Welcome back to Press Start where you get your weekly updates on video-games and anything that surrounds them. This week I am going to get a little bit philosophical. I want to look at the idea of real life being just a game, their similarities, and how these two cross over. I also want to take a look at the importance people put on certain issues, that are actually not all that important at all, using the whole idea of ‘life just being a game’ with a start point and an ending point. So lets jump right in and get going with this weeks topic.
We are all born brand spanking new and full of wonder and awe at the world around us, very much like starting a new game for the first time. You enter a new world to explore, looking at the visuals and your surroundings and learning where things are and what things do. Then you have the curiosity of trying out new things and trying to bend the world around you to what you want. For example finding glitches or trying to climb some deadly architecture that doesn’t quite work out the way you thought. Again this is much like 2-3 year old babies. Then you learn to stand on your own two feet, starting to get a grip on what is going on and how to proceed in this world. You have an understanding for what everything does and how it works, just like in a video-game, once you’ve played it for a while. As we start to see here, the steps are the same the only difference is in a game your subconscious is doing the work and you are not physically exercising these ideas, whereas as a baby you have to experience these things physically to understand the world, as you experience it all for the very first time.
Now let’s look at the psychology of later life mixed with games. When we become adults we can often become fixated on things. Putting focus and great importance on issues or situations that are often not really as important in retrospect. Let’s take for example a high earning job of around €60,000 a year. Yes this sounds great, and for many people this is a life goal. There is nothing wrong with this at all. We are human after all, something has to drive us. But let’s look at the gaming world and the idea that nothing really amounts to anything because there is only so much time between the start and finish line. What do you want to do during this time? Do you want to just do the main storyline and get it over with or do you want to do everything like learn the extra skills, do the side quests, explore the whole map, collect all the collectibles and so on. The point being there is so much more to life just like most games these days. Why take only the ‘direct to finish’ path when you can do plenty of other things along the way.
This then raises the opposite question of: if we live for only so long with our start and end points, then what is the point? Well this is the magic of treating life as a game. HIT RESTART! Start over again. If you are bored and restless then why not try something completely new? In other words, a new game. Take different options in your life that you wouldn’t necessarily take. Go explore somewhere you have never been. Your life does not have to be confined to just one story!
As a final side note I would like to take a look at sexuality. We need to treat sexuality just like Dragon Age or Mass Effect. What I mean is, in today’s society there is still stigma around sexuality no matter what anybody says, it is there. But what if it was just as simple as “I like you very much” and not have to worry about a possible backlash of “I am not gay” or “I am not a lesbian” as if they are offended you would even think they are. Wouldn’t it be so much easier, if it was just “yes I like you too” or “I’m very sorry but it won’t work”. The world would be such an easier place if you were able to approach anyone you liked and asked them without any fear or having to identify their sexuality. I mean of course being able to identify is easier in the long run but what I mean is no labeling and just being.
That is it for this weeks Press Start. I hope you all enjoyed and I will see you next week.
As always comment below if you agree or disagree. Have you any other thoughts on how life crosses over with video-games?
