Share the love/hate

One of my ongoing challenges is directing my attention toward positive things. Sometimes the temptation away from the positive is toward the negative, but more often, it's toward the neutral. And too much time (how is that defined, I wonder?) in neutral is just as negative.

I've been a gamer since my family first got a computer in 1985 and my dad bought me Boulderdash. Since then, a lot of games have come and gone, most notably everything Blizzard made in the '90s. All great fun, and initially fully neutral on the positive/negative scale for use of my time. But as you might have guessed, too much time has tipped that often into negative territory.

So in the last several years, I've been trying to reduce my gaming habit, mostly by not paying money for games (usually). This kind of works, since free games are rarely on par with commercial titles. However, there are some. Here are a couple of the games I love to hate and hate to love. Check them out...if you dare.


The Battle for Wesnoth
Turn-based strategy game with a fantasy (knights and wizards and trolls) theme. Simple, engaging interface, well written scenarios, balanced, huge. The best freeware game I've found.

The DROD Family
Although not technically completely free, there are enough demo levels and classic versions to make it seem that way. DROD stands for Deadly Rooms of Death, which summarizes things pretty well. In a turn-based tile puzzle mode, your job is to clear each room (there are lots) of nasties using a Really Big Sword. Humor, variety, and challenge make for a game that's hard to walk away from. I've even bought an installment, and that says a lot from me.

If there's anything else that should be on this very short list, please don't tell me. :)