Supporters (Page 36)

Hello, and welcome to The RPS Book Club. For Games. You, our special, lovely, bright-faced and fine-fettled Supporters are invited to join our monthly play-and-say gathering for classic gaming discussion. It’s too good of a treat.

The idea is, each month we pick a game (hopefully nominated by those participating), all run away and play/remember it as much as we possibly want, and then gather the following month to discuss it. One of Team RPS will write up a retrospective article about their experiences, and then we encourage you to do the same in the comments or on the forum, or link to your own blog, Tumblr, Storify, howsoever you wish.

As a writer, I get more than my fair share of solitude. The job is mostly about sitting alone in a room typing, for the rest of my life. However, that fact has only served to emphasize to me the importance of solitude. It's not something everyone yearns for, certainly, but I'd argue that most of us need some quiet hours. Taking time out from the throng of humanity, or even the quiet burble of domestic existence, is crucial to a rounded life.

Those solitary hours spent with a videogame, I would argue, are more important than most.

In spite of my reputation as one of Manchester's leading players, I spend a lot of time not playing games, although on occasion that time is spent looking at games. Like the person who spends many hours of the day reading about a hobby but none actually participating in that hobby, I'm guilty of watching games when logic dictates that I should be playing them. This has nothing to do with Let's Plays or other user generated content though - this is about watching my computer play with itself and I think it can be one of the most enjoyable ways to experience and understand a game.

Can you see it?