In the big bad world of self projection, it is very important that we come across as we mean to. In a networking meeting we may want to highlight our skills. Show that we are ambitious and highly achieving, yet approachable. In other situations modesty, compassion and intellectualism may be favoured. One word can change how people see you, or in my recent case it was two words.

I was mid conversation when my hobbies came up, and I of course placed ‘online gaming’ quite high on my ‘things I like to do’ scale. But I had never really thought about what ‘online gaming’ actually means to people.

I guess I would approach the situation with a response such as ‘Oh really, what do you play?’ But this may not be the norm. Some associate online gaming with weapons and war fanatics, people who want to sit at home and blow stuff up whilst generally yelling some obscenity. Others simply jump to the conclusion that all online games are MMORPGs. You say the fateful two words and they no longer know how to respond to you, least you begin to tell them about your current skill level or start an argument about the virtues of being a Mage.

There is one dimension to all this that I had completely overlooked, and that was the new and ever growing area of online gambling. It’s not for the weak, it’s not for the pretty, but it is for all who hail to party bingo and poker. I had not considered that casually saying I play games online would drop me into the category of gambling maniacs and wanna be millionaires. A level-up loving elf warrior I could have handled. A mini war crusader on a quest to rid the world of evil I could have almost wanted to be. But an online poker player I am not.

I do not mean to make fun of any of these online possibilities. I know that many enjoy them and dabble in more than one area. I also realise that my current idea of party poker is as shallow as the view I hate others for having, and thus I really should give it a go and break my own boundaries. However, from now on I shall stick to merely telling new people that I like games and let them do the questioning from there, instead of seeding assumptions into their crazy little minds!

I crept into the stronghold; stealth killed the guard behind the fence and then lay in wait. Slowly I picked off the nearby Legion, using up all my throwing axes and fire pots. When the crowd had thinned I snuck into the shadows and started battling the remaining minions until the Champion spotted me and the real fight began. I was of course victorious, but it was a tough battle as lesser enemies kept running over the bridge and ruining my momentum. After lapping up the health and recuperating myself to a full bar of energy, I was ready to cross the bridge and battle the second champion.

Again the lesser Legion were tripping me up and hitting me from behind as I dodged the wide swings of my larger foe. I fought hard and came away with my life and pride in tact, the beast felled. I blended into the shadows and progressed up the hill towards the glowing red stones. I stealth killed another few men but made an almost fatal error by alerting a horn blower to my presence. Before I knew it the undergrowth was swarming with Legion and I was forced to unleash my elemental power. Electrifying the hoard with my lighting attack, I cleared my path and made it over the wooden bridge to the red ley stones.

However, nothing happened. My gem did not charge as it had before, and the ley stones appeared to be a Legion spawn point giving me a stream of enemies that finally got the better of me and I died, game over. I opted to try again (because quitting is for losers) only to find that the last auto save had been outside the stronghold. Not at a sensible point like right after killing the two champions, or at the crossing of the wooden bridge, oh no. I was faced with killing a while camp of Legion all over again.

Auto save games make me sad.  And I am of course referring to the videogame Viking - Battle for Asgard.

Gone are the good old days of no saves at all (you knew where you stood with that one) or just hitting save whenever you felt like it. Some say this makes games too easy, but at least you don’t have to put up with the sometimes moronic save choices of the game’s developers.  How many times have you played a game that auto saved you too late, or right before a really annoying cut scene that you had to re-watch each time you died?

I demand a rethink of save games. There must be a better way in this next gen age of wonder consoles. Why are we putting up with this lack of freedom?

I mean.... I love LOST.

I was told by someone the other day that if you liked the series LOST then you would probably like the game.  But they were wrong.... well, sort of wrong.

I have never once watched even so much as part of an episode of LOST. I have of course been told how great it is, but I was put off after the first episode was released and everyone was talking about a polar bear. I do not care for polar bears. I usually don’t make time to ensure I can watch TV at the same point each week, so generally only watch things that involve no prior knowledge of what’s going on and very little brain power - like repeats of Friends and Scrubs.

So when the game appeared in my home I thought I would have no idea what it was about and find it (like a lot of TV-to-game adaptations) heavily relying on people’s love of the series to win it over, rather than having a solid gameplay and story in itself. I put it in the console and instantly found that my character walked at a snail’s pace. This thoroughly irritated me until I remembered that most game characters don’t run by default - you have to actually push a button to make it happen. It was all smooth going from that moment on.

I am really enjoying this game. I like the combination of point and click style conversations and finding of objects, the jungle treks, the puzzles, the flashbacks and the story. I am sure there are lots of things that you would know if you are a LOST fan, but I can’t wait to find out how even the computer knows who Elliot is and what this crazy black fog stuff is all about. Who keeps shooting at me? Why did the plane crash? How did that guy use ‘the numbers’ to win the lottery when I have only just discovered them on a remote island?

Each time I try and put this game down it draws me in with something new. I love the way you will jump into memory mode at some point in each level. Since I have no idea about anything, the puzzles are of a nice difficulty level for me, with even such simple things as ‘enter the numbers’ causing me to hunt for how this is actually possible (do I have to remember the numbers to do that? Can I enter when it starts beeping or when the beep gets serious? Where can I enter them? Do I have to explore the area first for fear that entering the numbers will start a new part of the game and I might have missed something?). I have also been totally suckered by the presence of mini IQ tests. I love IQ tests! Give me a sequence that needs finishing and I am as happy as a kid with an ice-cream.

Playing the game has not made me want to watch the series, but it has made me want to complete the game and really enjoy doing so. It mixes just enough intrigue with a little tenseness and lots of puzzles, so even if you have never heard of LOST I certainly recommend that you still give it a go.