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[Rolan7]

_{Yes you are literally the only person.  Ever.}

[Steelmagic]

You heretic

_{I've never played it}

[Mech#4]

I remember a blog or something that chronicled a non gamers journey through Half-Life, it was interesting because it highlighted some of the rather odd tropes gamers tend to take as obvious, like items being hidden within crates.

[Rolan7]

Seems like it was called "PapaBoo: Adventures of a Non-Gamer" and was at http://howdoiplaygame.com/, but the blog's gone.  It's just some sort of silly arcade now.

Searching for an excerpt from the blog didn't find the blog itself.  I think it's... actually gone?  Disappointing, because it sounds interesting.

    I played for 10 whole minutes last night. Got off the train, started moving around, started opening doors and wondering through. I figured out I was supposed to be looking for this test chamber. Scientists and security guards were talking to me but I didn’t have the sound up and wasn’t really listening.

    Found a “break room” with vending machines and stuff … wtf?
    Found a men’s restroom with feet under the stalls … wtf?
    Found a room with a suit that looks like I’m supposed to get it but I couldn’t figure out how to get it from behind the glass.

    Found a door, but a security guard wouldn’t let me through because I didn’t have a suit on.

    Got frustrated and exited for the night.

[Mech#4]

Yah, that sounds like it. I don't think he got very far, just after the cascade I believe, or at least that's where he was up to when I saw it about 3 years ago.

[TripJack]

_{Am I the only one who really dislikes the Half-Life series and pretty much any Valve game?}

nope

[WealthyRadish]

The first Half Life is fun, but I think Deus Ex is a better game if you're on a classic FPS binge. Half Life comes off as mostly average, which is funny, since the reason for that is likely the large influence it had on the genre. When it was released you could probably blow people's minds with a scripted event of a barrel rolling and the immersion of a functional microwave, before scripted events reached the stupid levels of modern FPS. Still really fun, but Deus Ex has a lot of other elements that I found interesting (even if Half Life's combat is better).

[Thexor]

Seems like it was called "PapaBoo: Adventures of a Non-Gamer" and was at http://howdoiplaygame.com/, but the blog's gone.  It's just some sort of silly arcade now.

Searching for an excerpt from the blog didn't find the blog itself.  I think it's... actually gone?  Disappointing, because it sounds interesting.

    I played for 10 whole minutes last night. Got off the train, started moving around, started opening doors and wondering through. I figured out I was supposed to be looking for this test chamber. Scientists and security guards were talking to me but I didn’t have the sound up and wasn’t really listening.

    Found a “break room” with vending machines and stuff … wtf?
    Found a men’s restroom with feet under the stalls … wtf?
    Found a room with a suit that looks like I’m supposed to get it but I couldn’t figure out how to get it from behind the glass.

    Found a door, but a security guard wouldn’t let me through because I didn’t have a suit on.

    Got frustrated and exited for the night.

If you're interested, I dug this record off the Internet Archive. The blog vanished sometime mid-2009; the linked post is the last archived copy before it turned into a Flash game dump.

Most of the images are broken, but the text is still readable!

[Sinistar]

_{Am I the only one who really dislikes the Half-Life series and pretty much any Valve game?}

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I don't personally dislike Half-Life.
I first met with HL years ago, receiving, ermm, "safe copy" from someone. Started multiple times, came as far as Lambda core, but never quite finished it.
Then I bought whole HL collection during one of those big Steam sales some time ago (year maybe? I'd really wish Steam had some "purchase history" button somewhere, or at least not hide it so thoroughly, if there is one).
Finished HL1, then HL2 with both episodes.
I don't know if it was because I am older now, less forgiving when it comes to mistakes in games or I just entered a long period of being incredebly unimpressed with nearly every FPS out there. But all HL games were just ok. Even much celebrated HL2. They both have good ideas, but there are also sometimes incredibly silly level design and dull combat in difficulties higher than medium in HL1, and dull weapons, stupid companions and sometimes-un-needed-yet-kinda-pushing-for-it gravity gun in HL2. Episode 2 was the only game I really enjoyed. It had just the right amount of variety and just the right length not to become boring.

Mass Effect 2 is also on sale, together with 1. Too bad 3 is not on Steam, I might otherwise consider finally grabbing them all to see what's all the hype about.

[Dutchling]

I don't get the Mass Effect games. The shooting parts are fun. but if I wanted to spend hours walking around a place with useless NPCs, I'd play a Bethesda game.

[Sean Mirrsen]

(year maybe? I'd really wish Steam had some "purchase history" button somewhere, or at least not hide it so thoroughly, if there is one)

Upper right corner, little arrow next to the <yourname's Account> link opens a drop-down - click "Account Details". The "Store Transactions" tab there has all your purchases by date.

Also, I bought the Red Faction Complete Bundle back when it was on sale in November, for 179 rubles - just under 5$.

[Sinistar]

Ah, thanks Sean Mirrsen.
...
Damn, now I feel bad. What stupid deals did I put my money into all those years ago? 

[Xantalos]

I don't get the Mass Effect games. The shooting parts are fun. but if I wanted to spend hours walking around a place with useless NPCs, I'd play a Bethesda game.

You get to talk to them and convince them to not be idiots because you're Space Jesus.

[Sinistar]

Aren't NPCs there mainly for you to have sex with?

[Xantalos]

Aren't NPCs there mainly for you to have sex with?

No, that's your crew members in the second game.