It’s been quite a while since my last blog post about my trip to Thailand with my school mates. That’s mainly because, well, I haven’t really travelled anywhere. I felt the urge to write though, and thought I might write about a long held passion of mine that is not so passionate anymore but still important to me.
I’m not sure if there is still a stigma associated with playing video games or being interested in video games. I do believe that a stigma does exist for people who are ‘serious’ about video games. It’s pretty common now to see almost everyone on their phones, playing the latest “casual” game like Angry Birds, Flappy Bird, 2048, Clash of the Clans or Llama with a Beer on It’s Head (you should look that last one up), but if you express an interest in playing Xbox, PS4 or PC games, you’ll be given a strange look by those not involved in utilising such media as if they expect that games should only be for teenage boys.
I’m not going to go into the statistics often trotted out at this point about the average age of “gamers” or the fact that females make up half of the “gaming” population, but instead want to reflect on a few games I’ve played lately and my own changing feelings on games. I’ve always played video games a lot since I was a kid/teenager. Tracking back to going to my two friends’ houses to play with them on the consoles they had (Sega Master System at one house and a SNES at the other I believe; I had a decent gaming PC at the time – something like a 486. Oh and I had an Atari 2600) to all of us getting a Nintendo 64, to moving through the Playstation era, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox 360 and PS3 and now an Xbox One, I’ve been there for most of it.
Playing games is basically an exercise in futility. Nothing really is gained out of it, it’s certainly not healthy, I don’t really think that much can be learned from it (with some possible exceptions). But for the most part it’s entertaining. I’ve also thought about the cost a lot lately. Not because I’m struggling financially but often I’ll look across at all the game I own, and all the consoles I own or have owned, of have had bought for me by amazing people and think: “What if I saved that money?” I don’t think teenage me would have cared, but adult me reflects on these types of things. I’ve literally spent thousands, probably tens of thousands of hours of my life playing video games. Was it worth anything?
Well, I can’t really answer that question. What is any entertainment worth? People watch thousands of hours of TV (I sort of do that too), or read books for thousands of hours (again, guilty), or spend time watching sports (yep), going to the gym (well, not thousands of hours, let’s say tens for that one), to whatever it is that people do. As far as vices or past times go I don’t think video games are a terrible one. At least I’m not into pokies, or down at the bar betting on the greyhounds for hours on end. No one is getting hurt by my playing video games and I think I have a decent balance at the moment between activities. Work – spending time with my wife – watching TV – playing sports – going to the gym (again, not as much time) – reading (not as much as I’d like to) – etc. It’s not like gaming is the only thing I do.
In fact, now, at the ripe old age of 27, I actually find things such as “gaming” a lot more difficult to do than when I was in my teens. When I was younger, I could marathon a game. By this I mean I could, when I had nothing else to do (school holidays or days off from uni or whatever), wake up – play a video game – maybe eat – play the game – bed at a ridiculous hour (2, 3 am), wake up (usually midday, because hey, teenage boy right), then repeat. Now that’s different, I still fall sort of into old habits on school holidays, but nothing like what it used to be. In fact I find it difficult to consume media, any media, the way I used to. Reading is difficult because it actually makes me tired. I read less because if I read in bed, I’ll fall asleep. If I read sitting up, I get bored, distracted, or sleepy. It’s more work than it used to be. The same is true for playing video games. Now, even if I find a game I really like, basically an hour or so is all I’ve got before I get bored, tired of it or distracted.
One game lately changed that.
I don’t know what Firaxis Games does when they make their games (I’m also referring to the classic Civilization games which have always eaten up my time), but their games are like crack. You just can’t stop. Just one more mission. Just one more turn. They have got that great risk/reward balance right to keep you engaged. XCOM is an old series that I missed originally. I played Enemy Unknown on the Xbox 360 when it came out and loved the hell out of it. In a recent Steam Sale (because of course) I saw that Enemy Unknown and its expansion Enemy Within were really cheap. What the hell, I’ll pick it up on PC if only to play Enemy Within. 30 hours later and I’d only really played Enemy Unknown again. This time I went through what was called a “Classic Ironman” run. 2nd most difficult setting. One persistent save. What that actually means is, well, in most modern games you can make as many save games as you like, so if something goes wrong, no problem, go back, load a previous save and keep going. In the Ironman mode of XCOM, if it all goes bad, it has gone really bad. Have you trained up your soldier for 10 hours and now they’ve died? Too bad for you.
I loved that risk. I know it’s only a game but it made me stop and think about each decision I made in the game. When a situation was going poorly I was on the edge of my seat, hoping, almost pleading for it to be okay because I didn’t want to lose that soldier, that mission, those hours.
I’ve gone off and around on different tangents in this blog post, and this post has no real structure, because I really don’t know what to think. I suppose I feel guilty about playing video games. Guilty about the cost. Guilty about the “wasted” time. Guilty because it’s so nerdy. Even for my upcoming birthday all I’m really thinking about getting are more video games. I like them, I really do, but I don’t know how I actually feel about that. Anyway, I’ve actually got a couple more games I’d like to write about, and I really do want to write about XCOM properly because it really is a masterful game that more people should play (I’m pretty sure there is an iOS version, pick it up).
Next time: Divinity: Original Sin and Classic Role Playing Games
Moshi Moshi! Daniel Desu. 