As a student living the meager college lifestyle, I find it’s becoming increasingly difficult to actively pursue non-resume-filler extracurriculars. I understand that it’s a natural part of growing up, when immediate responsibilities overtake personal hobbies, and any notion of rebellion is a pointless diatribe against an otherwise inevitable fate. Even still, knowing this doesn’t make the transition any easier, and conformity has never been very exciting.
To avoid segueing into a philosophical discussion of our utter mortal helplessness, I’ll get to the point: I’m now finding less and less time to absorb myself in the minutiae of video games.
In a culture that defines video-game enthusiasts as losers who waste their lives on the couch playing games for the mere love of it, I understand that admitting such a thing could belittle my credibility as a straight-faced gaming authority. After all, why would you take me seriously if I couldn’t list the latest gaming trends, regardless of how little they interested me? I would be a fake, and the existence of this column would appear an act of bias. In light of such arguments, I suppose I could just as easily use my trump-all defense ‘mdash; ‘Go write your own damn column’ ‘mdash; but instead, I’d like to get to the root of the question: What is gaming, and what constitutes a gamer?
Regardless of whether you’re aware of it, everyone plays a game of some sort every day. Obviously, none of us really define our ordinary activities as ‘games,’ per se ‘mdash; but, really, when you’re confronted with an obstacle, a task, an enemy or whatever, and you’re forced to use some semblance of wit and intelligence to overcome it (or, more appropriately, ‘win it’), then you’re playing a game. By this definition, we’re all gamers stuck within the confines of the most expansive game in the world ‘mdash; life itself.’
Whoa. That’s deep.
Art has always been an attempt of sorts to comprehend the mysteries of life. But that’s obvious. I mean, aren’t we all, in various ways, trying to make sense of life? If science has always been man’s pursuit of logic, then art, as its antithesis, would naturally be the pursuit of sometimes-irrational expression. In this quest, however, man has constantly run up against the limits of creativity ‘mdash; his inability to surpass mimicry.
Struggling with creative limitations, however, has provided our society with some fascinating results ‘mdash; the best of which is, of course, the art of storytelling. Narratives are embedded in the most subtle forms of all art, but storytelling is the most critical in communicating life’s complexities and nuances. From novels to comics to films to music, it’s all just an effort to tell a good story, and the most lauded attempts are those that affect us emotionally.
However, among this elite guild of storybooks, gaming is probably the most invigorating and forward-thinking of its kind. While science and art are natural foes, video games have merged the two to create an entirely unique method of storytelling ‘mdash; yin and yang, the techie and muse in perfect harmony!
Compared to existing arts, gaming is admittedly in its infancy. Creators are constantly finding new ways to capitalize on its crack-pipe addicts, but as of yet, we’ve only seen the greenest of beginnings.
But even in its earliest stages, the craft’s genius level of interactivity is undeniable. Other storytelling mediums are limited to objectivity; we the audienc
e can see the world, but we can never live in it. What makes video games so fascinating is that they allow us to become part of the art, to manipulate it, to own it. Video games tap into a new level of mimicry and response, both exciting and terrifying.
So if art has always mirrored reality, and video games have simply allowed for deeper involvement in this imitation, what makes me any less of an authority than my immediate gaming brethren?’ To be honest, nothing. Video games are growing up, and none of us should be confined to labels of gaming or gamers. The question is not, ‘Will we ever stop playing?’ but, ‘How can we play differently?’
With games that transcend the conventional definition of video gaming ‘mdash; ‘Flower,’ for instance, depicts the dreams of flowers sitting on apartment windowsills ‘mdash; the possibilities seem limitless.