1.) Actually my friends tend to ask for my opinion, heh. But in all honesty, if I get a recommendation from someone, I will more often than not just go ahead and check it out. I'm willing to try anything at least once, but it helps that most of the people I talk to are pretty knowledgeable themselves.
2.) Yeah. I tend to gravitate towards more quirky or artsy games, so I get flak from people who think I'm wasting my time.
3.) I won't presume to have the best taste when it comes to games, but I would say it is broader than most, so I have no problem respecting other people's tastes. Being eclectic does tend to cause problems though, because I end up with way more games than I have time for (just look at my Backloggery

).
Jam it back in, in the dark.