For the last year I've been reviewing every game I play just as a personal exercise, going over my likes and dislikes after completing the title, or throwing it into the resell pile if it is particularly annoying. It has definitely changed the way I look at things while playing a game, but it hasn't sucked any of the fun out of gaming. It has, however, helped me get past my once overpowering urge to complete, and get my money's worth out of bad games.

If I was actually publishing these reviews of course I would have to complete even the bad games since playing something you hate all the way through somehow translates to credibility, and it is something I would only do for a living if I could choose the games I reviewed, and not be forced to assign numeric scores.

Anyway yeah writing reviews causes me to think more critically when playing a game just like all those papers in college forced me to think more when reading books rather than just letting me eyes glaze over as I attempt to get to the final page.

Goiuki4u's avatar has a severe case of Jekyll and Hyde

@Lixie:
I don't quite follow you there.

gamadaya

I review games simply because I love writing about them. It's a small joy I get out of my busy life.

hansamurai

My exam paper was on BioShock and I loved playing it (why wouldn't I?), but for some reason I found it hard and I didn't like writing about it. It's like you have a nice little amateur hobby such as talking with your friends about games and such, but as soon as you take it to an intellectual level all the "fun-ness" is sucked out of it.

Vetterli

The same game yields very different experiences if you are playing because you want to versus because you have to.

Lixie

I'm about to launch a gaming blog but don't think I'll have the patience to review games that aren't fun to play. Those that do it should be commended because that is a serious commitment for some games!

fragmaster

I think I'm the opposite of Maggie here. I never go into any type of media with a critical eye towards it. I'm always passively enjoying the experience. Using BioShock as an example, I played through the game and missed a ton of tiny little details that other people were talking about. I missed any kind of theme or statements the game was trying to make. It was only after hearing people talk about Ayn Rand and objectivism that I kind of went "Oh yeah" and went back and played it again. Even then halfway through I stopped looking for anything and started to just play it again.

I don't know why I have that problem. Well, it's not really a problem but I feel like I'm missing out on a lot. That's why I love reading the articles Leigh writes, because she always has some take on a game that I completely missed.

Silent Predator

I feel like the self-conscious approach I've had to games over the last few years has done more harm than good. I find it hard to be immersed anymore, and second-guess the story into oblivion, so that I'm rarely surprised, impressed or even just swept away like with a book.
It did enhance my enjoyment of Bioshock and Portal, but I'm not sure the trade-off is always worth it.

Pombar

If I did review games it'd be hard to me to stop playing to take notes...
I'd probably stipulate some minutes to play it, get into playing, and only after that I'd start writing about it.

But I'd find hard to review games, specially the ones that are not my type.

I do write quick game reviews sometimes, but only about the ones I liked, and only the ones I think people are interested in knowing more about. Or independent games which most people don't know about.

There are too many review websites out there already, and with the Internet, nowadays people seem more interested on information about the games than reviews.

But one thing I find interesting about reviewing is that it takes you back to what you are reviewing, and sometimes you find out new stuff you didn't notice while playing/watching on the first time.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

I tend to be critical and over analyse most games I play following a period in my life where I reassessed most things I liked so as to better use my rapidly diminishing free time. Ultimately, I feel that I enjoy playing games more now, simply because I don't waste my time on less enjoyable games just because I feel some obligation to play them.

I've had the intention to start blogging about some of my game related musings (and I've got plenty of them) for a while but I've only got around to this one so far with many more planned. I find it enjoyable to write about my passion, but I could never bring myself to properly review every game I played; even though I form reviews in my head while playing games, I have a tendency to trade them in if I realise I'm not having fun.

Perhaps worryingly, after finishing MGS4, the first thing that I thought was "I can't wait to discuss the symbolism in the final scenes with my mates". After reading the article Maggie linked I'm pleased to know that if there is something wrong with me, at least I'm not the only one.

jesusofwales

I never thought about writing my own reviews for a game, but I'm gonna give a shot.. I've been meaning to exercise my writing skills and, I'm thinking this could add whole new meaning to the games I play.

I can already see myself reading some of my reviews a couple years from now.. Now the hard part, what game to pick.

GummyTumor

I get more out of average games if I have to review them, as I'll rummage in their hidden depths more (assuming they have any). If it's a game I've really been looking forward to I'd prefer to just enjoy it undiluted, rather than be taking notes or setting out to find faults I'd normally just let slide.

Getting paid for your pastime though, hard to beat.

JudgeNutmeg

I enjoy talking about my gaming experiences, but haven't really tried translating that into blog writing yet... While I find myself keeping an eye on big developers and their releases when I start playing a game I try to forget what I already know/heard about so I can be critical of a title as I'm playing it, and avoid having my experiences too influenced by others. While it's good to hear about others feedback going through a game on your own, without the strategy guide, I think makes for the best experience and make the second playthrough more interesting.

gr8asianman

I'd love to write about games for a living, but I don't know if I'd be any good at it, at all.

Talleh

I've been able to appreciate games more that I started to learn how to make them. Sometimes it could be like "that's a clever game mechanic" or "nice trick making the graphics look like that". But it also gives me first-hand experience in what kind of effort is required even for something along the lines of an ATARI 2600 game. For example, there's some 2600 games that simulate physics

Shin-san