Surely you also have your own strange habits.

September 24, 2019 5:56 AM

What's Your Weirdest Video Game Ritual? [Kotaku] On the latest episode of Kotaku's Splitscreen gaming podcast, listener Annie asked our hosts Jason, Maddy, & Kirk the following question:

“I’ll keep this brief, but for context, I’ve been playing a lot of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey since I bought it last week (I know, I’m very late to the party). One of my favorite parts of the game is the mercenary/bounty hunter tier system. Since my first mercenary kill, I’ve made it a tradition for myself and my friends that play the game with me to throw the body of every defeated mercenary into the nearest body of natural water as if it were a sign of respect. We also salute the screen and fire a single arrow into the sky. We will do this even if we are in a pretty landlocked territory of the game. There is absolutely no real purpose to doing this, it’s just hilarious to us and we do it solely out of tradition. Do you guys have any weird unscripted video game traditions? (i.e., things that you’ll always do that aren’t required in the game at all?)”

We’ve heard some good ones already—a listener who plays Breath of the Wild solely as a pescatarian, one who does push-ups after every Call of Duty loss, and one who sticks their hand out and makes the peace symbol, à la Mario in Super Mario World, every time they finish a video game level.
posted by Fizz (65 comments total)

the peace symbol

Kotaku, sometimes gestures have multiple meanings.

Wikipedia: V_sign#Victory_sign
posted by zamboni at 6:05 AM on September 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

I do think a lot of these types of habits coincide with games where you roleplay as your character. I do this often in Skyrim where I'm very polite to the Khajit and Argonians because of the bigotry/racism they endure on Tamriel.

I also had a thing where I'd steal a bottle of wine from every house I entered. I know many people do this and have entire rooms filled with stolen cheese and/or other goods they've plundered along the way.
posted by Fizz at 6:10 AM on September 24, 2019 [10 favorites]

In Fallout 4, I picked up every Jangles the Moon Monkey doll I saw and brought it back to the kid's bedroom in my house in Sanctuary. (Initially I did that with every toy, but after a while that got to be too much.)
posted by jessenoonan at 6:12 AM on September 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

I've mentioned this before, but in Final Fantasy XIV, I glamour my left hand ring to look like the eternity ring (the game's equivalent of a wedding band), as my toons are married to my wife's. This rarely shows up on the character model, as rings are normally covered by hand gear unless the hand gear has open fingers. But it's meaningful to me, and in the end, that's what matters.
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:15 AM on September 24, 2019 [7 favorites]

In BOTW: never kill an animal that is not a threat, try to line up Links feet at the top of the shrine elevator so he doesn't have to shuffle once the animation starts.
posted by pilot pirx at 6:27 AM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm reminded of the Half-Life 2 achievement "Little Rocket Man," in which the player must carry a garden gnome from the beginning of the game to the end.
posted by msbrauer at 6:33 AM on September 24, 2019 [10 favorites]

Back when I was Grumpycub69 and had a C64, I loved me some Racing Destruction Set. The only issue with it was that it took forever to load. One day, while it was loading, I went downstairs and made myself an English muffin with butter, cinnamon and sugar as well as a chocolate milk. After finishing my snack, I went back to my room and the game was ready to play. For some reason I made the association between eating that snack and the game loading faster. As a result, every time I wanted to play RDS, I had that snack.

I played RDS a lot.
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:41 AM on September 24, 2019 [10 favorites]

In the early '90s, I discovered by accident that if you start playing the opening track from U2's The Joshua Tree ("Where the Streets Have No Name") right when Civilization 1 (DOS version) launches, it syncs up quite nicely with the opening outer-space sequence in a Wizard-of-Oz/Dark-Side-of-the-Moon sort of fashion.

