Actual impact of Video Games

[robalan]

Yeah, that too.  If somebody made a game where you play one person living their life in a realistic environment, I doubt it would be very popular.  The Sims was popular, though, so I dunno.

There aren't really any games that simulate reality perfectly, though I could see the appeal of a heroic fantasy game that was near-perfect in its realism.  In fact, the thing that bugs me most about RPGs is the total lack of realism in injury.  I look forward to the day when games can tell where you're hit and cause your character to react accordingly.  If you get slashed in the arm with a huge sword, that arm should become sluggish.  While perfect realism would probably not make for a terribly engaging game to play, I would enjoy games that draw close to reality.  On the other hand, complete departure from reality can make for awesome games as well.  Okami's art made everything look like calligraphy, and you fought enemies by painting the world like a canvas, but the game is amazing, immersive, and lots of fun to play.  So in conclusion, I have made a point, contradicted myself, and maybe done so again.  Therefore, quality of a game is not at all affected by it's adhesion to reality, or lack thereof.

[dragonrc]

I don't play games a lot anymore, I did when I was 10. I spend more time talking about games and making them then playing them.(not that I ever succeeded in making a decent game ).
I don't think video games have a really big impact on people, sure there are idiots who try to imitate GTA but normal people know not to act like them.

I don't really like making top tens because they will change every day. If I want to play a rpg game and have had enough of shooting games my number 1 on the list will be a rpg. That's why I'll just name some games that I enjoyed playing a lot:
Suikoden 2: IMO the best rpg ever made.
Tombi/Tomba 1&2: the best 2D platformer I ever played, the graphics are a bit childish but it suits the game.
Age of empires (age of kings and expansion pack): I think the newer age of empire series are more fun but this game got me into rts games and is worth naming.
FF7: It doesn't deserve all the praise it gets but I still think it is a great game
Monster hunter: A great game, it was my first online game.
Monster rancher (monster rancher 2 in europe): A pokemon kind of game. But I enjoyed this game much more then all the pokemon games
Little big adventure 1&2: Great game, I've replayed this game a lot.
Suikoden tactics: My first srpg, I loved it.
GTA san andreas: A great shooter. I don't really like this genre but the gta series are great fun.
Black and white: One of the best sandbox games of its time.
Harvest moon: Another fun game
And then there are games I enjoyed playing when I was young, but are boring now, like roller coaster, sims, crash bandicoot and tekken.

[Dusty]

Oh man, Tomba was great. Too bad my CD cracked and they're damn expensive to buy anymore :/

[Stickman]

I used to play video games a lot when I was working at a games company and the games were mainly RPG's and 2D fighters (Xenogears, Alpha 3....). Although I'm no longer in games (at the moment), I do buy them sometimes for research purposes such as the recent Odin's Sphere (because it's 2D and looks beautiful and also plays quite well), but I just find that I don't spend the time playing RPG's anymore.(which is probably why play 2D shooters more)

Games Playing Now:

Ibara (ps2)
The Adventures of Little Ralph (ps1 - great platform game! Short and sweet)
Valkyrie Profile 2 - but I'll probably exchange this. I like the characters but the story isn't really doing it for me...

[KittiKatt]

I don't really play video games anymore... I have a DS Lite which has been battery-dead for half a year and an N64 that works only half of the time. :B

I've found that nowadays I'd rather create and design the games than play them... I'm an artist at heart, but my brain says otherwise.