I don’t often write blog posts because somebody says „Be part of this! Write about this topic!” And yet here we are, because I find a certain topic interesting. Cathy Day, whom I’ve occasionally mentioned on this blog, wrote the following: I’ve never played a video game, but I recognize that it’s a narrative experience that lots and lots of people value. No judgement. But in my fiction-writing classes, I often read stories and novels that read as if I’m watching someone else play a video game.

Cred că am mai pomenit de Humble Bundle, dar nu pe larg. Humble Bundle e un site cu o idee mișto în spate: vinde un pachet de x jocuri (sau x cărți, sau x albume de muzică, sau x alte chestii, dar de obicei sunt x jocuri) extrem de ieftin. Adică cu un dolar. Și dacă plătești mai mult decât au plătit în medie toți ceilalți care au cumpărat pachetul, mai primești y jocuri (sau y cărți, sau y alte chestii, înțelegeți ideea).

Amnesia is a scary game Amnesia is a fright I love to play, so it’s a shame It kills my sleep at night. Insomniac, I walk around A glass of drink to find When in the dark I hear a sound– Steve might be right behind! I dart around, a crazy girl In an old, friendly house I find a box, in it I curl More quiet than a mouse.

[Note: This is a translation of an article I originally wrote in Romanian, but which I realized I wanted in English as well. And translators translate, even if they hate translating themselves.] I’ve been playing Tomb Raider these days. I won’t pretend I’m enough of a gamer to write a proper review, but I personally liked it. The plot isn’t amazing, but the atmosphere is. And it’s really neat to play from beginning to end.

Today I felt sort of like crap. I think there’s some sort of virus striking at random and it was my turn to feel as if I were hit by a particularly nauseating bus. So I wrote a bit and played a bit. World of Tanks, because it’s apparently what I play nowadays. So here I was, in my amazingly fast and sort of powerful tank, dashing across the map like a mad motorcyclist in Greek traffic, feeling sort of gleefully suicidal (you play awhile more seriously and then you want to do something crazy, I suppose).

Ok, ok. Tancurile sunt mișto. Nu am crezut, dar sunt. Din păcate, tancurile m-au distras de la alte chestii pe care ar fi trebuit să le fac azi. De exemplu de la citit. Și scris. Și alte chestii. Ce citeam, iar? Povestea lui O? Povestea lui Genji? Eschil? Ceva fanfiction? Ceva despre fanfiction?! Uf. Fir-ar ele de tancuri. Și de liste interminabile cu chestii de citit și scris. (Apropo, World of Tanks e un joc simpatic, care merită jucat.