... do you, the reader, ever find yourself unconsciously narrating your gameplay aloud, as if to a streaming audience, even though you're alone?

Just me?

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-06-25 AT 04:06 AM (EST)
 
Yes.

Also other things. Like assembling a bookcase, which I've been doing a fair bit lately.

A couple years ago my dishwasher malfunctioned right before Thanksgiving and I decided to try to fix it myself rather than try to get a repairman to come out that week. Three days* of tinkering later, after the job was completely done, my wife told me that I'd been talking myself through the process, out loud, the entire time. I hadn't been aware I was doing this.

* not counting a week waiting for delivery of the replacement for one crucial O-ring that mysteriously disappeared during disassembly

I've done the game narration thing, mainly to keep focused I think? But when I catch myself doing it, I sometimes wonder if I should consider streaming someday.

The answer of course is "no", especially with small children around to interrupt, but the thought doesn't go away.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

That's more or less my life when nobody else is around.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-15-25 AT 02:25 AM (EST)
 
As an aside, I talk to my opponent when playing Magic: The Gathering Arena, which leads to commentary such as:

• "Can you at least play a land before the timer starts?"
  
• "Well, if you're going to play a Pro Tour winning deck, I suppose I can't complain about getting stomped."
  
• "You've got the win! All you have to do is--what the hell?!"
  
• "That. Was. Awesome."
  
• "You wasted a spell on my Ward and you had the land to pay for it in your hand? Why didn't you play it?!"
  
• "Well, that was bad play on my part. I deserve to lose this game. And there we go. Thank you, opponent."
  

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

No, but it's also true that streaming for awhile or doing long recording sessions makes my voice a little hoarse, so it's chicken-and-egg whether that's because I don't use my voice enough during the day or it's just a limitation I've adapted to deal with by not talking if I don't have to.

It must be because you're so much of a writer and you've gone so long without narrating someone's high flying adventures.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-10-25 AT 06:10 PM (EST)
 
Yes. Constantly. Especially if I've forgotten what I'm doing, or was interrupted. It's "instant replay" that helps me retrace my steps back to where it all went wrong.

It also amuses my patrons and low-key freaks out my younger co-workers. Whatever. They'll get old soon enough.

-T.Z.

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Friends... they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.
--Henry David Thoreau

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I tend to find myself narrating anything I'm doing when I'm working out steps. That or talking to what I'm doing. The former helps me to focus, and the latter is kinda me trying to ask the thing nicely to go along, please.

I tend to talk to/snarl at the characters in the game, myself.

I'm kind of a mix - sometimes I talk about the game I'm playing and how I'm playing it, and sometimes I talk to the game, responding to something a character's said or something that's happened.

note: I also quote Freeman's Mind a lot.

--G.
"Now I'll loot your bodies, 'cause that's how I roll, and I think I'm up to 10 or 15 cases of self-defense."
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.