Daryl Talks Games

Deepnest sucks. Let's get dramatic about it and shoehorn in some psychology.

How does who we are affect what we play? Is there some underlying connection between our personalities and our gaming preferences? Today on Psych of Play, we’re gonna dive into exactly that.

▯▯▯▯▯ is a game you can't remember playing

Do you think it’s possible that something so sickeningly horrible can happen to you that you simply… won't remember it? Today on the longest damn Psych of Play ever we are going to take an extremely deep dive into OMORI and talk about how it portrays trauma and dissociative amnesia. And also how it made me feel… Every. Single. Emotion. At once.

Have you ever finished a game and then suddenly felt just… empty? Alone? Depressed? Unsure of what to do next or how to move on with your life? If so, I have too, and so have several people around the world. Humans are wildly empathetic creatures and the relationships we build with in-gamer characters are a lot more real than you think. Let’s talk about Parasocial relationships.

Do you ever get tilted when gaming? I know I certainly do. But even if you don’t, how does your personality affect your likelihood to express that anger? Do you have inherent personality traits that make it more difficult to resist being salty? In short, you could. Those traits do exist. In long, well... see the vid above.

Would you call yourself a binger? Do you storm through games at full speed and furiously knock down your backlog? Or are you a drifter? Do you take your time and accept that you’re going to play this game very slowly over an extended period of time? Today on Psych of Play, we’re talking about how each playstyle affects the experience, and why you might prefer one pace over another.

Parries in gaming are an absolute gift. Being able to suddenly shift the momentum with a well timed input is satisfying in a way that most of us simply can’t get enough of. Today, on Psych of Play, we’re dissecting the prairie, the psychology of what makes it feel so good, and how it is the absolute perfect illustration of a momentum swing in competition.

As a gaming creator, my love of sports is not something I often advertise. But just once, I want my best buddy Spencer and I to gush about about one of our favorite things to exist in sports... or at least, our favorite thing that used to exist. The NCAA Football Video Game Franchise.

This is easily one of the strangest Psych of Plays I have ever done. And yet, I’m extremely proud of it. It’s spooky and I ask some strange questions. I hope you enjoy it.

Deltarune Chapter 2 is a delight in every way, but it deeply troubled me that there was a separate darker route involving easily my favorite character in that chapter. In this episode of Psych of Play, we’ll take a deep dive into the psyche of Noelle Holiday, analyze her behaviors, why she is the way she is, why her character works, and how you the player affect her growth.

You will regret opening this door.

Be honest, you like seeing things go wrong, don’t you? Bloopers, gafs, glitches. They all tickle your funny bone just right and because of this, glitches will probably always be a barrel full of monkeys. What’s the closest we can get to a real life glitch? Can something in the real world strike the same chord of humor as an absurd glitch? I’d argue yes. Less talk about it.