at least for pc gaming goes, i would say the lazyness of the developers to at least give you some configuration settings other that brightness. Not everyone has a super computer to play the games.

On Linux I've learned to finish one game at a time because one game might work with the open source driver and other not. Now I'm playing Trine 2 which runs better with the proprietary driver, but I have to run it in windowed mode because every time I adjust the volume with the keyboard, the screen goes black and bye bye gaming. Anyway, on Linux you'll have all kind of stupid problems. You'll have a game that runs better with the proprietary driver, at the same time break the alt-tab functionality, so I have to change to use the workspace shortcut to get out of the game. I also remember a game, I think it was Bastion. that was detecting my keyboard as a joystick.

Sinclair: Yeah, I switch around the command-staff on differing installs :D Amongst other favourite TV shows.
My login screen, windows avatar, shutdown screen, and desktop wallpaper are space-based pictures, too....

Program Data/Saves: Yeah, which makes it even worse when needing to reinstall the OS, and want to find the save games to back them up before wiping the boot drive!!

WHY?? Games used to save inside their own directory, not spread out across 7 different f******, and protected, locations on the boot drive, why the switch? What F****** sense does that ever make in a sane world???

*starts turning green*

Time Limits and the inability to save anywhere. I Despise check point saving.

yeah!! bring back quick save!! just be careful where you save

I don't mind check-point saving, but ONLY IF I also have the option of saving anywhere. I can't stand the one save that a lot of newer games have, and it's all automated.

Of course, now that I'm somewhat used to check-point saving, I have found myself going through older games which require manual saves and completely forget to save, losing progress.

One of very important principles of proper software architecture is that you should always, always keep user data stored wherever operating system dictates them to be and to keep installed software wherever operating system likes them to be. For Windows, it should be Program Files for all programs and user folders by default on C:\ for all user settings - such as saved games.

This distinction exists for a very good reason - so installed software can't, in theory, change itself and all other installed software without permission, yet can save user settings and files anyway, and so all user settings and files are clearly separated for each and every user of a computer - when my wife logs in on our computer and wants to play, say, Skyrim, when she clicks 'Continue' in main menu, her latest save will be loaded, and all saves in the 'load' section will be hers. When I log in, all I'll get to see is my stuff. It's clean, fast, intuitive and easy to use.

Now why developers refuse to put all saved games into the dedicated folder called "Saved games" which existed ever since Vista was a thing is beyond me, true. But at least they caught on storing them in user folder.

Now if you don't want software to add more and more stuff to your SSD, you can change default location of your Documents folder. A quick tutorial - right-click 'Documents', find the 'Target' tab and change the path to whatever you would prefer. I'm not sure if this moves your Documents folder immediately, I would hope so.

Design. Lazy design.

Designers. Pixel hunt designers are dog rapists.

Playing Half-Life. I always like to test the "free range" games I play just to see what I can get away with doing. So I decided during the intro tutorial section of half-life, after they gave me a weapon, I'd test the waters.

I thought I would be cute and run around and shoot everyone I could, including the scientist who was supposed to open the door. (I played the intro before.) All of the sudden, turrets came out of the ceiling and gunned me down no matter where I tried to run. Apparently Black Mesa was one operation that wasn't meant to be screwed around with.

Check points are ok if they are frequent, but they never are lol

That's also true. I read a really great article about how difficult it can be for game designers to implement a good check-point system. I can't seem to locate it, but it was a really interesting read that explained more thought and effort go into it than we think.

Of course, that doesn't mean they should get a free pass when their check-point system is terrible.

In my opinion it can make or break an game. Abe's Oddysee for example, I cannot play that game because of the piss poor save system. It is a shame too because I would say it was otherwise flawless. Oddworld New 'N' Tasty fixed that problem and it was great.

I saw an article a couple of years ago where a developer criticised the idea of having manual saving because they didn't want to make the effort.

It's the new way of doing things --auto-saves can be catastrophic at times. However society deemed manual saving was more deliberate than automatic. I'll give it that.

Time limits; check-point saving; no Y-axis inverting; no manual; mazes; invisible walls; NPC escorting missions; no difficulty options; no graphic options; no subtitle options; no key re-binding options; enforced regional language; slow moving characters/animations; unskippable cut-scenes/intro/animations; rubberbanding; pixel-hunting; quick-time events; DRM, especially always online DRM; enforced cloud saving; censored content; unresponsive controls; auto-aim; illogical puzzles; overpowered bosses; bad AI; backtracking; sharp-shooter AI at any range; underwater levels; hidden save folder; poor console ports; heavily bugged games on release; incomplete games on release; no single-player; day one patches; day-one DLC; micro-transactions... and don't get me started on multiplayer.

I'm tired now.

=D

Yes, that was quite the list.