Do you go after action and excitement? Or try to challenge your mind? Or just play games lightly to pass the time? Or to escape for a while into a fantasy realm where life seems a little sweeter somehow?

After years of trying to make myself play games the way others seem to play them, I've discovered that I'm a pretty lazy gamer.

For one thing, I typically play on Easy or Average levels, rarely challenging myself to Hard. I can't stand losing, so I choose a level where I can just kick back and play more or less mindlessly and still end up a winner.

I must have a masochistic streak, though, because I've had a lifelong admiration for chess. I'm still a novice after forty years of dabbling, but it's such a classy game that I keep trying--sort of. Today I played a game on my DS at lunchtime and lost to an AI player rated 710. Humiliating. An experience like that will keep me away from chess for a long time.

Real-time games are a fun change of pace, but most of the time they're too fast-moving for me. As I said, I like to relax when I play. So, turn-based strategy games tend to be my main thing. Only on Easy levels, though.

RPGs and such are OK, too; I just don't like that they're one-time deals. I prefer a game that's replayable, so that I can put the skills I've practiced to work again and again. Also, it's frustrating to get stuck in an RPG, so I'll only play if I have access to a walkthrough. It can be pleasant then.

Actually, though it's embarrassing to admit, I love walkthroughs. Being walked through a game is a lot more fun for me than struggling with it. Part of why I like chess is that there are many books on the game that tell you how to play better. I like studying those books much more than I like playing actual games.

I also like talking or writing about games (as I'm doing now) more than actually playing them most of the time.

You're probably a different kind of gamer than I am. What's your style?

I’m into almost everything excluding most sport games, but my favorite style is probably RPG and adventure.

If I’m playing an RPG or adventure, I want a brilliant story with awesome characters that have a strong sense of purpose of which either I can relate to or be emersed into the fantasy as an escape from the norm. The game mechanics however, are equally as important as the story to me; it has to flow well and play almost as if its second nature and it has to be action packed as well as providing a good balance of freedom and strategy.

On top of that, I like lots of side quest stuff that keeps me coming back and makes me want to master the game for a reason or reward. I guess the thing I love most about RPG’s is that they're relaxing because you don’t need to physically train your hands to understand the controls and build up a quick hand eye coordination thing with the game, it’s more just learning about the game mechanics and challenging yourself mentally.

I guess many of the things I love about RPG’s could be applied to many other styles of games. I like to play games that empower you within the game, like if I’m playing a racer (unless it’s a completely wacky kind of thing like Mario Kart) I want feel like I’m going really fast. From my perspective, video games allow us to more physically immerse ourselves into a different reality.

Whether or not I like to challenge myself really depends on the game; if I really like a game, I will usually master every little thing about it.

There is a very fine line between a game being challenging and a game being extremely annoying. I want to be challenged, but I hate it when you come to a point half way through a game that you have to do to progress forward, that requires flawless buttons tapping and an over all deciding factor of luck. To me, that is the very definition of something being annoying as apposed to challenging, and if it occurs too many times in one game, it can quickly put me off the game entirely because what little time I actually get to play a game I don’t want to spend failing at one stupid thing that’s overly hard.