I don’t really like video games.
I stink at them. I have a Wii. We have enjoyed playing Rock Band on it, but I’m not any good at it. About 20 years ago, or more, I got a Super Nintendo setup. I played Super Mario Brothers, the game it came with. I really never played any other games very much. Then I got a Sony Playstation. I played a car racing game a bit, and a snowboarding game. Then I was done.
I have friends that work in the video game industry. That’s cool. No hate. I just don’t like video games.
When someone starts talking about a video game, part of my consciousness detaches from my physical form, hovers over the scene, and watches my eyes begin to glaze over, all the while monitoring the part of my consciousness remaining in my body to make sure I don’t rudely drop off to sleep. The extra-corporeal control consciousness makes my body say “cool” sometimes, makes me blink at appropriate intervals, and watches for the right time to get out of the conversation.
I think that classic, on-paper, role-playing games like D&D were my version of video games. Really, when I was growing up, most of the video games weren’t all that great. Pac Man, Asteroids, etc. Let’s be honest. Saying any of those are really “great” or entertaining is a stretch. Once you’ve blasted a few asteroids, maybe gotten through a few minutes of the game, you have crossed the line into incredible tedium.
I’m impressed with the graphics on modern video game, but it seems like a waste of technology. It seems like the games are still, all these years later, mostly about shooting people and blowing stuff up, with a little car racing thrown in. I guess it is great training for the military-industrial complex. I think the Shadow Government is really funding all the video game research, developing, and marketing. They trick parents into spending the money to turn their kids into future cyber-murderers.
Veering into conspiracy theory here, right…yeah…
As soon as I had to spend my own money on playing video games at the arcade, the video game fever subsided for me. There was no payoff. I didn’t feel self-actualized and validated by getting my video game on. It didn’t give me the same sense of accomplishment that playing a Hobbit thief with a magic sword did. No comparison at all.
When I started this post, I thought I might make the “it’s a waste of time” argument. I decided to drop that. It’s a bad argument. Why? Because really, everything is a waste of time. Everything. Really. Regardless what we do in life, most of us will live, die, and in a generation or two we’ll be forgotten. The universe will go on, headless of our activities.
So go ahead and play a video game. Spend all your time reading. Whatever makes you happy. It matters not. Create your own meaning. If video games make you happy, play them.