I play a fair amount of video games. I write a fair amount about video games. I might spend a bit more time writing about video games than I do playing them. When you spend a lot of your free time playing video games and writing about them, it might seem like you don't have much time for anything else. That might be true for some but I personally don't feel that way. I have interests that don't involve gaming. One such interest is I like to read about history, current events, geopolitics and the news. Before I blogged about video games, I used to blog about this sort of stuff.
Without going into details, today was certainly a discouraging day on so many levels...sort of like the world was handing out gut punches...free of charge.
I usually have no problem separating the real world from the virtual world...and I usually have no problem playing video games despite all the darkness going on in the world. But today I had to pause and reflect on what in the world is going on with our world, and whether it's appropriate to play video games when so many people around the world are facing trials and tribulations?
It made me reconsider why I play video games in the first place.
I used to say I played video games to escape reality - but that can't be true. I love my life and I'm quite happy. Why would I try to escape that? I think most people who say this don't necessarily mean they're trying to escape their immediate reality...although maybe they do. Maybe I (or we) just like to unplug from everything and distract our minds with something else? Something we can manipulate and change...problems we can solve; people we can help; worlds we can save.
So, why do I play video games?
I really have no idea. At least tonight, I have no idea. You could ask me tomorrow and maybe I'll have worked it out. But tonight, I'm clueless. I suppose the same reason I watch a movie or read a book - to be entertained? Didn't people of all cultures throughout history participate in activities to be entertained?
There is a myth suggesting Confucius created Mahjong (the game played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols) back around 500 BC. Even if that's not true, we do know the game at least dates back to the 1800s. The cowboys...they used to play all sorts of casino-like games, many of which still exist today. I can play either of these games on any number of video game systems - but isn't the purpose for playing these games ultimately for the same purpose? Whether it's competition or just the challenge of it all, who can say? Maybe we just like the experience...maybe we like winning, or trying to win.
In the end, life goes on. There are good days. There are bad days. And we do whatever it takes to make it through each day. Maybe video games help with that, maybe they don't. But I do know regardless of whether I play or not, worrying about it won't.
Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy every moment of it.
Cheers.