Input Needed!

I'm going to have some extra writing time next week, I hope (horde of cousins-in-law at the beach houses permitting), and I hope to be tackling an idea I've wanted to delve into for rather a while.

But before I can write it, I need as much input as possible from as many readers as possible.  So please: retweet this one.  Share the link with your buddies.  Ask around and see if you can get anyone else to answer.  Twenty responses are great; a hundred are even better.  And there are no wrong answers.

I want to hear from everyone, from the 40-hour-per-week WoW raider to the sudoku-on-my-commute iPhone owner to the once-a-week tabletop gamer.  There are no wrong respondents.

So here's what I want to know from you, fantastic readers:

Why do you game?

Each of us has a different reason for being into games, and each of us has different game types.  Do you like competition?  Solving puzzles?  Escapism, but more interactive than TV?

When you're playing, what really gets you going?  Is it the thrill of the chase?  The satisfaction of thinking something through?  Overcoming a challenge?  Sharpshooting?  Putting yourself into another role?  Getting to experience a story?

I don't want to influence any of the answers, and I need to leave myself an intro for my post, so I'm not going to give my full answer right now. ;)  But by way of example, I will give one of my reasons: I like feeling clever.  I like it when a game lets me solve a puzzle of any kind, be it Peggle or Portal or Phoenix Wright.  I like a chance to flex my brain and to come to my own conclusions.  So that's one of the reasons why I game.  (There are more.)

What are yours?  Let's hear them!  I want to get a really broad array of opinions.  And if you'd like to answer the question but for some reason feel uncomfortable leaving a comment, feel free to drop me a line at any of the contact options over on the right. 

That One Game Idea...

Memorial Day Weekend is about to launch, here in the US.  It's 90 degrees (F) with air so humid you can chew it, and my office closes at 1:00 p.m. today.  I can't even pretend that I'm focused enough to work on one of the 6 or 7 long-form, serious-matter, detailed-research drafts waiting for me in the post editor.  They'll have to keep for working on over the weekend, while my spouse is away (which means I can't play Mass Effect 2 no matter how much I want to, because it's an "us" game and I promised).

So instead, let's get chatty, silly, and idealistic.

Every gamer has one: that idea you've been harboring forever, that you wish you could get someone to make.

Here's mine: a Neverwhere-based MMORPG.  It doesn't even have to take place in London Below; it could take place in any of a hundred cities Below.  But any way, it would be fantastic.  The markets could be special monthly server events.  The appearance customization options are fantastic and enormous.  And the very patchwork nature of London Below would allow for unique class / skill set-ups, different from any other MMORPG out there.

I mean, sure, that much variation and customization means you'd never be able to balance it and it would probably end up being a PvP world prone to griefing and absent the magic of the book, but still... it's nice to dream, right?  ;)

So, that's mine.  What's yours?