You sir have compleatly read my mind, these thoughts practically mirror my ownStraying Bullet said:
...and besides, your avatar is f**kin Garrus!! That kinda forces me to like you
258: Every Game Is the End of the World
- Thread starter Nick Halme
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...and besides, your avatar is f**kin Garrus!! That kinda forces me to like you
Everyone, and I mean everyone, needs escapism of some form or another.
The problem is, that as long as the source of escapism "exists" it's seen as being normal and accepted.
Cosplayers at a con are looked down upon. Local news broadcasts treat them with a smarmy condescending tone. But the guys who take off their shirts and cover themselves with body paint to go to a football game are lauded as "true fans."
Sports fans and gamers (and I fit squarely into both camps) are exactly the same. Both are media for escapism and a chance to become part of something big. Anything that is used as escapism has to have, by definition, a source of unreality to it.
I'm glad this is the sort of thing that's getting pointed out, although what with it being here on The Escapist, it's kind of a "preaching to the choir" situation.
But still, kudos on a well-written and insightful article!
The problem is, that as long as the source of escapism "exists" it's seen as being normal and accepted.
Cosplayers at a con are looked down upon. Local news broadcasts treat them with a smarmy condescending tone. But the guys who take off their shirts and cover themselves with body paint to go to a football game are lauded as "true fans."
Sports fans and gamers (and I fit squarely into both camps) are exactly the same. Both are media for escapism and a chance to become part of something big. Anything that is used as escapism has to have, by definition, a source of unreality to it.
I'm glad this is the sort of thing that's getting pointed out, although what with it being here on The Escapist, it's kind of a "preaching to the choir" situation.
But still, kudos on a well-written and insightful article!
Completely agreed. I gave up gaming for awhile back in my mid-teens. I packed up my PS2 and started working out and really applying myself to school. I got a girlfriend, got A+ grades instead of high B's, and enjoyed the hell out of being fit. But eventually my friends came over with a few twelve-packs of soda and a brand new copy of Halo 2, and I haven't been able to get a damn thing done since. I can't bring myself to quit gaming like that again, it's ingrained into who I am, and to leave it behind would be leaving a part of myself behind, too.
This is the most insight article I have ever seen.
I play video games as a form of escape. The world is brash, harsh and downright gritty. And every game I play is diving into a different world. And I never regret a single minute of it.
Despite the games that I play, the world is indifferent. No matter what I do, I cannot adjust to any setting without letting go hobby.
I play video games as a form of escape. The world is brash, harsh and downright gritty. And every game I play is diving into a different world. And I never regret a single minute of it.
Despite the games that I play, the world is indifferent. No matter what I do, I cannot adjust to any setting without letting go hobby.
At first I had no idea what he was talking about but by the end I was nodding my head to every paragraph. Nicely written
Very well written and compelling article! It's a very interesting take on escapism in general, and I agree that escapism is the same regardless of whether you're escaping into games, TV, books, sports, drunken parties, fast cars, music, drug trips, or romance. We're all fulfilling a need, and denying that the need exists does nothing. A need is a need. If we can't fulfill it through the rules, then we cheat. So many people think cheating is bad, but how can denying people their needs be any better? Not only is it heartless and arrogant, but it's also futile.
Interesting. I'm not sure nerdiness is still being seen as a negative. I mean, 'Revenge of the Nerds' came out in the eighties. Now everyone needs a nerd to explain to them how their computer works. We're still a subculture, but an accepted one.
There's nothing wrong with escapism, but in the end of the day it's just that, escapism. I don't remember if it was here on the Escapist (hey!) nor on some other site, probably Destructoid, where someone said, 'if you're over twenty-two and you spend a lot of time thinking about games and you're not paid to do it, you're a faliure.' Maybe a bit harsh, but fundamentally true. (My reaction to that was, 'Yeah - maybe I need to try to get paid.')
Gaming is the only art-based subculture where the observes have no desire to become the creators. Everyone who reads a lot fancies they could write the next best-selling novel. Every film fan takes film classes and dreams of Cannes. Every big music fan has been in a garage band once. Gamers may sometimes dream to create games, but only as a completely hypothetical scenario - oh, if I were to make my game, it'd be the perfect game, it'd be like this and this and that etc. But the indie gamemaker that which every nerd gaming nerd can aspire to be - is the exception to the norm. (I'm a pretty lame programmer, but I've decided to try to create a game at least once - how can I claim to understand games otherwise?)
There's nothing wrong with escapism, again, but one must make sure it's only that, escapism. Whether you waste away your weekend over playing MW2 or watching soccer matches or reading comics or reading books or actually working cataloguing all of your company's accounting files - all of those things are pointless on a grander scale. And that's not a problem, again, as long as you keep that in mind. To become a gamer is no way to challenge the norm - it is merely a way to take on the norm in another way, to replace the drone of the faceless office worker with the drone of the fictitious level 57 death knight.
