Other than that, I have no answers.

Oh, right about the horizontal thing. I think I said vertical because I wanted to distinguish it from zelda-style, but that’s right, we call that style top-down.

I’ve corrected it in-text.

At its core Diablo (and Diablo 2) are arcade games in the fun–dare I say mindless?–sense of the word. UGNG is an arcade game in the frustrating-you-can-only-save-at-the-end-of-the-level-sense of the world. I’m sorry to say this is not an uncommon occurrence on the PSP.

I’m not sure why game companies are having such a hard time with this. It’s really pretty straightforward. Lumines understood it and it was a launch title. Maybe direct access to the PlayStation Store will make that a platform for publishers to sell some of their classic titles (Note to Sega: Sonic 2 should be on this system, stat).

Oh, and:

We would then travel through a vertical 2D environment collecting points, resources, rings, coins or children who say ‘thank you Michael’ before being forced to confront a boss at the end of the level.

I think you meant ‘horizontal 2D environment’.

If the stylus is used then you only have the D-pad, and one shoulder button (the other becoming a little difficult to press). This gives you about 5 buttons plus the stylus. Without trying to radically depart from what makes DOTA DOTA I’m thinking the best thing would be to have the top screen devoted to a map, the bottom screen be the area around the character.

Unlike what you described the current DOTA DS does, I wouldn’t bother switching the screens. It seems to me the map should not be interactive but should just contain information. So maybe throw up information about the team’s heroes up there as well.

As I’ve said, I think the bottom screen should be the ‘action screen’. I would modify the game so that you never control other units (even ones you spawn) and so there’s nothing else to select. I’d let the D-pad control the movement of the screen, with a tap moving you to a point on the screen and a double-tap attacking that point (or object) or objects nearby.

How would you buy items? I’d space the sellers out a little more (maybe drop a few of the less important ones) and when you click on them (and get close enough) the action screen throws up an item list and you can purchase from there. You wouldn’t be able to see the rest of the action screen at this point so you’d want to be careful if there were enemies around (great time for the SA to attack unless we want to disable attacks to players who are shopping).

Finally, that L-button… not quite sure what that would be used for. Maybe cycling through items to use?

I think you’re right that your interests tend to skew towards people who are unlikely to go out that much. I’m sorry this sounds harsh but perhaps you need to develop some wider interests? Physical activity can be a good way to meet other people, even if it’s just something like going to a gym. Alternatively, ex-pat clubs should exist in major cities like Beijing and you could keep an eye out for other group activities like book clubs or movie clubs that encourage people to meet together and talk.

Failing all of those you could try volunteer work. Not sure what kind of people you’d meet doing that, though.

In general society there is sometimes a negative reaction to Asian and black immigrants that more privileged whites rarely see.

It doesn’t make me feel good about it either. I wish I had some advice for how to deal with it