Spice up Video Games

I can’t resist – this is the foreword to my little book. It kept me busy most of my day with this thing.
I reread it – corrected it – reread it – corrected it.
I am almost delighted with the result on page 1

I wrote it thinking that I was writing to you – almost – really almost, because you, now, know me much better. And you will see my tricks & when I cheat.

As for Mass Effect, it took me the rest of my day – but what a joy – busting the stupid reporter, giving the ambassador a taste of… his desk – great moments offered by the games – Then, you see, I’m working.

“If you find this title strange, not to say provocative, it’s not totally abnormal. I recognize a certain casualness in this way of talking about the Video Game. Even a bit of insolence.
What does that mean, spicing up the video game? Is it not good enough perhaps?
The lady is not satisfied?
Do you know what we say to the lady?
But not at all – what do you say to the lady? – sorry

Yes I know, I admit that the world of video games is great. I say it frankly, and may I be hanged for it if I change my mind. You can find almost everything you are looking for. Very accomplished games, games that cost a fortune and an army of developers, games from independent companies, games in all themes, all genres, all registers, with one player, with infinite players, in FPS, in TPS and in everything you can imagine that is entertaining.
That’s right.

And me, I come up with my spices, just like that, out of nowhere, to say anything, to tell you that sometimes the games lack a little spice. Be careful though: I’m only talking about the smallest details of the games. I’m only talking about that tiny little extra thing that is easy to add and that hardly changes the taste.

If you find my attitude totally lacking in seriousness, well… then… at least, admit that I am in the theme.

So… let me, please, add a ladleful: yes, it’s possible to spice up any video game and it costs absolutely nothing. Not a single penny. No developers to pay, no years of development, nothing.
You don’t believe me?
Yes – well, no, you don’t believe me. Maybe you want to believe me. The maybe is probably pretty strong, right?

Before you bother to read me a little more, I must warn you a little about my cheeky little self.

I am a girl.
I shouldn’t say that, should I? A girl who talks about video games is a little bit like a dog in a bowling alley: an intruder.
I almost took a boy’s nickname, just to be unnoticed.
Instead of talking about spices, I could have talked about innovative fuel – the cheating could go through – seriously, if I worked on my style and my expression, it could do it.

And so much the worse. I confess.
I don’t pretend to work in a video game company, I’m not selling any skills. And I certainly don’t do politics.
I’m not going to get into morality either – and as long as I’m coming out, then yes, when I play I slaughter everything that moves, I play badass characters and it makes me very happy to have an absolutely impressive muscle mass for a while and no, I never play girl characters. A girl doesn’t make me dream – so please keep giving us great guys to play. An old Shepard with a scar on his head who can respond in a perfectly unpleasant way, but…. what fun….

In the “flaw and/or peculiarities” category, I’m French – well…. So … my English is surely quaint and colorful – I don’t realize it – you do.
Being French, of course, I admit to a weakness for food, and a complete boredom when it’s bland.
You see those moments, at the table, when the French person you know starts to look pensive? intelligent? a little sad, maybe desperate? … it just means that he is realizing that the meal is going to exceed his capacity for joy and good humor. We’re going to have to drink red wine from the fridge. Absolute silent drama of all my compatriots.

Add to this catastrophic portrait that I’ve been past the supposed expiration date of the video game player for years – in other words, I’m – normally – too old to like to play.
So much for me and my credibility, I confess: I love to play and my sons are my precious helpers when it comes to video games.
At first, I helped them play.
Now it’s their turn, they help their old mom.
Old mom who became, because she only likes stories, a literature teacher.
It was literature that led me to love video games.
When you like stories, you like games.
And you know that the stories in the old books are so much more violent, sexual, vulgar, human than most games, so you keep your mouth shut on those issues. No one has ever criticized me for making my students read Homer. And yet, it’s very, very, very violent, sexual, human, moronic… – but it’s Greek, it’s fancy – with that most of us choose quite boring excerpts to share with young people – who then find all this ancient junk very boring.

Do you feel me better?

So, as an avid consumer of stories and games, I came up with this little book.

Spice up the video game – for free. Nice fight.

I could have written a thesis. Mind you, a university thesis is very serious. At what point does an academic author set out to amuse you, to distract you, to provoke you? But, on such a specialized subject, I could have become an international lecturer and taken my thesis to all the intellectual platforms of the known and unknown worlds. You would then have taken me seriously.
But I am not sure you would have read me.
And I am almost certain that you would not have come to hear me.

So I’m writing this casual little thing, which has no other purpose than to offer to add a tiny pinch of spice to games, without effort and – most importantly – without spending money.
Gamers, developers, curious people, it’s for you that I write.”

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