Games I play right now and why
I have a few I end up playing, and they each provide me with something different, tho there are some commonalities involved as well.
Kerbal Space Program
Do you wanna build a spaceship?
At the bottom level this is a physics-based sandbox game. In one mode, you choose your own missions, attempt to build spacecraft to perform that mission out of a set of stock parts, and then fly those spacecraft. This is one of those love-to-fail sorts of games. Your rocket explodes on lift off? You learn why and build another rocket. And another one. And another one. You learn many ways how not to build rockets. Then you get one to work and it's the greatest thing ever.
Nothing in this game holds your hand. You jump right in. And you swiftly learn that nobody builds things the same way, solves the same problems the same way so you can't really compare your solutions to those of another person. Hell, I often go back and try to find a different way to do something I have already done.
What is the reason this game works? Emergent gameplay. It's like having a big box of space-Legos and a toy solar system to explore. I can do whatever I want with it, and the goals are simply those I set myself.
Crusader Kings II
The role-playing game I wanted to play in the 90s.
Paradox, the company responsible for this game and EU-IV are the kind of history wonks that I would love to sit and talk with for hours. The games they make are simulations of sweeping strategic history. In this case if you have all the expansions, it covers about 700 years of history from around 735 to 1440 AD and involves the political and military history of Europe, North Africa, and the near/mid East. Did I mention is was kind of an RPG?
You are playing as some level of noble. You have to manage relationships with your vassals and liege (if you aren't independent) and try to expand your personal holdings and ranks, make advantageous marriages, forging alliances and spreading the influence of your dynasty. You have to steer clear of jealous rivals, viking raiders, heretics, and the occasional seductress out to set your bastard up as king. Sometimes, you're the one stabbing people in the back.
This game is also stupid hard. It really is. It took me a while to even start to 'get' it, but once I did... I was able to raise my dynasty up from an Irish duke to Emperor of Brittiania... with cousins on the throne of Byzantium. This is why it's more of an RPG than a 4X game (will define 4X below.)
This is another emergent game. You set yourself goals, because the game really doesn't do that for you. You go 'I have these two counties... let's add the third to make the duchy complete... let's see if I can become king of Ireland... Let's add Scotland because it's right there... Wales... England is next...' all the while watching your cousin Emperor Mikolos Ui'Brian convert the Byzantine Empire to Catholicism. It comes under the heading of 'very wrong alternate history' and makes me happy.
Europa Universalis IV
What do you mean they speak Danish in Hawaii?
This is the game that takes history along its next few centuries. It starts in 1444 with the Ottoman victory over Poland, the Reconquista ramping up in Spain, the HRE trying to keep itself relevant, and France consolidating power and tackling the problem that Burgundy presents. It ends in 1821 where our world is on the cusp of the industrial revolution. For extra WTF, you can convert your CK-II game to be the start of an EU-IV game.
Unlike CK-II, this game belongs in the 4X genre squarely (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate,) with such classics as Sid Meier's Civ. Unlike Civ, this game is extremely complex, and thankfully you don't have to master all of its systems to be a success. You have to manage religion, culture, diplomacy, military, technology all right from the go. The decisions you make matter and change what options you have down the line. Do you embrace the reformation or remain Catholic? Do you try and control the Papacy? Play the power-politics of the HRE? When you encounter the natives of the New World, do you fight them, trade with them, or welcome them into your colonies to live?
This is another game full of squee for a what-if history wonk like myself. It also is very educational in the way any good simulation is. You get a really good feel for exactly why some of the problems we deal with today came about from decisions made hundreds of years ago by people long dead who had more immediate issues to deal with. I feel really bad when I choose to suppress Sami and Finnish cultures, but I hit that button anyway. I know the consequences of my imperialism when I destroy the Aztecs in Central Mexico. But it's the right move at that time.
Goat Simulator
Blood for the Blood Goat! Goats for the Goat Throne!
This game has zero educational value. None. It's full of bad puns, pop culture references, and is completely free of consequences. It is the perfect example of Emergent Gameplay because that's all there is. There is stuff, and you, as a goat, run around messing with that stuff. Some of the stuff is moving and other stuff does stuff when you mess with it. Some stuff is hard to do (like bouncing on a trampoline,) others are easy (like dragging a person onto a treadmill to send them flying into a car that then explodes.)
You are a goat. You can run around, you can butt stuff with your head, kick stuff with your back legs and lick stuff with your sticky and infinitely elastic tongue. That's it. That's also enough. I laugh at the crazy stuff that happens, try things like sticking my tongue to the blades of a combine harvester, and laugh at the results.
The developers of this game have the right idea when it comes to bugs: Only fix it if the bug makes things less fun. Because everyone needs some silly fun sometimes.
Guns Of Icarus Online
Team-based Steampunk Fantasy Zeppelin Warfare.
Before playing GOI, if you had asked what my favorite action/battle game was, the answer would have been Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and for the exact same reasons. The game itself requires teamwork, communication, and you stand or fall together. If you can't shoot stuff, you can fly the boat; If you can't fly, you can fix stuff. Everyone can manage at least one of those roles. And here is the clear reason: You have fun even losing. Spent a night with zero wins just getting beat and had a great time.
You get the occasional person who gets bossy and wants to micromanage you but you ignore them and there is a mute function for the voice chat for special types. I have used it exactly once for a guy that kept making annoying duck noises into his mic. Mostly, the people there are there to have fun. It's not SRS BSNS like League Of Legends or DOTA. You won't get called bad names while you're learning. The communication is almost all about the particular match you are playing, and a quick strategy dump to let your crew know what your plans are for the boat.
It also isn't pay-to-win. Like Team Fortress 2, all of the for-money stuff is things like costumes and boat decor. We stand as a crew, we all work to keep the boat up and shoot stuff. It's awesome fun.
