Weird Video Game Habits

I recently stumbled upon a feature at 1UP.com titled “You’re not Alone: Gamers Share Their Quirky Playing Habits,” and it got me thinking. What quirky video game habits have I developed over the past two decades?

Well, for starters I’m a bit of a completist, and this involves not only how I play in video games, but which video games I play. I need to play every game in a franchise, in order, even if the games are unrelated in terms of story. Oh, and I HAVE to read the manual for each game, cover to cover.

Those are the easy ones.

Then, once I boot up a game, I try my best to find everything I can, every secret room, every hidden trinket, every ammo cache. This behavior probably peaked in the mid to late 1990s when games like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie had literally hundreds of stars, coins, notes, and jinjos to collect. In fact, I was so obsessed with finding one last musical note in Banjo-Kazooie that I stopped playing out of frustration and only finished the game a decade later when I picked it up again and decided it was OK not to get 100% completion. Lately, because I play SO many games, I can’t devote myself so tenaciously to individual titles, but I still try to uncover everything I can. While playing Symphony of the Night, I backtracked through a significant section of the map because I noticed the corner of one room hadn’t been explored. Nothing was there, but it would have driven me crazy not knowing.

Perhaps the pistol wasn't the proper weapon in this situation.

I’m also a conserver, although you could call me a hoarder. Whenever I find money or special ammo or a powerful potion I tend not to use it immediately, saving it for a super-strong enemy or situation that sometimes never appears. At the end of Symphony of the Night, I had in my inventory dozens of unused potions, projectile weapons, and food items. However, this idiosyncrasy started long before that. I remember playing Turok and Turok 2, and blasting enemies with my pistol for as long as I could to save ammo for my shotgun, assault rifle, grenade launcher, etc. Ammo wasn’t exactly in short supply, but I never wanted to use that ammo unless absolutely necessary. Then there's the house I was using in Morrowind to store tons of weapons, armor, books, and other accessories that I couldn't sell. It looked like a treasure chest had exploded.

I'll take the one on the left.

If there is a game where morality is a factor, I NEED to swing all the way to the morally right side of the scale. In games like Mass Effect, Fable, and Jade Empire I make my avatar a paragon of virtue. He or she does no harm, always gives up the payday to help out the needy, and never, ever kills in cold blood. I’ve considered going back and playing through some of these RPGs as an evil character, but I can’t bring myself to do it.

I’m also a compulsive checker. I always, ALWAYS look under every staircase. And I try to walk or swim through every waterfall. And God help me if I walk into a locker room, or a hallway full of closed doors.

It's good advice.

So that’s me. What video game quirks do you have? Do you need to finish every quest in an RPG or do you need to take a particular route when given the decision? Do you have to play on easy the first time through a game? Do you feel compelled to unlock every achievement? Are you a compulsive reloader? Tell us in the comments section.