If you play games other than IF, what do you look for?
For me it’s all about storytelling, and multiple endings are a big plus, as is good voice acting it there is any.
For me it’s the corpses of other players.
The “gg” after I have overrun their base with an early zealot rush!
This question is a little broad – since the games I play range from Starcraft 2 to The Witcher 2 and from Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup to Team Fortress 2, you can imagine that I look for many different things. (Of those four, The Witcher 2 is for Sark and Team Fortress 2 is for Grueslayer. 
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I play a lot of non-IF, but I look for a single-player experience that will be fun. Which covers a lot of ground, from Dwarf Fortress to Amorphous+ to The Witcher and back. I try for ones that aren’t too technically demanding or are rewarding enough that they’re worth it in other ways.
I look for systems that interact with each other in interesting ways, and worlds with a lot of places to explore and things to find. I like games that give you a lot of choices as to what to do and how to approach the challenges.
I generally couldn’t care less about story. If it’s there and it’s good, then that’s great, but that’s not something I expect (or particularly want) from games at this point.
I agree almost entirely with Shammock: I’m really into exploration and adventure in the games I play. I believe IF and MUDs provide the best experience for this facet of gameplay, but it takes more concentration; hence why I usually spend more time playing “eye-candy” games instead.
I play a lot of RPGs (both Western and Japanese), and I occasionally play graphic adventures, too. Sometimes I play something like a platformer or an FPS (If I have one), but very rarely. When I do play any of these games, it’s all about immersion with me, and I enjoy hoping around from place to place in a rather mindless fashion.
Oh yes, I occasionally enjoy strategy game that has either exploration or setting as a major component: something like CIV IV, Master of Orion, and Balor of the Evil Eye.
And as Shammock has previously stated: story, I don’t expect anything great from video games (at this point). I think that may eventually change, but I’d only be letting my hopes down if I picked up video games expecting a great story; I might as well enjoy them for the virtues that they deliver well for now, and for me that’s adventure and exploration.
I want story and compelling characters.
Except for Minecraft. The main thing I want from Minecraft is diamond ore.
It depends on the kind of game:
Strategy games: A slow pace (preferably turn-based). Peaceful routes to victory. A large range of difficulty settings (so I can cakewalk to victory if I want to, or immediately get crushed beneath Ghandi’s iron heel). Lots and lots and lots of different options and strategies available. The ability to generate a random map and jump straight into a single player game, with no need to mess about with campaigns or other people.
Story-heavy games: Decent story, characters, writing and voice acting. Gameplay that isn’t focused on killing stuff. (I’ll tolerate some killing, but I’ve never warmed to FPSs/brawlers/etc.) Low difficulty (because I suck). Shorter rather longer. (See the parenthetical about how I suck. If the Internet says a game lasts about N hours, I will take about N x 3 hours to finish it.)
Twitchy arcade-style games: Extreme difficulty. (I play this kind of game casually; I want to start a game, die almost immediately and go back to what I was doing before.) Simple, intuitive controls. Graphics that are clean and functional rather than spectacular. A fun, fast-paced soundtrack. Detailed, complicated high score lists. No “story” getting in the way of the game.