Machinery and electronics have to meet my functional requirements or it's a non-starter. After that, I certainly try to keep things as pretty as possible.

Function over all else. Form is an afterthought, unless the function is having form. Apple is a great example on how something can look nice while being worthless and impeding.

Function(int argc, char *argv[]) > Form (editor ID=0x00F75512).


Let me dig up a variation on my post in that Mass Effect thread:

You can have an otherwise great game with crappy graphics (as in early 90's FPS) or a crappy game with awesome graphics. Obvious choice is obvious.