Dear Future Gamer,

Having subscribed to your magazine for several weeks now (and having read computer games magazines for several years) I am disappointed to see that little or no coverage is given to "Fanfiction" as of late.

Fanfics have been given a bad name because of "Nude Raider" and their cronies. However fan fiction serves as a very good counter-argument to the "videogames stifle creativity" angle that people seem to champion. Indeed it seems to magnify creative input in some cases. Some of the Fanfiction out on the Net is much better than what's in the printed media. (Especially the Final Fantasy Fanfiction).

They also stimulate the imagination and make people think about things in different ways. I have been writing fan fiction for just over a year now and although I don't rate myself much, at least it gets the creative juices flowing, and I'm not vegetating in front of the TV...

People also debate the plot of games... these discussions often go much deeper than the games themselves. I suppose it strengthens the argument that videogames are 'art' since while one lot of people debate whether Tifa's (FFVII) chest is real, another discusses the finer points of mortality & how the actions of Holy (FFVII again) are relevant to Apocalyptic theories etc. (At this point, I'd like to point out that I have a healthy social life and still go out and get hammered every Saturday night, like every other 19-year-old!!)

With reference to the "Musical Youth" Letter (FG21) I have to say that I love videogame soundtracks, I own nine CDs (six of them Final Fantasy-based) and they sit quite nicely along side my copy of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band & International Velvet (Catatonia).

As soon as I have enough money, I'm going to order the soundtrack for Final Fantasy VIII, I've heard snippets of it and it sounds fab! (Eyes on me is only half as annoying as Celine Dion's My heart will go on).

Anyway, my theory is, if you like videogame soundtracks then go out and by them! It might be a pain, but listening to the orchestral version of One Winged Angel can make all the hassle worthwhile.

Ellis Meredith-Owen

FG: Fan sites are, indeed, a good thing. I see nothing wrong with a bunch of like-minded individuals holding esoteric discussions on the finer points of games and gaming. After all we set up the Chat Forum for just that reason. We don't cover them for the simple reason that they're generally too specialised. We may do a general feature covering the whole phenomenon of fan sites, so watch this space. As for music and game music soundtracks, there's no accounting for taste, so if you like 'em, keep buying 'em!