For the multiplayer game I'm writing now, I'm creating the concept of a cheaters purgatory. If you get caught cheating a single time in a competitive multiplayer game you're forever sent to purgatory where everyone who gets caught cheating goes. Here you can cheat against other cheaters to your heart's content. You'll never play against honest players again. You're stats aren't kept, you're never ranked but you can still physically play the game. Trust is absolutely essential in competitive multiplayer games and if honest players don't feel that trust then the game and the entire community suffers.

I think people should be able to cheat as much as they want in single player games. This is actually how I got started down the programming and game development road. I learned how to hex-edit save files in an old Might and Magic game and gave myself all the gold and experience I wanted. Respect for writing your own code, no respect for using other people's cheats.

I don't think there should be a single rule for all cheating in all games. As long as the developer is up front about the rules, I support those rules.

I haven't played many mobile games lately. I recently played a game called "Monument" however which was pretty cool actually. It's a puzzler with M.C. Ecsher-like artwork looking levels which you manipulate. Fairly difficult to explain, but might be worth a quick look if you like puzzle games.

I'd like to pull the land and cave exploration out of Minecraft, add many more minerals/resources to the mix, some logic in where to look for them, add MMO-like-but-deeper crafting and manufacturing systems with non-blocky graphics . Stir and bake at 350 degrees for an hour and viola.

For me personally, a fetch quest or two isn't an issue. For me, a game with many fetch quests can be an issue however. By their nature there is usually backtracking involved and the more of that the less I like it. If they feel too similar or generic or if they feel like filler material or the entire game is based on them, then they start to put me off a bit. I think this is where they get their bad name.

If they're done right and done in moderation I enjoy them. It's really a situational thing for me. An exception to the rule for me; GTA could be considered a long chain of fetch quests, but they're usually written really well and don't feel like the stereotypical fetch quests.

Sound really does make or break a game. For me it's less background music (still very important) than it is effects and ambients (absolutely critical). IMO, I think a decently reviewed game can be excellent if it has great audio. An highly reviewed game can be poor with poor audio.

I guess I never realized just how much of an impact sound makes until I started writing games of my own. Just watching a game concept grow more and more interesting as more and/or better effects and ambients are added as time goes on. It's so strange to be at that early stage with things happening and having no sound or crappy placeholder sounds.

I agree that game reviews should spend more time, at least a paragraph or two, focusing on sound. Good or bad is a bit subjective, but high quality isn't.

I haven't played all of these, but for me, gloominess needs to be grounded in a semblance of near-reality in order for me to really feel it. While Stalker isn't like that in all respects; the environment, weather, lighting, radiation and survival-ish aspects drive that feeling home for me more than the other games i had played from the list. To be honest though, old school, text based games were the ones I found had the most potential for this since your mind sort-of fills in the blanks.

The funny thing is 16 isn't even old enough to "legally" buy games in two ESRB ratings, "Mature" and "Adult Only."

At this stage of the game I measure a game based on a "fun" : "time spent" ratio. The more fun I can have in a short period of time, the more likely I am to play. Time sinks, grinds, play to unlock are things I don't have time for anymore. A game like EVE has massive appeal to me, but I can't put in the time it takes to truly enjoy some of the epic things that happen.

I still go back and play Advanced Dungeons and Dragons "Cloudy Mountain" for the Intellivision from time to time. Graphics are by far the last aspect I care about. I wonder if that's because I grew up playing games which looked like "Cloudy Mountain." That's the real question.

I think micro transactions and other things like that have a time and a place if there is an even playing field. I don't want to see everything go this way, but I can understand it in certain, limited circumstances. Having said that though, I'm always turned off by the model and almost always avoid them.