I want to become a writer. I want to create something that future generations will enjoy and think, 'so this is what people of this generation thought'. I want to become something different because I can't stand being just another faceless piece of the machinery. Now, being a faceless piece of the machinery gets a bad rep. Plenty of people are faceless pieces of the machinery, and they're perfectly happy. They work, they have fulfilling careers, they get married and love their spouses and children. But it's not a life for me, not any more thann becoming a mountain climber would be.
I am also a gamer, and no matter how often gaming lets me down, I remain a gamer. I've let my identity be built about that. But I know that if I rely only on being a gamer to leave my mark on the world., I'll fail. For as much as I love gaming, as a subculture and as a form of art appreciation and as a philosophy, in the end it's just a game. And there's nothing to it if all you want is to play games. It's certainly no more defensible or damnable than being a nice eight to five worker and giving it all for the company - your sales reports won't change the world any more than your list of kills. But one must not mistake the different for the superior - it's just as bad as the mistake most 'normal' people make of mistaking the different for the inferior.
This post is not as well written as I had expected and I'm not sure if I got my point across or if I even had one to begin with, but my browser is hanging when I'm writing and I get to see this box being filled very slowly after I type, so that's all you're getting today. Cheerio.
There's nothing wrong with escapism, but in the end of the day it's just that, escapism. I don't remember if it was here on the Escapist (hey!) nor on some other site, probably Destructoid, where someone said, 'if you're over twenty-two and you spend a lot of time thinking about games and you're not paid to do it, you're a faliure.' Maybe a bit harsh, but fundamentally true. (My reaction to that was, 'Yeah - maybe I need to try to get paid.')
Gaming is the only art-based subculture where the observes have no desire to become the creators. Everyone who reads a lot fancies they could write the next best-selling novel. Every film fan takes film classes and dreams of Cannes. Every big music fan has been in a garage band once. Gamers may sometimes dream to create games, but only as a completely hypothetical scenario - oh, if I were to make my game, it'd be the perfect game, it'd be like this and this and that etc. But the indie gamemaker that which every nerd gaming nerd can aspire to be - is the exception to the norm. (I'm a pretty lame programmer, but I've decided to try to create a game at least once - how can I claim to understand games otherwise?)
There's nothing wrong with escapism, again, but one must make sure it's only that, escapism. Whether you waste away your weekend over playing MW2 or watching soccer matches or reading comics or reading books or actually working cataloguing all of your company's accounting files - all of those things are pointless on a grander scale. And that's not a problem, again, as long as you keep that in mind. To become a gamer is no way to challenge the norm - it is merely a way to take on the norm in another way, to replace the drone of the faceless office worker with the drone of the fictitious level 57 death knight.
I want to become a writer. I want to create something that future generations will enjoy and think, 'so this is what people of this generation thought'. I want to become something different because I can't stand being just another faceless piece of the machinery. Now, being a faceless piece of the machinery gets a bad rep. Plenty of people are faceless pieces of the machinery, and they're perfectly happy. They work, they have fulfilling careers, they get married and love their spouses and children. But it's not a life for me, not any more thann becoming a mountain climber would be.
I am also a gamer, and no matter how often gaming lets me down, I remain a gamer. I've let my identity be built about that. But I know that if I rely only on being a gamer to leave my mark on the world., I'll fail. For as much as I love gaming, as a subculture and as a form of art appreciation and as a philosophy, in the end it's just a game. And there's nothing to it if all you want is to play games. It's certainly no more defensible or damnable than being a nice eight to five worker and giving it all for the company - your sales reports won't change the world any more than your list of kills. But one must not mistake the different for the superior - it's just as bad as the mistake most 'normal' people make of mistaking the different for the inferior.
This post is not as well written as I had expected and I'm not sure if I got my point across or if I even had one to begin with, but my browser is hanging when I'm writing and I get to see this box being filled very slowly after I type, so that's all you're getting today. Cheerio.
While I'm not necessarily the stereotype nerd or geek, I can definitely relate to many of the things in this article. I loved to imagine that I was in the world created by Tolkien, fighting alongside Aragorn at Helm's Deep or that I was a Jedi protecting the galaxy from some evil. Those things allowed me, along with anyone else who felt as I did, to do things I wasn't capable of doing: become the hero, defeat the villain, save the day. Video games do the same for me once I got my first console, a Playstation. Although I never had any of the big RPG titles, I was still able to imagine myself in the games I played and I owe a lot of hours of enjoyment to those people who work tirelessly to produce another title that will keep up until the wee hours of the morning to find out how the story ends.
