Hahaha...cheaaat :D. Thanks for that. Will have to try it out now, and will report back to you when I do!

Well I'd say there's only one option, really...

Syberia II

reasons:
- it's very wintery: open your window while playing for an added layer of immersion :P
- all the artwork (music/graphics/etc.) are just gorgeous
- I loved the story (if you played the first game, you know what to expect - not mandatory, but greatly recommended!)
- you may be able to finish it in less than 10 hours (but you probably won't)
- it prepares you for the upcoming third installment ;)

I'd love to be in for:
Baldur's Gate 2 Complete

Here would be some of my suggestions for you.

Majesty Gold HD

This game does have some management, but it's largely hands off as you can only influence the events of the game rather than directly control the events. On top of that the game is played via a series of missions and quests that you can play in any order, meaning that you have a number of missions that can be fairly short or long depending on play style. As far as stories, the stories and missions are fairly self contained, but each is clear and concise to each quest that you play.

Any of the free 'Point and Click' adventure games.

Specifically, "Beneath a Steel Sky" and "Flight of the Amazon Queen" are both fairly standard, with the former being more series, and the latter being more goofy. Both of these will give you a bit of a mental exercise, but otherwise have little to no fail states or deaths in the game and have full stories in each. The former acts something like a detective novel, trying to find out the who's and why's of your fate, where the latter is something like an old cheesy movie with an attitude between Scooby Doo and Indiana Jones. I haven't played the other freebies so I can't make a suggestion on those. You also have the advantage of saving and setting down whenever you want.

FTL: Faster Than Light

This one approaches more of a space sim and management, but once you get the hang of it then you can play a game in about 40 minutes. This one involves you as a ship with limited crew, supplies and several galaxies to fight through. You are expected to die repeatedly and often, and even when you learn the game and get it figured out, even on easy mode your success rate will be fairly low, but it keeps you challenged with a single frontal goal, and a reason to keep the game moving as staying in one place puts you in danger to vastly more powerful ships.

Tiny and Big: Grandpa's Leftovers

This one is fairly low in the story department, instead opting for giving you several high powered tools including lasers and grapples, and making the environment fully destructible with your tools to manipulate and play with.

The Incredible Machine Collection

Again, story is lacking. Essentially you are acting assistant or seeking apprenticeship or inheritance of a scientist's work, in the form of a number of rube goldberg puzzles. Trap a monkey, make toast, fire a laser, fire a rocket, send a golfball into space, launch a mouse across a room to feed a cat and activate a light switch so that you can power a treadmill to throw that cat into a pile of aquariums that you need to smash, utter nonsense but fun to play, and the collection easily gives you around 1000 puzzles between the games.


Edit: As for interests: You suggested to select 3, so for me that would be "Shadowrun: Returns:" "Dragonshard" and "Demon Stone" in that order

Possibly the final 24 hours coming up, and I've added another game (I'M SUCH A HORRIBLE GAMBLER...STUPID IMPULSE MYSTERY BUYING!), so if you're interested in Shadowrun Returns, put in (or edit) your entries!

It is hard to think of anymore recommendation, but here it goes. You might like Tango Fiesta, an over the top, top-down-shooter that embodies the 80's action movie perfectly. So that is my recommendation to you :)

Loom or Sam & Max: Hit the Road would be my choices my possible prize.

I'll probably get some hate for this shameless self-promotion, but I have a game that you can't possibly have ever played before because I made it. It's a text adventure which plays a lot like one of those Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. Short (even with the achievements), no ugly graphics (none at all, but that's beside the point), humorous story (not necessarily engaging, but I've been told I'm a good writer), and not much heavy strategy involved (fairly luck-based, but you can figure out what to do if you pay attention). Best of all, it's free.
http://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/wcbckrajeeuoasvstf3xiq/the-tower

In the bizarre offchance you get so drunk that you end up picking me, I'll take the $3 option and ask you to buy me Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive.

Figure I'll add another 24 hours before I close up, since I added Shadowrun Returns a bit late to the competition.

And remember folks, I'm looking for recommendations for what to play next from the games that I already own (or yes, ones available freely on the internet)!

The in my opinion you should go with:
- MDK2 (it's really funny);
- System Shock 2;
- Syberia II (although I prefer the first part);
- Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
OR
- Arcanum (well, it's long enough but the plot is great).
And don't touch M.A.X., 'cause it's... well... Like a chess, you know. It's catchy, but sooo mathematical...

************************************************************
COMPETITION CLOSED!

Okay, I'm closing up now, and have been trying to figure out everything, sorry for the delay! PMs should be on their way soon to all the winners.

Counting only those who entered (although there have been some interesting ideas from non-entrants as well)
Shortest game I was recommended was Passage at 10 minutes according to How Long to Beat.
After that, The Novelist at 3 hours 16 minutes if played leisurely, and then MDK2 if played leisurely is 9h 23m.

Arcanum was the longest game suggested, at 42h 28m on average (although if I'm playing leisurely, apparently Sonic Adventure DX is the longest at 122h 41m, but considering the nature of the game, that is probably counting getting all achievements and secrets and such)

Highest rated game on gog recommended to me seems to be System Shock 2 (recommended twice), followed by S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, both being fairly large games. (Eyeballingly) balancing size and rating, MDK2 has a time of 9h 23m, as mentioned, with a rating of 4.3 stars. Syberia 2 (also recommended twice) is longer at 14h 37m leisurely, also with 4.3 stars, but fewer ratings leading to 4.3.

Pity I'm way too lazy to create a weighted function that finds the optimum along all criteria, but mathematically, it seems MDK2 should be the next game I play?

Thanks for having me as one of the fortunate ones in your giveaway! \o/

Since you are so into play time length at the moment, you may like to know that you provided me with (now that I will finally be able to play both Baldur's Gate games back to back) a gaming load of at least 140 hours. Now, since I am a 'bit of a completionist' it will set me back some 291,5 hours according to HLTB... Guess I'd better stay unemployed a little while longer then! :$

Anyway, have a lot of fun during all your upcoming celebrations and I especially wish you good luck with the dancing!

P.S.: I created that weighted function you mentioned. The next game to play should be Syberia 2, can you believe it?! Unfortunately I just lost the calculations, so you'll have to take my word for it... ;o)

Thank you so much!
And congratulations, again!

Thank you very much for the gift! I'm happy you consider playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. It's one of my favourite games.

I just want to add there are 3 games in the series: Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat, with CoP being the best (in my opinion). There is also a free remake of the first game (rather an enhanced version, with better graphics and restored maps) the "S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Lost Alpha" but it's on a higher difficulty and only recommended if you finish the first 3 games.

Your birthday, our treat, thank you for a wonderful gift!

Make sure to buzz when that diploma arrives ;)

Thank you for Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis ,

I really hope you enjoyed the game suggested!

I think any run and gun games would make a good small interesting time waster!

Im playing hotline miami atm after gettin burnt out on assassins creed rogue.