What's the Point in Playing?
My entry into the gamer identity, reasons for playing and reflection genre of posts that have sprung up recently
You’ll have noticed that this isn’t a Weekly Plays post; to tell you the truth, I’ve still been finishing up a few of my ongoing games from last month this week so I didn’t feel I had the material but also, I’ve been reading a few of these kinds of personal meaning posts lately and mulling over the idea of writing my own.
I don’t really have any preconceived notions of how this post will go but I have a few key points in mind I’ll be covering. Ultimately? I want to answer the question that’s the title of this post and maybe reaffirm your own commitment to this expensive, frustrating, wonderful little hobby of ours.
An All Consuming Experience
A huge reason I play games is that of all the mediums of entertainment, I find videogames to be the most mentally engaging.
I’m quite an energetic person, if I want to fix something I do it right away, if I know something needs to be done or could be improved, I’m on it; just a few weeks ago I was up in the middle of the night taking apart my Gamecube trying to work out a hardware issue. My point is that I need to be fully engaged by my entertainment, it needs to capture most of my energy. Films and TV make me fidget and skip forwards to the part when it gets good, music is something I only listen to if it’s in the background while I do something else, I could list many more examples but when I’m reading, writing or gaming? My brain is completely glued to the task at hand, deep in that flow state.
An Unadulterated Experience
There’s something inherently awkward about watching film or theatre because you are always experiencing a character through a middle man. Every time Brad Pitt or Ryan Gosling comes on-screen they have to convince you that they’re somebody else and if a performance from an actor is particularly poor, they often won’t even achieve that but videogames are different; with books, the writer’s image of a character will always play second fiddle to the readers’ imaginations and in film and TV you are restricted by who actually auditions to play the role but in videogames? The character’s creator can detail with no uncertain terms on-screen what this fictional person is all about.
An Educational Experience
I love learning new things. My background is in foreign languages and literature and I am bilingual, currently working on becoming trilingual and the video games I enjoy the most scratch this learning/improvement itch for me. Trying to nail Kazuya’s Electric Wind God Fist in Tekken, perfecting my Wall Jump in Super Metroid, unravelling the delicate science of constructing effective military divisions in a game like Hearts of Iron IV it all gets me absolutely hooked; I think this learning element is an invisible hand in most people’s love of gaming too, many of From Software’s games for example reward the player generously for learning patterns and calculated risks.
A Kinaesthetic Experience
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve inspected new controllers and consoles closely: clicking the buttons, flipping it over, seeing how it feels in the hands, twirling the sticks a bit, checking inside the battery compartment (if it has one) clicking the power button before I turn it on, my parents have observed this ritual many a time with curiosity and amusement but this is a big part of gaming for me; I love hardware. Those who have an extensive retro collection will probably understand me when I say you end up becoming a repair man too, investigating dodgy discs, weird noises and dirty fans, I know most people will find this all a chore but unscrewing console shells, popping off parts and getting a good look inside is quite therapeutic to me.
An Emotional Experience
In no other form of entertainment do I see people who care as much as in gaming. YouTube comments under reviews and soundtracks of 10, 20, 30 or 40 year old videogames are virtual bonfires where fellow players tell nostalgic tales of times gone. Online forums and pages are hubs of speculation, argument and vitriol but also of friendship, speculation, good-natured competition and excitement. Emotions run high in the gaming space and while this amplifies the toxicity a lot of the time it also leads to moments of brotherhood and companionship; even now, years after its heyday I meet old-school Halo fans and every one of them gets audibly excited when I mention some of the classic custom maps of the era.
The ‘Gamer’ Label
You’ll notice I rarely actually use the word ‘gamer’ and the reason is… I’m just not a fan of that label, or any labels really. To me it implies people who play games are an elite club or some kind of counter-culture movement and to those who think that way, I hate to break it to you but the gaming industry is bigger than film and about as mainstream as it gets these days; even my nan owned a DS and a Gameboy
My point? This hobby isn’t indicative of a specific kind of person or fashion and I’m not going to tie my identity to a set of products I consume, when we discuss identity in gaming, I prefer to think of it as what gaming does FOR us and not TO us.
What’s the point in playing? The short answer would be “Because I/you want to.” But the long answer for me are those bullet-points above and for you? I say anybody who tells you video games are a waste of time, tells you to grow up or wonders why you buy this plastic crap year after year needs to do a playthrough of Ocarina of Time, of Breath of the Wild or any other modern classic and maybe then they can understand the joy we have already embraced.
"Even my nan had a DS and a Gameboy"
Yes! This is an important point.
My grandpa turned me onto video games with his Commodore 64. He had Pac-Man and a bunch of the Carmen Sandiego games.
A few years later, my other set of grandparents would become addicted to the NES, so much so that they had to put on a timer so they wouldn't play too long.
Gaming is multi generational. And like any hobby, we can get out of hand with it, play too long, use it as a coping mechanism, etc.
But at its best, the medium produces wonder like nothing else.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
You're not wasting your time. You're relaxing, de-stressing or unwinding from all of the pressures that demand your time. And that is crucially important. Good post.