Brilliant, and well written. I agree totally, I'm definitely in a gamers group of people. We've known each other 11 years, and its what we do best as a team. Our poison is RTSs though, rather than WoW.
Although I will say I do have a yearning for the ladies that my friends don't. Unfortunately if a game loses my attention, I'll snap back to reality, and think, "Shouldn't I be out, meeting those girls that I want so much? ...No, I'll do some other time."
Although I will say I do have a yearning for the ladies that my friends don't. Unfortunately if a game loses my attention, I'll snap back to reality, and think, "Shouldn't I be out, meeting those girls that I want so much? ...No, I'll do some other time."
Damn, he got to level 36 on Galaga with 3 coins?!? The highest I ever got was level 25, maybe with like 6 coins.
While it's an interesting opinion, the connection to "the end of the world" theme of the issue is tenuous at best. Surely an article such as this -on the merits of videogame escapism- could find a more fitting issue in a magazine called The Escapist.
As I used to say, I was a nerd before being a nerd was cool, and my game of choice was sometimes video games, but actually, it was Dungeons and Dragons- the edition after the three softcover books in a box, the original blue cover edition, bought at Spencer Gifts in 1978- the same year Space Invaders was released.
Sadly, Dungeons and Dragons happened to be better at keeping my attention, and my money, than Space Invaders did. Though I certainly spent a lot of quarters on it, D&D (and later, AD&D) remains my first nerd love.
Sadly, Dungeons and Dragons happened to be better at keeping my attention, and my money, than Space Invaders did. Though I certainly spent a lot of quarters on it, D&D (and later, AD&D) remains my first nerd love.
I love the article. Maybe its just a sop to my pride, telling me that, even though my outside relationships failed and my career fell down, it's ok to escape, to build my own world.
I like that he defends nerdy pursuits as valid, even though others may think it looks odd, and finds merit in what if often considered a "time-sink" or a waste.
I mean, WoW giving teenaged boys a chance at a rite of passage? That's deeper than many people's perception of it.
And I know that may be an exaggeration, but it was still beautifully written. Thank you.
I like that he defends nerdy pursuits as valid, even though others may think it looks odd, and finds merit in what if often considered a "time-sink" or a waste.
I mean, WoW giving teenaged boys a chance at a rite of passage? That's deeper than many people's perception of it.
And I know that may be an exaggeration, but it was still beautifully written. Thank you.
Wow that was a brilliant read. It really spoke to me, I'm one of those broken home kids and to be honest I never really got the whole WoW thing cause none of my friends are gamers I mean yeah they have an xbox or a gameboy but they don't really feel it. I find talking to people I don't know online just as hard as talking to real strangers (yeah how introverted can a person be huh?) so MMOs were never really for me. The rest of it about escapism really struck a chord with me: in a game you really can just try and try again whereas in the real world it's usually a bit more complicated. To be the hero, to save the world, even create your own world is something I think us gamers really value.
Anyway amazing to read, in fact (this will come off cheesey) I think it was beautiful: eloquently written with a strong truth at its core.
Anyway amazing to read, in fact (this will come off cheesey) I think it was beautiful: eloquently written with a strong truth at its core.
Raises some interesting points. I like the idea of spitting on society through destroying with digital fire.
I thought this article may turn out somewhat pretentious, but it certainly exceeded expectations. Cheers!
I thought this article may turn out somewhat pretentious, but it certainly exceeded expectations. Cheers!
I'm guessing Jane has never played MW2 Hardcore Team Deathmatch, or any other competetive online game. Being far away from a good slap makes people behave like dicks. That is most of online gaming. Gaming turns some people into griefers, glitchers, cheaters, teamkillers, rage quitters and whiners who feel safe to be racists, sexist, homophobes far from the reach of a good head kick.
I don't feel I fit into the authors group. I have played videogames since the 80s. I play for enjoyment in my healthy life with a good job, friends and family. It is only escapism in so far as any other hobby would be, it is no different from training martial arts. It is just one of my interests and not "me". Videogames don't make people take a step back the way they can by finding out I do submission grappling, maybe its because I don't look like a bruiser. I don't fit into your boxes.
Videogames are now far more acceptable and mainstream. Playing games does not label you a geek in the way D&D or LARPing does. Even jocks play Madden and Gears, even your gran has played wii sports.
Everyone would like to think they're special, part of some niche group and stand out from the crowd or maybe sit outside of the herd like some sort of ninja in the shadows. Sorry to disappoint but most of us are not that different from our neighbors.
Or put it this way; yes you are an individual, just like everyone else.