Since then, and through sequels II, III, Test of Time (3.5?), and IV, that album is the official Playing Civ album in my brain, not to the point where I ritualistically play the two together every time (though I quite often do), but definitely such that I cannot hear any of those songs without little Settlers and Warriors walking around in my mind's eye.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 6:51 AM on September 24, 2019

At some point I started saying "Body Massage!" every time I choked a dude out in Dishonored or Splinter Cell.
posted by selfnoise at 6:54 AM on September 24, 2019 [21 favorites]

When I played Final Fantasy XIV, I used to use a firework (a consumable item) at the completion of every dungeon or raid. That, or use a bottle of Realm Reborn Red, which triggered an animation of your character shaking a bottle of champagne and spraying it around in victory. Looked adorable as a Lalafell.

When playing the Dark Brotherhood quests in Skyrim, I would clean out the target's inventory and place two coins there. I started out trying to lay them on their back and place the coins over their eyes, but that quickly became very frustrating.
posted by xedrik at 6:57 AM on September 24, 2019 [6 favorites]

My wife came back to Animal Crossing (Game Cube version, on the Wii). One morning, our boys were "cleaning" upstairs, so she played it with the sound off so they wouldn't be lured by video games. But it felt wrong having no celebratory sound when she caught an insect or found a fossil, so I made the "Wo-Woo!" sounds for her.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:00 AM on September 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

I mean, I suck my teeth when something goes poorly or I mess up. Does that count?

I'll see myself out....
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:26 AM on September 24, 2019

While playing Life is Strange my daughters would yell "Shut the fuck up Mark!" every time that character spoke.
My daughters are wise.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 7:40 AM on September 24, 2019 [17 favorites]

I would also steal a bottle of wine from every house in Skyrim!

There's actually a ton of this that I do without realizing, as I tend to play games more for comedic effect than I do very seriously. Give me a taunt button, a horn, or a generally harmless action - I will use it just to entertain myself.

In Overcooked, whenever time is about to run out but there's literally nothing that can be done fast enough to improve things, I immediately grab the fire extinguisher and spin in circles while using it, swearing (in game, not as my actual self) the entire time.

In the Metal Gear series, I would ALWAYS relocate a tranquilized guard into a place that would make no sense to wake up in, no matter how tedious it was. I pretty much played that entire series as a stealthy troll once the tranq was added.

In BOTW, I almost ALWAYS steal a skeletons skull and immediately look for a cliff to kick it off of.

Untitled Goose game has brought a lot of these, whenever anyone walks away from me, I slowly stalk the with my head down and my wings flapping.

On the slightly more serious side, in the modern Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I give one of my students a flower any time they do or say something very nice.
posted by MysticMCJ at 7:56 AM on September 24, 2019 [6 favorites]

The closest I get to this sort of thing is in Fallout 4, where I carried my husband's ring around as a memento until I finally decided to "make things official" with Piper. Which was definitely a roleplaying thing, in real life I place very little stock in marriage as an institution, but the whole ritual clearly meant something to my character in that game.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:05 AM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

In Red Dead Redemption 2, I always take off my coat, hat, and boots before sleeping in a hotel bed.
posted by capricorn at 8:13 AM on September 24, 2019 [7 favorites]

I have started shouting ATTEND ME! whenever I mind control someone in Control.

Because I'm carrying Excalibur around only it's now a gun because times change even if you're a mythical weapon.

The solemn handshake and "thanks, chef" after each Overcooked level is still one of my favorites.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 8:19 AM on September 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

I have started shouting ATTEND ME! whenever I mind control someone in Control.

That is excellent.

Whenever a game asks me to choose a name for my character I always choose 'PANTS' - all caps.

I play all RPGs as an elf mage (assuming those choices are available), and I always play as extremely militant about both of those things. If anyone says something racist about elves or shitty about wizards in my hearing, I immediately kill them.
posted by Ragged Richard at 8:37 AM on September 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

Whenever I die in Nuclear Throne, I start another game.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:37 AM on September 24, 2019 [5 favorites]

Whenever I die in Nuclear Throne, I start another game.

I do this in Binding of Isaac as well.
posted by Fizz at 8:38 AM on September 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

In Falloutses: Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Slaver To Live. Time to cleanse the city, Davey. A few times I've started intending to do an Evil Playthrough but then it's like nah fuck these guys.

