Gaming?

It's no secret that I like to play games to pass the time or escape into. But the list of games I really like is very short and new releases rarely get added to my wish-list. Simply because I have a medical problem that prevents me from playing fast action games. I must also admit that about 95% of the games currently published are not to my liking at all.

Games I dislike/hate:

- games that assume that the player has been playing games for years (high entry level).
- horror (No zombies for me, I fail to see the appeal).
- games containing violence with gore/blood-splatters/flying bits.
- if not already containing the above, I don't like to kill, unless it's some weird "unidentifiable" monster. (Minecraft succeeds in that with the cartoon style monsters).
- sports (I'd rather play a sport for real or watch real people play, I'm also not interested in managing a sports team)
- games revolving around warfare.
- games that require regular payments, either to unlock parts, items (and without being able to continue without these items), or subscription based (on top of the purchase price). I really don't mind paying a one-off price, I own many games I bought that way.
- games that become too monotonous, repetitious, or tedious (somehow SimCity feels like that).
- games with a linear story line, unless it's a really engaging one.
- games which are considered to be aimed at women turning out to be for young girls.
- male protagonist only, especially in third person view. I don't know why it's so hard to add female protagonists when designing games. (No One Lives Forever did the opposite). 

Games I love:
- open ended games or games with multiple endings, but not falling in the category above (like Skyrim, but I need cheats for that one).
- sandbox games/modes, either with an open world or "play as you like with everything available".
- Sims, one could call them "people simulator", but somehow they are a genre in itself.
- games that require to create things in a clever way. Think of using several items together in order to create something new that can be used. Most games using this concept have "recipes".
- interactive stories.

I do know that narrows it down to a very short list. As mentioned above, Minecraft does contain some killing action (by choice), but the entry level (easy) isn't high at all. Especially when played on Peaceful to get used to the controls. The Sims also have a friendly approach to monsters, the zombies (as much as I dislike them) weren't too creepy and were displayed in an almost "all ages" way. The Sims Freeplay has a tendency to become too monotonous and repetitive, although that stage is reached when you're at quite a high level. Designing and doing quests keeps it kind of fresh, but in between I tend to leave the game alone.

Maybe I'm too squeamish for modern games, but the same applies to films and TV series. Funny enough, I enjoyed the games from the late 70's and early 80's made out of ASCII characters, or simple graphics, or just text, more than the modern high detailed games. I guess that's the appeal of games like Minecraft and Terraria (and more like them). In a way I'm glad that that kind of retro look is in fashion.

I guess I fit into that small category of (almost) middle aged (yikes!) female players. And most of us who fit into that relatively small category often have more money to spend than the average teenager. Go figure.