Kerbal Space Program
Do you wanna build a spaceship?
At the bottom level this is a physics-based sandbox game. In one mode, you choose your own missions, attempt to build spacecraft to perform that mission out of a set of stock parts, and then fly those spacecraft. This is one of those love-to-fail sorts of games. Your rocket explodes on lift off? You learn why and build another rocket. And another one. And another one. You learn many ways how not to build rockets. Then you get one to work and it's the greatest thing ever.
Nothing in this game holds your hand. You jump right in. And you swiftly learn that nobody builds things the same way, solves the same problems the same way so you can't really compare your solutions to those of another person. Hell, I often go back and try to find a different way to do something I have already done.
What is the reason this game works? Emergent gameplay. It's like having a big box of space-Legos and a toy solar system to explore. I can do whatever I want with it, and the goals are simply those I set myself.
Crusader Kings II
The role-playing game I wanted to play in the 90s.
Paradox, the company responsible for this game and EU-IV are the kind of history wonks that I would love to sit and talk with for hours. The games they make are simulations of sweeping strategic history. In this case if you have all the expansions, it covers about 700 years of history from around 735 to 1440 AD and involves the political and military history of Europe, North Africa, and the near/mid East. Did I mention is was kind of an RPG?
You are playing as some level of noble. You have to manage relationships with your vassals and liege (if you aren't independent) and try to expand your personal holdings and ranks, make advantageous marriages, forging alliances and spreading the influence of your dynasty. You have to steer clear of jealous rivals, viking raiders, heretics, and the occasional seductress out to set your bastard up as king. Sometimes, you're the one stabbing people in the back.
This game is also stupid hard. It really is. It took me a while to even start to 'get' it, but once I did... I was able to raise my dynasty up from an Irish duke to Emperor of Brittiania... with cousins on the throne of Byzantium. This is why it's more of an RPG than a 4X game (will define 4X below.)
This is another emergent game. You set yourself goals, because the game really doesn't do that for you. You go 'I have these two counties... let's add the third to make the duchy complete... let's see if I can become king of Ireland... Let's add Scotland because it's right there... Wales... England is next...' all the while watching your cousin Emperor Mikolos Ui'Brian convert the Byzantine Empire to Catholicism. It comes under the heading of 'very wrong alternate history' and makes me happy.
Europa Universalis IV
What do you mean they speak Danish in Hawaii?
This is the game that takes history along its next few centuries. It starts in 1444 with the Ottoman victory over Poland, the Reconquista ramping up in Spain, the HRE trying to keep itself relevant, and France consolidating power and tackling the problem that Burgundy presents. It ends in 1821 where our world is on the cusp of the industrial revolution. For extra WTF, you can convert your CK-II game to be the start of an EU-IV game.
Unlike CK-II, this game belongs in the 4X genre squarely (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate,) with such classics as Sid Meier's Civ. Unlike Civ, this game is extremely complex, and thankfully you don't have to master all of its systems to be a success. You have to manage religion, culture, diplomacy, military, technology all right from the go. The decisions you make matter and change what options you have down the line. Do you embrace the reformation or remain Catholic? Do you try and control the Papacy? Play the power-politics of the HRE? When you encounter the natives of the New World, do you fight them, trade with them, or welcome them into your colonies to live?
This is another game full of squee for a what-if history wonk like myself. It also is very educational in the way any good simulation is. You get a really good feel for exactly why some of the problems we deal with today came about from decisions made hundreds of years ago by people long dead who had more immediate issues to deal with. I feel really bad when I choose to suppress Sami and Finnish cultures, but I hit that button anyway. I know the consequences of my imperialism when I destroy the Aztecs in Central Mexico. But it's the right move at that time.
Goat Simulator
Blood for the Blood Goat! Goats for the Goat Throne!
This game has zero educational value. None. It's full of bad puns, pop culture references, and is completely free of consequences. It is the perfect example of Emergent Gameplay because that's all there is. There is stuff, and you, as a goat, run around messing with that stuff. Some of the stuff is moving and other stuff does stuff when you mess with it. Some stuff is hard to do (like bouncing on a trampoline,) others are easy (like dragging a person onto a treadmill to send them flying into a car that then explodes.)
You are a goat. You can run around, you can butt stuff with your head, kick stuff with your back legs and lick stuff with your sticky and infinitely elastic tongue. That's it. That's also enough. I laugh at the crazy stuff that happens, try things like sticking my tongue to the blades of a combine harvester, and laugh at the results.
The developers of this game have the right idea when it comes to bugs: Only fix it if the bug makes things less fun. Because everyone needs some silly fun sometimes.
Guns Of Icarus Online
Team-based Steampunk Fantasy Zeppelin Warfare.
Before playing GOI, if you had asked what my favorite action/battle game was, the answer would have been Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and for the exact same reasons. The game itself requires teamwork, communication, and you stand or fall together. If you can't shoot stuff, you can fly the boat; If you can't fly, you can fix stuff. Everyone can manage at least one of those roles. And here is the clear reason: You have fun even losing. Spent a night with zero wins just getting beat and had a great time.
You get the occasional person who gets bossy and wants to micromanage you but you ignore them and there is a mute function for the voice chat for special types. I have used it exactly once for a guy that kept making annoying duck noises into his mic. Mostly, the people there are there to have fun. It's not SRS BSNS like League Of Legends or DOTA. You won't get called bad names while you're learning. The communication is almost all about the particular match you are playing, and a quick strategy dump to let your crew know what your plans are for the boat.
It also isn't pay-to-win. Like Team Fortress 2, all of the for-money stuff is things like costumes and boat decor. We stand as a crew, we all work to keep the boat up and shoot stuff. It's awesome fun.