Pretty sure I've shouted CATCH A RIIIIIIIDE when getting into/onto all manner of veehickles and mounts in all kindsa games

At some point I'll actually go through with stealing all the wheels of cheese in Skyrim and then send them to Ceres.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:59 AM on September 24, 2019 [7 favorites]

(part of me sincerely hopes that they make CATCH A RIIIIIIDE something that can happen when you're jacking a car in the next Saint's Row, just like the New-U sometimes does the intro from Skyrim)
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:00 AM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I name any nameable characters Bob. Of any sex. Because.
posted by evilDoug at 9:02 AM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

As soon as I get the camera in GTA: San Andreas, I go into CJ's mom's room and take a picture of the cat painting on the wall.
posted by avocet at 9:03 AM on September 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

In games where it's an option (Thief, Dishonored, Deus Ex, etc.) I routinely obsessively knock out every single available guard in a level and pile their unconscious bodies on top of each other. I want to know what they think happened when they wake up.
posted by mrgoat at 9:09 AM on September 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

When I was a 90s kid with too much time on my hands, I made an effort to pick up every chaos emerald before finishing the first level in Sonic 2.

And in the 2000s, my folks and myself would say 'Behold, the power of the keyblade' when appropriate.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 9:17 AM on September 24, 2019

Playing Starcraft in high school with my friends at a LAN party. When a new Ghost appears he announces himself with "Somebody call for an exterminator?" And one time I just shouted "I DID."

After that I said it literally every time I created a new Ghost.
posted by mcmile at 9:30 AM on September 24, 2019

If the game's controls give me an option to jump, I will move by jumping everywhere instead of running.

In Zelda games, all my Links are named Rufus or Rufie after my previous dog.

In Elder Scrolls games, I only play an Orc woman named Peanut.
posted by minsies at 9:35 AM on September 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

Any character I name is getting something ridiculous like Murderface McKenzie (Skyrim). The two go-throughs of Dragon Age Inquisition were Ser Tired (Of Your Shit) and Lady Whatt (The Fuck), named after the expressions I gave them.

In Skyrim, if an enemy is annoying enough I loot all their armor and inventory, and then dump it on the ground next to them, to let them know they weren't worth stealing their stuff.

The Mr fell hard into Fallout 4 and played through it 4 times, and so I spent most of a year curled up on the couch eating popcorn and mocking him. Now, when I hear the opening bars of the FO4 theme I experience a craving for popcorn.
posted by telophase at 10:16 AM on September 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

In Mass Effect 2, my Shepard won't wear anything with the Cerberus colors or logo, even though the Cerberus armor is pretty good and most of the non-armor clothes have the logo, because Cerberus really is evil. If that means that my FemShep ends up doing a lot of her business in the little black cocktail dress that you get during Kasumi's loyalty mission, so be it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:25 AM on September 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

Oh! After playing through Dragon Age Inquisition twice, in every other game when the Mr has to bust through a door or otherwise confront an NPC, you can hear him yelling DO YOU HAVE A FEW MINUTES TO TALK ABOUT ANDRASTE?!?
posted by telophase at 10:31 AM on September 24, 2019 [5 favorites]

> In games where it's an option (Thief, Dishonored, Deus Ex, etc.) I routinely obsessively knock out every single available guard in a level and pile their unconscious bodies on top of each other. I want to know what they think happened when they wake up.

In I think the first Thief game, maybe even the first level of that game, there's a bit with a hallway that goes around in a loop, with two guards patrolling it, and a bunch of doors off the hallway. I was standing there in the little space where you could possibly hide, waiting for one guard to walk by so I could knock him out. And once I did so, I had to clear him out of the hallway and get back into position so I could get the next guard and not raise any suspicion, so I grabbed his body and dumped him in the nearest room. After I got the next guard, I also picked him up and carried him in a room, not that it was probably necessary, but just in case someone else patrolled there.

