Gaming, I tend to talk about that a lot on this site don’t I? To this day I have trouble understanding why I truly play video games. Even when I was younger there were many other activities to keep me entertained and yet I still felt myself coming back to the world of gaming no matter what the other opportunities were.
Is it escapism? The ability to have my choices affect the world? Or is it simply the greatest form of entertainment this generation? It’s a difficult question to answer and I have spent a good part of the time writing for this website contemplating and understanding the answer to this question.
For me I think I have an answer. In life despite me writing for this site and having an impact on the world by creating content for people to read I simply feel as though my life is but a small dot in comparison to the rest of the world and the things other people have been able to accomplish. In life other people have been much more successful than me, have sold their souls to gain massive popularity or simply have just been harder workers earlier in life which has led to them being set up for life. So for me video games allow me to create my own reality, one where I am the star of the show.
In RPG’s I can become the noble knight that saves the world from impending doom. In strategy games I can become a commander of vast armies that conquer great lands and make me the most important leader of that world. In puzzle games I can feel as though I have outsmarted the game itself and create a sense of accomplishment that nothing in this reality can truly match. In all of these examples I find myself being simply much more important than just Jinx the guy who writes about video games and works a normal, boring job.
Reality is what you choose it to be, there is no true definition to define what it is as it means so much to so many people. In my reality I am all of the example I gave above and more. I am important, I matter, and in a life such as this having something like that to jump into during your spare time and finally feel as though you are powerful, free and that your choices truly make a difference, well that’s why I come back to video games. As the motto of this site says, to me video games are not just a way to kill time until my next shift at work, they are my life. My legacy, my reality, is the code that I spend my time playing around inside.
And so I now pose this question to all of you. Why do you play video games? Do you feel as though you would call it your small corner of reality? Be sure to comment and let us all know what you think! That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.