So I know we've got a lot of spergy sorts here, and talking with a friend lead me to a question: Are there any particular kinds of games that give you... sperg satisfaction, I guess? It's not quite that they're fun or that they're meditative, there's a third quality there that we don't really have a word for. Like the ur-example is the feeling you get dropping a piece exactly right in tetris to clear your entire screen at once kind of feeling. For me it's those weird farmville kind of knockoff games - specifically the ones where you expand into new territory and have to clear weeds/rock piles/etc in order to use the space. It's the actual clearing that gives me that weird satisfaction. (Though packing buildings into the minimum amount of space off in one corner is also nice.) So yeah, discuss?
Town building games tend to. I like the feeling of building a place that people inhabit and use, slowly adding to their space and improving things when troubles come up. Most online games like that are too resource management focused, or are design to space the validation steps further and further apart all skinner boxy, and those suck. But Simcity Societies his a good balance for me. With a well-designed town with proper fire management and repair crews, I can leave the game running on max speed a couple hours and come back to find I'm filthy rich. (Or I could just money tree cheat, but that's not as satisfying as seeing I made a good equilibrium)
prison architect is one for me, there's is just something so satisfying about designing building complexes using a consistent pattern i came up with red faction: guerrila is another for me, since demolition physics are very fun and satisfying for me, especially when i can use the same pattern of whacking things with a hammer to make so many different buildings fall down incremental games as a genre also do it for me, because it is very satisfying to develop simple and consistent patterns that waste my time in a manner that is still efficient
^also this but the expansion has to follow a pattern it's the pattern that is of the utmost importance
Hexcells (kinda like nonograms, but with a few differences) is one of those games for me. Clearing the grids is just super satisfying. The sort of logic puzzles you use grids to solve are similarly satisfying. This is a good free site for them, although it doesn't include the more creative sorts of puzzles that involve, say, a neighbourhood map.
the kittens game by bloodrizer. it has that figuring-out-margins and uncovering knowledge and expanding feel down pat. also, kitten civilization.
LARPing! LARP LARP LARP LARP! I just... I love playing pretend and building stories with people! There's something amazingly satisfying about putting on your chainmail, grabbing your fake sword, and going out to fight a dragon.
It's very much a Sometimes Food for me, just because of how all-consuming it can get... I'll perseverate on it hardcore for a few days or a week, then drop it for two or more months.
does chess count, considering its a board game? bc yes to this as well if so i recently discovered you can play chess with your friends on facebook by typing "@fbchess play" in a chat window and this makes me v happy
There's a game, I don't have the link any more but I think I could dig it up with some effort, that's... Well, it's a grid of circles, with a line in each connecting adjacent points where another circle touches (top, left, bottom, right) and if you click on a circle, it rotates by 90°. if, by that rotation, the line touches another line, the touched circle also moves 90° clockwise, until the chain reaction stops. it's very satisfying to carefully mess with the circles so there's a controlled and long chain reaction. or just clicking at random and suddenly the circles won't stop turning. also, pokemon shuffle. 3 mon stage, m gengar, and netting a 70+ combo.
Same wrt red faction: guerrila, it's just so satisfying. Also shock switch on flight rising, I once perseverated on it so hard that I would see the colored tiles and imagine matching them up every time I was walking on a tiled floor.