Once I did so, I noticed two things:

1. It was the same room as the first guard
2. It was a bedroom

So I put him on the bed, then picked up the first guard and put him on the bed as well. Then I picked up a bottle of wine from the nearby table and also put it on the bed.
posted by cardioid at 10:42 AM on September 24, 2019 [6 favorites]

After having a mighty fine time driving the Mako in Mass Effect, and using the Boost control to hilarious effect, many gaming sessions in various games have involved me shouting "BOOST!" and launching my character off of something.
posted by ewok_academy at 10:51 AM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you don't enjoy boosting the Mako, you probably just don't like fun.
posted by ewok_academy at 10:52 AM on September 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

Only an imaginary one. I'd use "persucution complex" in a Quake III sort of game. There are hublebrag reasons for the name, but it's how long it took me to notice the spelling mistake that would make me do it again. Whenever I try nethack yet one more time, it's always a female elf wizard with a cat. She's Eris and the cat is Lick.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:56 AM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Oh, if we're including names as a "ritual", then I typically name my characters slightly modified versions of either Ciaphas Cain or one of the two daughters from Eugene Onegin.
posted by tobascodagama at 11:15 AM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm on level 1165 of the puzzle game Two Dots for iOS and have studiously avoided using any of the free power-ups you earn as you play, much less making any in-app purchases. So "ironguy" mode I guess. Also, the levels have counters at the top for the number of things you have left to match (32/65 of the spreading slime stuff, 4/12 ladybugs, 5/12 fossils, etc.) and during each level I routinely add up the total number remaining across all categories, compare it to the number of moves left, and say a little mantra to myself like:

32 + 4 + 5 = 41 "41 to go, 15 moves left"
"28 to go, 9 moves left"

and so on. So that's pretty weird. My wife calls me Rain Man. And I am almost rank 800 on Puzzle and Dragons (started 4 years ago or so) with no IAP.

Also my username comes from me winning some insane number of games of Freecell in a row without losing any of the setups.
posted by freecellwizard at 11:35 AM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

I don't know if this counts as a "ritual," but in any game where it's customary to have multiple characters (like Destiny, which I'm playing a lot of these days), and where it's possible to design the look of your character, all of my characters have exactly the same features, but with different haircuts.
posted by Fish Sauce at 11:37 AM on September 24, 2019 [6 favorites]

In Skyrim I'll pick a room in whatever I consider my main house to drop every torch in. They stay lit when dropped, and the light is cumulative in weird way, particularly once you get many, many, many torches.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 11:38 AM on September 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

I name any nameable characters Bob. Of any sex. Because.

When I was in middle school starting a new co-op game of Secret of Mana, my friend actually took the controller from me and named the hero ChukD, which annoyed me at first but grew on me as a running gag, which I've maintained lo these 20-odd years.

So now Chuck D has become my personal Doctor Who, traveling time and space being the messianic savior to fantasy and science fiction worlds, dispensing justice and wisdom across dimensions.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:49 AM on September 24, 2019 [6 favorites]

I always close doors behind me. This started as a memory-management trick in Morrowind for the Xbox and now it's just politeness. I might be here to steal everything I can carry, but I won't let the cold air in!
posted by dislegomena at 11:51 AM on September 24, 2019 [7 favorites]

I play Eve Online. My PVP ship loadouts always include one Tourist in the cargo hold.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 12:18 PM on September 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

Every character name is a type of bird. This was loosely a thing, then when you had Dragon Age 2, where you controlled "Hawke" and you gave them a first name, my character became Red-Shouldered Hawke.

My Pokemon trainer is "Kestrel."
posted by skittlekicks at 12:19 PM on September 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

i flush every toilet in dishonored 2 and death of the outsider every time i play, no matter what the cost of my actions might be. i have to rely on quicksave a lot.

i also finally did a clean hands run and after the unbearable horrors of not being able to murder anyone on purpose i've spent a lot of time figuring out all the ways to "accidentally" murder ppl and not get it registered as a direct kill. my favourite thus far is to throw chloroform in the vicinity of enemies but not directly ON them, and then when they are unconscious you can use the far reach power to hurl them hilariously into the air. you can also throw unconscious guards into the path of booby traps without losing your trophy status but it's not as much fun. god i love chloroform.
posted by poffin boffin at 12:26 PM on September 24, 2019 [7 favorites]

I always close doors behind me.

