Whew.
Now that our international visitors have departed, it is time to collapse into a heap and fall asleep — and indeed, that is what I did for much of this afternoon, and that is what I’m probably going to do shortly after I hit the “Publish” button on this post.
It’s been a great few days, though, and Mark and Lynette appeared to have an enjoyable time. We didn’t have nearly enough time to do all the things we might have wanted to do — such is inevitably the way when you have just a few days to spend with people you don’t get to see in person very often — but we got a decent amount of things in, including a wander around Southampton (including the waterfront and the “old bits” at the far end of town), a visit to the stately home and grounds at Mottisfont, and a trip to Oxford for two room escape games, a wander around two of the colleges and finally an evening of gaming at the UK’s first (only?) board game café Thirsty Meeples.
Doing so much in such a short space of time has reminded me that our lifestyle on “normal” days is rather more sedate. I feel genuinely exhausted right now, though not at all sorry that we got to do as many things as we did. Whenever I host visitors — even if it’s just for a couple of hours — I often find myself worrying that I’m not entertaining them enough, or not being a good enough host or whatever. This time around, I feel like we did a decent job: a bit of downtime to relax and play things like ZombiU and Towerfall, trips out to see interesting things near and far, and a few “quintessentially British” things just to make them feel like they’ve had an experience that they can’t have anywhere else — even if that experience is just, I don’t know, eating a Jaffa Cake or something.
But anyway. Now they have departed and I am about to collapse, it’s time for a sort-of holiday before my new job starts at the end of August. I’m not quite sure what to expect from the job as yet, but I’m quite looking forward to it, for a number of reasons: chiefly, the fact that I’ll have reliable money coming in every month, but also the fact that it’s something I’ll be able to show up to, do, clock out at the end of the day and not have to worry about in the evenings. (Hopefully, anyway.) This will allow me to kick back of an evening and enjoy myself with some games or some TV or some anime without feeling like I “should” be doing something specific — a common issue that will be familiar to anyone who has ever written about games for a living. While I still fully intend to write about a variety of subjects for my own site MoeGamer, I’m not planning on putting any undue pressure on myself to romp through games as quickly as possible; I’m not working to a review schedule, nor do I have to worry about the “glut” of games coming later in the year. I can simply write about games as and when I feel like it, as often as I feel like it, and in as much detail as I feel like. It’s refreshing, and I can’t help thinking it will be a fine way to dispel some of the cynicism I’ve built up over the last few years. (Shitty free-to-play mobile games can still eat a dick, though, as can pretty much anything from EA.)
Anyway. I can feel my writing descending into rambling stream-of-consciousness, so rather than inflicting that on you, I will simply say good night for now, and hopefully be a little more alert tomorrow!
Discover more from I'm Not Doctor Who
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
What are room escape games? DO you actually physically enter rooms and then work out the various problems and how to escape? That is what I gathered from your previous Post about that trip you did with your visitors. If so – what a cool idea! I wonder if there are any over here in Oz.
Also I hope you have gained a degree of confidence in your ability to control any situation you are put into now – since securing this new job via the Interview route. Look forward to a good outcome – put the bad stuff behind you and leave it there. It belongs in your past, and you don’t want it to intrude into this new phase. I’m sure you know that already, but a little reinforcement from friends is always a help – it bolsters the self-belief and confidence, and it’s good to be reminded that others see a different you than the one you feel yourself to be at times.
Have a good HWP – aka HollyWollyPolliday!!! 😀
Yes, that’s pretty much it; they’re based on a popular Eastern (Japan, China, Korea) style of computer and video game where you’re put into a virtual room with little to no explanation and then tasked with finding a way out by manipulating items in the environment, picking up objects and using them.
This type of game — usually short 30-minute affairs — has been expanded into more full-length works by creators such as Kotaro Uchikoshi, who brought the world the as-yet-unfinished Zero Escape series, consisting of Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (aka 999) and Virtue’s Last Reward — two games that combine visual novel storytelling with room escape sequences in the traditional mould: you get locked in somewhere, and there’s only one way to get out, so you have to find it.
The “real life” incarnations of this sort of game are pretty similar, though you tend not to actually get locked in; instead, you’re given a set amount of time to achieve some sort of goal. In one game, we had to find the password to a computer and find some information; in another, we had to find a USB stick that had been hidden somewhere in the room.
That sounds so cool. I particularly like the ‘not being locked in’ bit – that way claustrophobia doesn’t need to set in, nor panic. 😀 I wonder if it will expand to here or if it already has what you wopuld google to find it?