I personally prefer the term "nub" as it can be used with a tone of endearment for friends when they make a (usually comical) mistake in a game.

"lol, you nub! the exit is thatta way!"

And of course, it works wonderfully as a term of self-reference.

"Oh, I've been such a nub..."

This is just my own personal preference really. I find that people use the term "noob" too off-handedly and simply as a "novel" way of cussing someone that doesn't trigger any profanity filters. :)

The only reason a lot of people play games is to escape their reality.Buffalo_Soulja

I don't think we have many SWAT officers amongst us here on the GS forums... I could be wrong however!

All I know is... the christmas presents I give out this year are going to be skimpy ;)

Seriously though, if you are a PC gamer and you are bored... there is something wrong (with either you or your computer).

delirin

Or if you just happen to not like FPS :P

I still think 1998 was a better year - but that might just be because I live in Australia and most of the great games I want to play aren't out yet.Planeforger

1998 was a great year for everything though. Well. Almost. The iMac was relaunched in 98. :P

Thankfully both exist. One of my favourite games like Planeforger is BG2 (a linear RPG) although BG2 is pretty open - just *not* as open as Morrowind/Oblivion/Fallout/X3.

The difficulty comes with creating a story that is enticing but without it forcing the player down a particular route. Oblivion is the perfect example of how the main story actually forces itself on the player. If you visit Kvatch, you're forced down the storyline by the arrival of the Oblivion gates tearing up the landscape. If you don't visit Kvatch, you continually have to avoid it.

If you *do* the main quest simply to shut the gates and return to a peaceful world, the NPCs won't stop cheering you on.

Morrowind got it right on so many levels, it hid the main storyline underneath an unassuming and out of the way NPC. If you didnt' want to continue the main quest, the game let you and didn't make you feel guilty about luggin' around that blasted amulet.

SWAT 4 is the most intense and demanding shooter I've played yet. No other FPS provides a challenge akin to that in SWAT 4. I *love* the unpredictable nature of SWAT. Sure if you run & gun (which the game does ALLOW you to do) and just shoot all the bad guys, it becomes a run of the mill shooter. However if you try and be the best at the game - which is to not fire a single bullet and rely entirely on compliance and pacification, it becomes a whole different ball game.

No other game has captured the "panic" of when something happens unexpected. In most games, a suspect running off isn't a big deal. In SWAT 4, it's a matter of screaming to the team-mates "Stop him!. In multiplayer (especially co-op), this is great. Getting ambushed when you're in close quarters with your team generates chaos that is genuinely freightening.