This is also just a good way to manage enemies that might otherwise wander in and surprise you. Not only are you being polite but you're watching your back.
posted by Fizz at 12:32 PM on September 24, 2019 [6 favorites]

I change the background of the textboxes in Chrono Trigger to match the time period I'm in and can't imagine playing any way else.
posted by bookwo3107 at 12:40 PM on September 24, 2019 [7 favorites]

Oh, I just remembered! In No Man's Sky I use a planet/system naming convention that describes what I've found but sounds like fake Linnean taxonomy.

A planet with a toxic atmosphere and lots of gold deposits will be called something like "Toxica Aurelion." A super wet planet with lots of iron might be "Aqua Ferria." Stuff like that.
posted by Fish Sauce at 12:52 PM on September 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

In Nethack, when engraving to identify a wand, I always write "poop". There are no other options.
posted by ceiriog at 12:55 PM on September 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

In the original Legend of Zelda for the NES, I skip the wooden sword inside the cave immediately in front of you at the start the game and instead begin a brief dash&grind wherein I acquire rupees, bombs, and then two heart containers so I can get the 2nd sword. Then I go back and wave it at the old dude; "It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!" - Nah, fam, I got this.

(Don't walk over the wooden sword! It won't replace the 2nd sword, but it WILL disappear from the cave.)
posted by radiosilents at 1:49 PM on September 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

An ex-girlfriend got kind of weirded out that I kept declaring, "I'm Jimmy Hopkins!" anytime I achieved any minor victory in life.

I was really into Bully at the time. He shouts that in the game anytime he completes a mission or whatever. It's normal, alright!
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:16 PM on September 24, 2019 [2 favorites]

In Conan Exiles, when meeting Razma of Shem, I kneel down as a sign of respect. Cos that woman has gone through some shit.

Also +1 on saying CATCH A RIDE! whenever getting into a car in Borderlands. My friend Ash and I also tend to say "I am the best robot yeah!" whenever meeting a Claptrap.
posted by zompist at 2:58 PM on September 24, 2019

I try to always quit with my characters somewhere comfy - Link in a stable or a village, my Inquisitor in her bedroom at Skyhold, various Skyrim folks in their houses. I’ve rented rooms when I don’t need the [hearts] just so they can sleep well. This might overlap with crouton petting
posted by fast ein Maedchen at 5:25 PM on September 24, 2019 [9 favorites]

I just finished Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Every time I was in a fight and used the "bull rush" attack, I'd shout "THE HOSE!"
posted by MrBadExample at 7:01 PM on September 24, 2019

zamboni:

Kotaku, sometimes gestures have multiple meanings.

The reference was to Super Mario World, a Japanese game, and in Japan the "V" gesture is definitely known as the "peace sign" (ピースサイン).
posted by mbrubeck at 9:05 PM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

(Shigeru Miyamoto talks about Mario doing the "peace" sign.)
posted by mbrubeck at 9:19 PM on September 24, 2019

In Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, possessing a Slig (were those the tentacle faced dudes with the mechanical legs?), I never passed up an opportunity to make him shout, “Look out!” before shooting another of his kin.
And then I’d make Abe laugh when he returned to his own body.

In Super Mario Bros., I always used to jump on the first rest of the main level music. The jump sound was like I was adding a little flourish to the music.

In Vagrant Story, once I had access to the workshop and could refine and name weapons, I named them after their affinities so I would know what enemies the weapons were best against.
I always had an Undead affinity weapon named Corpsegrinder. I can’t remember the rest.

In Majora’s Mask, I always ran in a little circle when I put on the bunny hood.

In Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, I would try to clear large sections of the Drow caves without destroying the explosive barrels so I could go back and pile them together or run strings of them along hallways for chain explosion funsies.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:02 AM on September 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

One of mine is that namable player characters tend to be named Link for men and Lale for women. That always amuses me.
posted by stoneegg21 at 2:03 AM on September 25, 2019

> An ex-girlfriend got kind of weirded out that I kept declaring, "I'm Jimmy Hopkins!" anytime I achieved any minor victory in life.

