Hey guys.  Long time!

As a dreamer and idealist, I like to envision a better, bigger and stronger version of the gaming worlds I traverse.  Now I honestly hate any fiction that has something to do with zombies.  I will admit, there are pretty good series and movies out there that have excellent humour or even profound stories , but overall zombies seem too generic to pique my interest.   

I recently took a risk and got myself State of Decay.  State of Decay was originally an xbox exclusive, but it recently got ported over to PC.  SoD seems to have a few interesting concepts.  Like AMC's The Walking Dead, it's based on a survivalist community rather than just several generic characters.  This simple concept got me very excited, and hooked on the game.  A lot of action games share one characteristic these days - pure destruction.  Whether it's FPS, RPG or RTS, there will be opportunities that allow players to destroy static or dynamic entities in the world.  It has become such a popular theme, that we've forgotten how fun it can be to build up and out.  Minecraft is a prime example of the enjoyment embedded in creative and constructive games, but for someone with a liking of action or strategy - with good graphics - there's just a bulk of linear destructive games.

Back to the point!  So as I was saying, SoD allows you to build communities.  I see it as a pretty revolutionary game as there are multitudes of games covering the survival aspects of apocalypses and dilemmas, but not purposeful building and pursuit of prosperity.  It's fun defying the odds by gathering building materials, food and weapons...and scouting out new lofts.  There's also the issue of added responsibilities,  one has to consider the health and safety of fellow survivors.  

Compromise

According to Wikipedia, compromise is when you give up a demand in order to make a deal.

The Bible does not really indicate whether compromise is good or bad, but warns us of the consequence of compromising the wrong things.

1 Chronicles 10:13 ESV 

"So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance."

Saul compromised for sure, and he paid for it.

Cheating is a topic that has perhaps been thoroughly discussed in most social gaming groups, but still stays a very controversial topic for some. As a "rehabilitated" cheater I try to understand this controversy in the gaming world in a more liberal way.

Just the other day, my nephew(14 years old) exposed the "cheater" I once saw in myself.  It was interesting to see how he looked up cheats(just like I would) even before installing the game.  It seemed innocent to me.  After all, I had grown out of the cheating habit quite easily.  The rate that games are becoming more "arcadish", is astonishingly fast.  Big titles like Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon have been humbled down to a very easier difficulty level, and are appealing to a lot of casual gamers.  That's why it seemed cool to me, but after a lot of thought, I've come to another outlook point.

Cheats are immediate.  In fact, you could complete a lot of games by typing a "win mission" cheat.  Therefore, it's also understandable that people are quick to demand things these days.  You skip that effort = reward system, which especially makes up core game parts in RPGs.  So in real life, one would be more prone to demand things.  You would also expect things to happen in a very short time - with the minimum effort.  That could be why we misunderstand the more profound things in life. 

Would we be Christians if God had given us cheats?  I don't think so.  I mean, prayer especially requires time.  Emotional wounds also need time to heal.  Everything needs time, and that's what cheats try to bypass. 

I still think it's okay to cheat in a game.  However, one must realize that you're like a sponge, absorbing everything around you.  That which you absorbed, will be released or accounted for at the end of the day. If you incorporate a cheater's mindset into your own, you might face difficulties ahead.