Lately, I’ve been playing Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Civilization IV, Borderlands, the Halo: Reach beta, Social City (although, my city has fallen into shameful disrepair) and… minesweeper.

Apparently, I’m a sucker for strategy games and sequels. :P And it looks like I need to rotate in some more casual games. :)

What are you playing?

The goal is for the player to be in a world that they can accept.  The Dirk’n’Steele-verse is a contemporary, modern one which means that we need to make it realistic and familiar.  Fantasy or sci-fi universes have their own sets of constraints or needs to make it feel “real.”  Luckily for us, there are bits and pieces in Dela’s world that are a bit different than our world:  Ancient warriors coming out of tiny boxes or being able to manipulate metal with one’s mind, for example.  That keeps it interesting for sure!

So how can we go about not breaking the illusion?

This may seem a bit contradictory, but a designer that I highly respect once told me “the players know it’s a game, Mari.”  Which seems obvious, but sometimes I’m so close to the project that I forget that (maybe I’M too immersed in it).  As long as there isn’t anything that’s TOO broken (ridiculously magical physics, inconsistent continuity, stuff like that) players will suspend their disbelief a little bit (maybe give us/me the benefit of the doubt) and as long as they’re having fun, they’ll keep playing the game.  It all comes down to fun, again.  But, isn’t that why we play in the first place?

RSVP and enter our raffle for awesome prizes, including a chance for YOUR likeness to be included in Tiger Eye Part 2!

Get more info and RSVP here: http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=24167

Go here to start the adventure:  http://bouldersandboatsadventures.com/

UPDATE: Stuck? Get help from fellow detectives in the UnFiction Forums.

We used 2 random number generators (human and machine, heheh!) to pick these raffle winners, who will each receive one of the following: a signed Tiger Eye novel, an advance galley copy of “A Wild Light” (to be released July 28), a collectible variant cover of  the “Black Widow” Marvel comic book, a framed signed cover of the next Dirk & Steele novel (“In the Dark of Dreams”), or Tiger Eye merchandise.  Here are the winners – there are 11 of them, the same number of people that comprises the PassionFruit team ;)  You should be receiving emails from us soon!

• Julie S.
• Megan W.
• Colleen T.
• Nicole H.
• Dian C.
• Charlotte C.
• Sharon K.
• Jennifer E.
• Rebecca C.
• Amy S.
• Alice S.

Congratulations!

I guess I can be considered both a gamer and a romance reader – although, I don’t have the honor of being considered “hardcore” in either.  I’ve been a gamer much longer than I’ve been a romance reader, however.  And a large percentage of PassionFruiters are gamers.   So, we understand that segment of society pretty darn well.

Even being a novice romance reader, I’ve found the stereotypes for both hobbies distasteful as I’m sure you have if you consider yourself in either (or both) of these two categories.

Offensive Game Stereotypes:

• All gamers are young/teenage single males
• All gamers live in their games, not the real world
• All gamers cannot control their impulses
• All gamers and videogames are violent
• All gamers want a girl with unrealistic boob-jiggling animations
• All gamers are incapable of any kind of social interaction

A couple links to peruse to incite your gamer nerd rage:

http://kotaku.com/5103011/boys-hang-kitten-with-game-controller-sheriff-blames-gta

http://kotaku.com/5513019/educator-claims-damning-evidence-against-games-offers-little

Offensive Romance Novel Stereotypes:

• All romance readers are older single females
• All romance readers live in their books, not the real world
• All romance novels are all about the sex
• All romance readers want a man who doesn’t exist
• All romance readers are incapable of having a healthy relationship

A couple links to peruse to fan the flames of your reader anger:

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/huffpo-books-disses-romance-stupid-to-solar-power-conversion-to-come/

http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/what-romance-readers-want/

There are a lot of similarities in inaccurate stereotypes (although, there’s going to be overlap with any kind of hobby that people are passionate about, I suspect.)  Even though I may be a gamer and a romance novel reader, I haven’t killed anyone and I know the difference between a fictional character and a real person (shocking, isn’t it?)  And I’m no outlier – I would even hazard a bet that you, the reader, don’t fit the above stereotypes, either.

The ability to appreciate the trials of our potential fans seems to be another reason why Tiger Eye should be able to cross genres successfully.  At PassionFruit we understand games and gamers and how they’re falsely perceived (and have been through the short history of the media.)  So it’s not exactly a leap for us when romance readers expect (and deserve) to be shown a little respect and we get it when they want their entertainment of choice to be shown the same courtesy.

Two words for you – “mission accepted.”

For one thing Casual Games are geared towards non-hardcore players who also happen to be predominately female. It’s a not-insignificant portion of the games industry and seems to be growing. But I really doubt I have to tell you that.

And honestly, this isn’t new territory for us as a team. Our team already worked at Her Interactive – one of the pioneers of games for girls. So, romance games are just us continuing the legacy of making fun titles for an oft-ignored segment of the population.

Besides, gamers and romance novel readers are very similar in one big way. Both groups are often vilified for no good reason – which I’ll cover in another blog.