Angela<p>I've been playing 7 Days to Die again, solo. I find it soothing somehow. I know what to do to be successful. And if I mess up anyway (despite knowing what I should be doing), I've got the difficulty set so that my character dying is not as much of a punishment as it would normally be.</p><p>I think I'm nearly to Day 63 now. I've got my level 6 machine gun, level 6 armor, and some nice steel tools. I haven't put many points into looting/scavenging, so I don't have an impact driver yet, but everything else is okay.</p><p>I'm still using a motorcycle even though I can build a 4x4. I like driving overland a lot and I think the motorcycle is better for that. Though I'm at a tier now where I get too much loot - I cannot carry it all. A 4x4 would help there. Maybe I'll make one soon.</p><p>I find it interesting how different aspects of this type of game appeal to different people. </p><p>My friend is a "base builder." In every survival crafting game she plays, she has to be in charge of laying out the base and constructing it. She carefully chooses the location, measures a lot, "argues" with the game mechanics to get it to do what she wants, and eventually builds a pretty nice base. She's okay in a fight but that's not her main draw for these games.</p><p>Her husband likes to fetch materials for her. He loves mining a ton of iron or coal or nitrates or even stone. He figures out what she needs and he goes after it. He's okay in a fight, but he's there to give things to his wife to make her building easier. </p><p>Another person they game with is a shooter. His preferred game is a shooting game, or some kind of combat. In addition to first-person shooters, he plays a lot of League of Legends.</p><p>He plays 7 because they play it and he wants to game with them. He's definitely there to go on jobs and eliminate zombies. He'll also go collect materials, but that's secondary. He comes back with lots of stuff, but he GOT that stuff because he was hunting down zombies.</p><p>I am not a base-builder. I will build them, because you pretty much have to, but I don't have a grand plan and I don't need it to really be that pretty.</p><p>M storage base in 7 is so utilitarian. It does not have a roof, because it does not matter in this game if my character gets rained on. I just need room for my crafting stations, water collectors, cooking, and storage. </p><p>My horde night base is a design I learned from another friend - I am pretty sure he saw it somewhere online and then he improved it. I do a simple version, which is build a tower, build a narrow "balance beam" to the front of the tower, and build a set of stairs at the other end of that balance beam so the zombies can walk up and march across the beam to me.</p><p>It's pretty smooth. It doesn't seem to take much damage, and I am safe inside my tower with some grills in the opening and roof (I do the roof so I can also get the vultures who try to claw their way in from above).</p><p>So I'm not really a base builder. I just do what is necessary.</p><p>I'm not really a shooter either. I take out the zombies, but that's because you have to. If you don't, you're toast. And usually you're getting paid to clear someplace out so that it's safe again. So I do it, but again, just what's necessary. </p><p>What I like it collecting things so that I can make things that I need. I like collecting lead, iron, and brass so I can manufacture ammunition. I like finding springs and pipes and stuff so I can build weapons. I like boiling glue and combining it with cloth so I can make duct tape, which is useful for everything.</p><p>I even like planting seeds and harvesting them so I can make the good nutritious food that will keep my character going for longer.</p><p>I also like upkeep. In 7, you need to regularly repair your bases, because zombies will chew on them. I like going out the morning after Horde Night, checking the structure for damage and fixing it back up. </p><p>(I find this funny because in real life, I do not enjoy chores like cooking, washing dishes, or mowing the yard. But I will do chores in a game. No problem)</p><p>This is what I like in Raft also. I have to play the story after a certain point, because I want the things that you can only get when you visit the storyline locations. But I'm not really there for the story. Mostly I like collecting stuff so I can make the things my character needs. Good food, protective clothing, tools for harvesting stuff.</p><p>I think this is why I enjoy Planet Crafter. It's all about collecting things so you can generate stuff to make your character's life easier (and achieve the goal of terraforming the planet even faster). </p><p>You would think, given all of this, that I would be in love with Subnautica. I wanted so much to love that game. It's just too creepy for me. </p><p>I know, I know. A game where zombies are jumping out at me all the time isn't "too creepy" but a "swim in a beautiful alien ocean" game is? I maintain it has something to do with the sound. I think they are using that tone that gives people the creeps (like they do in Phasmophobia). I think if I could turn that off, I'd be a lot happier. Or maybe I should try Subzero, which has more above-ground action.</p><p>In thinking about this, my other gamer friend (the one I'm playing the new Planet Crafter DLC with) is definitely a base-builder and that suits me fine. I can go exploring and bring home cool stuff, and I don't have to worry about constructing a base.</p><p>He's also very into figuring out how to make things happen faster, which is not my thing. So he's sending up rockets and converting drills to the next higher design as soon as it unlocks. Meanwhile I'm happily sorting my finds into their proper containers, marking points of interest on the map (Superalloy, Uranium, Obsidian), and harvesting our crops.</p><p>Anyway. Different strokes for different folks. And if you can get a crew where everyone enjoys something different, it can work really well. </p><p>tl;dr I enjoy video games in probably the most boring way possible. My thanks to the programmers who make games that work this way.</p><p><a href="https://toot.cat/tags/Subnautica" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Subnautica</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/PlanetCrafter" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PlanetCrafter</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/Raft" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Raft</span></a> <a href="https://toot.cat/tags/7DaysToDie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>7DaysToDie</span></a></p>