Hey, where did my banner go? It's dissapeared. It better come back soon. Those characters are my gaming guardians. They represent me in the virtual realm.

So, anyway, I thought that I would do another Resident Evil 4 blog similar to last time where I wrote about my playful explorations of the game design and the potential of the rules. But it's kind of a thing that just happened. I played another four or so hours into the story and even though there is always scope for free play, it's been quite linear for now. So I didn't want to bore you. My time is precious when writing and I see your time as precious when reading.

Instead, I think I will play through RE4 and write an analysis of its core mechanics, design, and play experience. Similar to how I did with SMB: The Lost Levels, but maybe a little less formal and academic. However, not at all less thorough by any means. I'm mulling over whether to write the analysis as a comparative essay with other games or simply just the game in isolation. If I could get your thoughts on this, that would be useful to me as you are the audience lol. I make this contribution because I enjoy playing and discussing games, but I also do it to educate and create a more discerning player. Not a consumer. A player with razor sharp discernment who understands what they're experiencing and can see the beauty or ugliness of it. All of this also furthers my personal game design education. Speaking of which...

Life is full of games. If you happen to have a mindset similar to mine then you might even consider life to be a kind of very realistic simulation experience. But even if you don't, inside of life there are rules and laws and choices and outcomes, all of which are also in games. Here is just one example for now. Maybe you have others you can put in the comments?

My rabbit likes staying out late. I need to put him in his hutch or the foxes may come and get him. He doesn't understand this though and tries to run away when I go to reach down and take him. This happens every evening, and it has been happening every evening for 8 years now! He goes and hides under the hutch and will just sit there stamping his foot. I have a stick that I pester him with and I call his name and clap my hands but that doesn't achieve much. If I wait a little he may come out, and sometimes I can just force him out with the stick, but even if I manage to grab him he will kick and scratch me. There are special tactics to get him in. One of them is to simply open the hutch door and allow him to hop in. Yes that's right, I am allowing him to go in there himself; I am giving him the choice in a way between being hassled or between sort of going in voluntarily. He respects this and sometimes obeys. Another tactic is to put food in the hutch to lure him in. Amazingly that does not work much of the time even with carrots. The one I like the most (apart from allowing him in) is kneeling down to stroke him, getting him all relaxed and then gently clasping my hands around his chunky body and placing him in the hutch. There are some more complex ordeals though like opening the back door to coax him inside and then grabbing him because he can't walk properly on the varnished wooden floor and skids about, panicking.

So that is just a little game I play often in life. :-) Add yours in the comments if you like.