Guilty Pleasure Games: What's Yours?

Arguably, gaming in general isn't something you always want to boast about. Out in the less virtual world, there are detractors who would call gamers geeky, isolated, and square. But in our hearts, we know we're hip—and the only thing Square about us is our appreciation of the Final Fantasy franchise. Still, not all games are created equally rad . . . in fact, some of the following treasures are frowned upon within our own community. So why are they so damn addictive?

My Guilty Pleasures

GunBound
A bit like Worms, but cuter still, GunBound is a free, turn-based, multiplayer online bomber that lets you mount inventive mobiles ranging from robots to a slimy little grub. As you ride your mobile, you battle by firing shots at the other team, making sure to compensate for wind, slope, and the influence of gravity.

Why guilty?
I'm pretty sure the median age for players is about twelve, judging from the overall discourse in game rooms. Can somebody please tell me, what is a Fall Out Boy and why is everyone talking about him?

Why pleasure?
For good, clean fun, one round of GunBound can be pretty quick and dirty. Log in, join up, aim, fire, win. It's not fast-paced enough to frustrate, but it does require you to think through each decision (as one false move can make or break the game). Plus, it's fun to build up your avatar with accessories and master new mobiles—my all-time favorite is a super-sized amphibian.

Harvest Moon

Once when I was a child I saw a cartoon wherein a boy decided to attach sponges to his feet and skate across the floor to clean it. Message received: "See kids, chores are fun!" I tried it myself and almost lost a tooth. A year or two later I discovered Harvest Moon and learned the truth: Chores are fun as long as they aren't real. Harvest Moon is a farming sim franchise that has you cook, clean, and forage like your allowance depends on it.

Why guilty?
I'll repeat myself: It's a farming sim.

Why pleasure?
Most Harvest Moon games require a fair amount of strategy. While objectives vary slightly from game to game, the basic idea is to make money, get popular, and land a spouse. And while your success on the farm may be inversely proportional to your success in the real world, at least in game you'll have loveable little Harvest Sprites and fun festivals to keep your spirits high.

Bloggers' Picks

What games bring entertainment and shame to the rest of the HellForge gang?

Jinstevens: "Lamest game I ever played was the old Neverwinter Nights they offered on AOL. Not the Neverwinter Nights that Bioware came out with that bore the same name, but the original one where you paid something like $3 / hour to play (this was back in the 1980s, so $3 / hour was way expensive). You did it because Neverwinter Nights was way ahead of its time, a graphical MUD that was the precursor to games like Ultima Online.

Why was it lame? It was expensive. PvP was a result of an exploit (players found out you couldn't fight other players but you could damage them with spells), it was 2D and had really bad graphics. I still loved it even though I spent a small fortune levelling up my 'CLaM' (cleric/magic user PvP character). I think a lot of us 'old timers' ^^ would still play if they offered it."

Agamemnon: "Summoner for the PS2 is the first game that comes to mind. Oh lawd, it is a bugfest travesty, but I enjoy it so much that I've toyed with the idea to create a campaign out of it with the Neverwinter Nights toolset. The music was crappy, the battle system was crappy, the graphics were washed out, but there was some thing that I couldn't quite put my finger on it that I enjoyed about the game. The characters, as clichéd as they might have been, fit well for their roles, and did a little character development. And despite the long load times, I enjoyed the environment of the main city, Lenele. Plus I'm a sucker for warping the peaceful environment to a war-torn environment. Through destruction a new environment is created that you knew well. What I liked the most, however, was the concept and story behind the game."

Lonethar: "I play only one game a lot, and that is Civilization. I love it. There just are not enough games like it out there. I just can never get tired of it."

Sol Invictus: "I'd really have to go with The Sims 2. It's the lamest game I can think of, and yet I've installed it time and time again. Whenever I've installed it, I'd spent at least a day or two just downloading all of the official mods, the best user-created furniture, items, textures, and even skins, hairstyles, clothing and makeup for my Sims to make them look as pretty as possible.

There are times when I've taken steps above and beyond what is necessary to play the game. But with that said, I'm totally fine with playing the game 'vanilla' and enjoying what it has to offer -- which is more than enough, really. Getting mods can be a tiring exercise and it makes the game take forever to load!

In any case, I'd spend just hours designing how my Sims looked, and hours more designing the house they lived in.

It was really just fun to build my Sims according to some ideal. Like one of my Sims would be a writer, while another would become a world famous chef. Some day, I'm sure I'll be playing The Sims 3."

Project_Xii: "Probably the only ones that come to mind are:
Elf Bowling 2
http://www.syix.com/elmer/Flash%20Bowling%2033.htm
Coz who doesn't like watching sharks maul those annoying g-string wearing elves if you miss? Awesome fun two player.

Audition
http://audition.nexon.net/Intro/default.aspx
Watching those little people full off all those awesome dance moves was just so entertaining, and there were a lot of fun people to meet. Played it a little last year, but got stuck on the higher levels and eventually got bored.

I try to avoid "lame" modern games because really, they're lame for a reason :p"

Helion: "One goes to Hellgate: London, without hesitation."

Of course, with so many quality games out there, why waste time on the silly, simple, or absurd? Probably because fringe games like these tend to take risks that big budget, highly anticipated, genre-loyal games cannot. Unlikely gems that put the "game" in gaming tend to remind us that nothing is worth more than a youthful sense of play and discovery.

Obviously, we all have pretty different ideas about what constitutes a Guilty Pleasure, so why not tell us yours?