There are many, many, many reasons people play video games. Sometimes it’s for the challenge; other times it’s for the story. It can be for comfort, for nostalgia, for new experiences, for entertainment, for distraction, even to learn a thing or two. Me? I play for the friends I make along the way.
That might be a meme, but it’s not a joke. Well, not really. Sure, gaming provides all those other benefits, but sometimes, oftentimes, it’s falling for the characters that keeps me booting up for more. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the Mass Effect trilogy. By having a main character (play FemShep, always) that walked around and interacted with the crew between missions, the game encouraged players to form relationships with them. There’s a reason Garrus Vakarian still reigns as the internet’s bird-dinosaur boyfriend (tell me more about those calibrations, Garrus), and it…
