourself by liking a certain type of roguelike, whilst staying well clear of others.
A personal pet peeve of mine - I hate the use of 'addictive' as a positive when describing video games. Being addicted to something is never a good thing, so I'm not sure why that's the case for gaming, and I really think it trivialises the actual condition of being addicted to something. The connotations of 'addict' or 'addicting' are all normally negative and for many can have some sort of psychological impact, so as OTT as it is I try and avoid using it whenever I write for TA, and just put in a synonym of euphemism such as compelling, hard to put down or whatever. But maybe that's just me, and what going to a very left wing university for two years has ingrained in me lol
Fair enough. I personally have no issue with using "addictive", as I think it's used here in very much a different context, but I can completely see your point. I've never been a social worker or anything, but have played video games since my childhood, so the word doesn't have the same connotations for me. However, "compelling" is just a better word, in every sense.
Its use is more of an "emphasis" thing. "Im addicted to MHFU" sounds a lot more intense than "i play MHFU a lot" doesnt it? Another example is using the F word to describe something extreme, instead of something like "very." How big was the bear? "Effin big." Use of the F word makes it sound larger than a "very big" bear. And yet, as everyone knows, the F word isnt really a nice word to use most of the time.
Think I'm with you on this, to a decent extent. Although I sometimes wonder if it's more to do with me not being very good at them :-/ Never found them particularly rewarding though, except maybe Rogue Legacy
Yes, you're probably right - and I've probably let a select few games colour my opinion. I tried very hard to like Wayward Souls because everyone says how great it is but I found it frustrating and irritating.
