The gaming room
Intense, yet relaxing rhythms play from a set of speakers on the
floor, almost drowning the soft humming of the PC near the northern wall. There
is also a low table with cushions strewn around it, obviously meant for playing
board-games. Empty pizza boxes and cans of ice tea are scattered across the
floor. This truly feels like home.
Except for Titan, which has become our family game, and, sometimes, The Lord of the Rings Online, I have abandoned these time-consuming monsters a while ago. They will stay here for old times' sake.
Board games
Titan
This is not your average chilly easy-goer but a game which takes concentration and time. Even a two-player match can take several hours to play, and first-time players will require tons of advice as it is hardly possible to make any sensible moves at all without some experience. Certainly not everybody's cup of tea, but those who like it tend to like it a lot, like me.
Online games
MorgenGrauen
A German MUD (Multi-User-Dungeon), my online home. I'm Kessa.
The Kingdom of Loathing
A multi-player HTML-based game featuring stick-figures and absurd fun. Highly addictive.
Lord of the Rings online
A beautiful online adaptation of Tolkien's world. Gameplay is not very smooth but I can live with that. Also, players and ingame conversation are generally kind and helpful.
LoTo is free-to-play, which goes a long way here. You can play through three large areas without paying, exploring different storylines, taking your time to decide whether it's for you.
The Secret World
Everything is true. Everything you ever heard about Templars, Illuminati or other world conspiracies, vampires, zombies, werewolves, Slimy Things That Come In From The Sea. All those myths as well - the World Tree, Loki, Hell, Egyptian gods, Lovecraftian abominations, whatever. All true.
A game that shines with dark humour, marvellous story content and clever puzzles. There's fighting, too. The zombies and all that, you name it.
Buy once, play forever: you really only have to buy the base game. There is more content in the ingame shop, but nothing that is needed to play. A lot of cosmetic and fun stuff, some useful things, and some extra story content.