I did something similar with FE:Three Houses after I started with the Black Eagles, where if I accomplish anything that's of just the smallest significance, I exclaim "I am Ferdinand von Aegir!" to the room.

This isn't so much a ritual, but ever since playing MGSV, any time I an out and about IRL can see a bunch of shipping containers (which happens a lot, since I'm near a major shipping port), I always visually sort for the red ones because they are the most valuable to steal.
posted by MysticMCJ at 7:45 AM on September 25, 2019

In Mass Effect, if you're driving the Mako, you're singing "Whalers on the Moon".
posted by LegallyBread at 10:13 AM on September 25, 2019

In Kingdom Come Deliverance there comes a point in the game where you start to encounter a lot of bandits on the road. I feel like in taking care of them I am making 15th century Bohemia a little safer for everyone else, and I also want to provide a visible to deterrent "to encourage the others" as Napoleon used to say.

Since in the game you can pick up a body and then drop it somewhere else, and since you can sort of rearrange their ragdoll arms and legs by walking your character into the corpses at certain angles, I have developed the following habit:

I have a set ritual where I will always strip the bandits of all gear and clothes, and lay their bodies perpendicularly across the road in a row with careful spacing.

This really disturbed my wife, who is always watching over my shoulder as I play. Then I went onto the KCD subReddit for a hint, and discovered that hundreds of other players do something like this. It's just a natural outgrowth of the pretty graphics, the dangerous combat, and the body-moving mechanic.

Other people arrange the corpses into elaborate flowers, spirals, or spell out words with them. I think maybe "corpse arranging" may be a new and slightly icky form of videogame outsider art.
posted by seasparrow at 12:39 PM on September 25, 2019 [3 favorites]

Staring at me steam list vacantly over and over and over, and hemming and hawing, then going to FB and surf a bit, then back to the list. Then back to the web, then the list. And then finally going to bed, never actually playing a damn game.
posted by symbioid at 1:57 PM on September 25, 2019 [2 favorites]

In Falloutses: Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Slaver To Live

This, but in every game with slavers. Falloutses, Streets of Rogue, FTL, others I'm sure. Because fuck slavers. (In FTL you have to be careful to not blow up the slaver's ship though, because the slaves die too. Best if you teleport over and kill the slaver crew, that frees the slaves.)

In Dead Cells it's absolutely mandatory that you jump up and hit at least one of the hanging glass jars on your way out of the starting area.

In Hollow Knight it's super impolite to go past the Elderbug in Dirtmouth without stopping to say hello. He doesn't always have much to say but he appreciates the company. I always try to spend some time with Quirrel when I run into him out in the wilds also, especially when he's sitting on the bench in the City of Tears.

I name any nameable characters Bob. Of any sex. Because.

Hah, same. Especially if it's not really an RPG and I'm not roleplaying, like if it's an action game where you just happen to have the option to name your character, it's Bob. If a full name is required, it's Bob Suruncle.
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 2:44 PM on September 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

I name any nameable characters Bob. Of any sex. Because.

I too started that way, but then when I played a fancier character (maybe Arcanum?) that morphed into (Sir) Robert Worthington-Smythe.

Woe betide any programmer providing insufficient name length.
posted by Marticus at 5:38 PM on September 25, 2019

Also, in FFX, it's important (to me) to try to say "Ride ze shoopuf?" in unison with the driver. That and "... withYunabymyside".
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:41 AM on September 27, 2019

In Diablo III, I became very intent on destroying all of the torture devices in the Halls of Agony. I don't think there is a single sane human alive down there that we didn't come with, but finding and breaking them all became very important to me.

In Fallout 4 my character became a collector of subway tickets.

In FFXIV I've started entering battle stance to visually show other players that I'm ready to start boss battles. It's faster than typing in chat and more natural, though I am not a roleplayer. Oh! And I play Gold Rush from the Tekken 5 OST when running high level treasure maps because it gets me hype. I can't get it to catch on with anyone.
posted by koucha at 2:02 PM on October 4, 2019