247: The Infected
- Thread starter John Carr
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Wow. This has to be the most touching article I've read on this website. I'm sorry for your loss.
That was more thought provoking, touching and powerful than I was expecting. A wonderful article it opened my eyes to an extent as I've never dealt with anything like this in my life. I'm sorry for your loss.
Shit, now I'm tearing up... At a public computer. Why does this site have to have such high quality articles
My condonlences on ypur losses, so it must be hard for you have to written this high quality article. My thoughts is that i agree with you games are good to relieve your anger, Hope you are well.
So sorry for your loss John. A very emotional article, I actually welled up and I don't do that often.
Video games help with letting my anger out in a safe way.
Video games help with letting my anger out in a safe way.
So sorry to read about what happened to your folks John. I agree with everyone else though, this is a really moving article. I hope that writing it, like L4D, made you feel a bit better about everything.
Sorry to hear about it, buddy. I've still got both parents, luckily, so I can't imagine how much it sucked for you.
On a different note, this seems like at least the second story I've read here lately about gaming to get through a tough time - some guy wrote about his divorce a few issues back and how Modern Warfare got him through it. If we could do something to get these stories reported outside the gaming community, it might do a lot to lesson our image as bloodthirsty maniacs who play "murder simulators" because of an innate desire to hurt others.
On another different note, your L4D nickname is amazing. Hail Jesse! :-D
On a different note, this seems like at least the second story I've read here lately about gaming to get through a tough time - some guy wrote about his divorce a few issues back and how Modern Warfare got him through it. If we could do something to get these stories reported outside the gaming community, it might do a lot to lesson our image as bloodthirsty maniacs who play "murder simulators" because of an innate desire to hurt others.
On another different note, your L4D nickname is amazing. Hail Jesse! :-D
I've lost my Grandmother to something very similar, so I feel you, man. I was very close to her.
A very strong argument for games as therapy, and you touched on some of the appeal of horror as well.
A very strong argument for games as therapy, and you touched on some of the appeal of horror as well.
Writing about personal loss for sympathy is kinda shoddy journalism...which is why I'm glad that's not what this is at all. =)
There was this whole talk at TED about how games can save the world; how this entire civilization before the Greeks managed to survive through this ludicrous famine by distracting themselves with a dice game made from small bones. How even today, we play games to show we can solve problems no matter how big. Sure, I think we can all agree it's escapism in a way, but if people feel better about it, who's to argue?
And yeah, it seems obvious you've been through a lot more than most of us have. I know I'd be really reluctant to write about something so personal.
There was this whole talk at TED about how games can save the world; how this entire civilization before the Greeks managed to survive through this ludicrous famine by distracting themselves with a dice game made from small bones. How even today, we play games to show we can solve problems no matter how big. Sure, I think we can all agree it's escapism in a way, but if people feel better about it, who's to argue?
And yeah, it seems obvious you've been through a lot more than most of us have. I know I'd be really reluctant to write about something so personal.
That was an incredible article. Having never experienced any real loss myself, this was an eye-opening insight in to the mind of someone who has. Thank you, Mr Carr.
Also, fantastic gamertag, I am reading 'PREACHER' at this very instant.
Also, fantastic gamertag, I am reading 'PREACHER' at this very instant.
I'm sorry for your loss, I know how it feels to lose a loved one to a fatal disease (in my case, my grandfather died of heart disease). As for the gaming as a method of coping, I feel that its a great statement of to each his own. My coping mechanism for example is reading childhood favorite books or writing movie reviews for my school newspaper (though I have never had to cope with such things as you).
Really, thank you for writing such a piece on the escapist, Mr Carr. I know that, if I were ever in a situation like that with just one of my parents, I would have had no way of dealing with it. You have some truly remarkable strength, and everyone on the Escapist gives their condolences.
Also, someone should have a word with Michael Atkinson.
Also, someone should have a word with Michael Atkinson.
My mother was involved in a car accident when i was around six. A man ran a red light and hit her and my sister whilst they were on their way to swimming training. My sister walked away from the crash. My mother wound up in a hospice with a tube in her throat to help her breath, unable to speak, unable to move. I can think of no greater horror then being stuck in my own body, day and night, unable to speak my mind or even drink a glass of water.
When my father told me, i was too young to understand. As he tried to cope with his daughter and wife in hosptial, i was sent to a lot of friend's places to stay, to give him time to deal with what had occured. It was at this time that the teenage son of my dad's friend showed me Commander Keen on his PC.
I was hooked. Day in and out i played that game. Then i finally had to go home, when my dad managed to sort himself out. Somehow someone got me a Nintendo. Again, day in and day out, i played and played, games like Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda.
When i managed to get my first Playstation was when i started to help my dad out more around the house. He taught me to cook simple meals for him, myself and my sister when i was eleven, as well as wash his clothes and keep the house reletively clean. All the while, my Playstation was there, with Lara Croft and Crash Bandicoot keeping me company when he was working late, which was more often then not.
As soon as someone thrust a controller into my hand, i was away from the world. My endless chores melted into nothing, video-games lending me worlds of fantasy and wonder where i could decide fate. Where i could decide who lived or died. Where i could escape from the un-ignorable truth - that my mother was never coming home.
I still remember one day, when i innocently asked when mum was coming home. My father yelled that she was never coming home, and that i will have to get used to it. I believe that was when Duke Nukem 3D first came out. I used to play on my dad's PC for hours. It used to drive him nuts.
Eventually he got me my own PC, some shitty hand-me-down - and then i could play whenever i wanted. I even began to write stories on it. Soon my escapism evolved into two categories - writing and gaming.
Was gaming cathartic? Perhaps. Did it help me deal with my problems? Not really. Did it help me forget my troubles, even if they were subconscious, even if it was only for an hour or two?
Unquestionably yes.
When my father told me, i was too young to understand. As he tried to cope with his daughter and wife in hosptial, i was sent to a lot of friend's places to stay, to give him time to deal with what had occured. It was at this time that the teenage son of my dad's friend showed me Commander Keen on his PC.
I was hooked. Day in and out i played that game. Then i finally had to go home, when my dad managed to sort himself out. Somehow someone got me a Nintendo. Again, day in and day out, i played and played, games like Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda.
When i managed to get my first Playstation was when i started to help my dad out more around the house. He taught me to cook simple meals for him, myself and my sister when i was eleven, as well as wash his clothes and keep the house reletively clean. All the while, my Playstation was there, with Lara Croft and Crash Bandicoot keeping me company when he was working late, which was more often then not.
As soon as someone thrust a controller into my hand, i was away from the world. My endless chores melted into nothing, video-games lending me worlds of fantasy and wonder where i could decide fate. Where i could decide who lived or died. Where i could escape from the un-ignorable truth - that my mother was never coming home.
I still remember one day, when i innocently asked when mum was coming home. My father yelled that she was never coming home, and that i will have to get used to it. I believe that was when Duke Nukem 3D first came out. I used to play on my dad's PC for hours. It used to drive him nuts.
Eventually he got me my own PC, some shitty hand-me-down - and then i could play whenever i wanted. I even began to write stories on it. Soon my escapism evolved into two categories - writing and gaming.
Was gaming cathartic? Perhaps. Did it help me deal with my problems? Not really. Did it help me forget my troubles, even if they were subconscious, even if it was only for an hour or two?
Unquestionably yes.