It's okay, I hear you. Though, I did say I've been reading Cyberpunk and Lovecraftian literature (which would be a genre/subgenera of literature, but not necessarily video games: e.g. FPS, Platformer, RPG, racing). I didn't mean to imply they were themes; I only included them to demonstrate the context. The distinction didn't need to be made, because it's just a light hearted forum post intentionally open to allow the most people to reply in a way that's meaningful to them. You're right though, those themes are great at describing what I'm after!
I don't know, mentioning going by "themes" then in the following sentence using a genre as an example, whether literary or from film, kind of beats the premise of the topic you're trying to discuss. That's at least how I see it; but then again, I'm just your avarage denizen, metaphorically inserting its two cents into the machine, so, really, who cares - your topic, your rules.
I have a tendency to be pedantic, but on the internet it doesn't tend to go well. Sort of how you feel the need to be apologetic for making the comment (I'm assuming you're not apologizing for being Aspergian!) [...]
My intention was more in line with being respectful rather than being apologetic, but tomayto, tomahto. With that said, paying atention to what others say or think, especially on the Internet, has never been a thing that concerns me - putting too much importance on whether your posts land or not I feel is an exercise in futility; it's quite frankly an otiose cry for approval. If your posts are an honest representation of yourself, then the rest should fall into place.
And no, I don't have Asperger's (as far as I know); I was mainly using the word as a verb.
Anyway...
[...] Then, to your understanding, what "themes" have, if at all, influenced your collecting?
Hard to pin the tail on that one, as I'm all over the place. In the end, though, genre remains a deciding factor for anything that could potentially pique my interest...that, and gameplay. Like you, visual novels don't do anything for me, as I'd much rather pick up a book; and likewise, simulators are just straight up banal and trite. Similarly, I used to be averse to point-and-click games, but I've learned to ignore my bias from time to time.