Ohhhh…..Wait, is it already the time for the stories of this old man, or thing, or whatever I have ever been described as? Time flies, yes, it indeed does….That is why so many souls have reached these coasts recently. Never wondered how dead people were even before coming in here, but it makes me sad to have such short and meaningless conversations with those who dare to visit the Underworld before their time. Yes, those are the worst ones, I can definitely assure that…
And why, you would think? Well, I can tell you: because they do not feel as one should feel. They are completely dead, they do things as machines do them…No one feels what should be felt when things like art or music come into play. Not like in my times, at least. Well, let me tell you guys about one thing. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure (and some of you might already recognize this…), and let’s talk in terms you will all understand. Let the games, these videogames you are all so attached to, be the vehicle for the most interesting discussions you might ever have in recent times.
So…*Cough*…My first question for you will be…When was the last time when you felt something truly amazing when playing a game?
This might sound weird but…in fact, it conveys a very important message: the entertainment industry seems to no longer serve the real purpose it was created for. I can remember the times when a videogame was a way to enjoy your free time, and not to suffer when not reaching a certain level of skill. If it was needed, then yes, I was happy to beat a friend of mine in a Pro Evolution Soccer game, but then we played another game and he beat me. And we were not mad, we insulted each other but meh…nothing serious, man…we were friends and we were entertaining ourselves.
How about fighting games? Oh, dear, that was one hell of a challenge. I remember writing down in a piece of paper my best combos, and practising them over and over just to show them up when playing against friends. But hey! No professional competitions whatsoever! No real fights if I was beaten to the ground. There was always another time to get revenge. And then, I got to see crazy meltdowns from professional players (Leffen in «Smash Bros», Nono in «League of Legends»…), which was something completely out of the scale. I found myself going through something similar at some stage with a nowadays highly competitive eSports game, and decided it was the time to stop playing it because it was making me feel worse than not playing it. How come! Down with it!
Where does this all lead? Well, it is clear for me that the gaming industry has induced people to be more and more «dead on the inside» when playing games. We don’t enjoy them as we did in the past, and now we try to beat them as fast as possible, and we try to stream how good we are with those. We try to make people feel like they are at a lower level than we are, and those who see us make us feel empowered. And I wonder if this is what we want to keep doing for the future. Are we helping game companies, or are we destroying their vision of entertainment? Are we dooming genres like non-cooperative RPGs in favor of the multiplayer scenery, or game consoles with no online options in favor of fast-connected devices?
I recently purchased a game of one of the sagas I used to play when I was a child, and I love playing it without any sort of pressure. I find myself yelling at enemies, crying when allies die, developing good strategies as if it was a real-world war, and many more things which made me realise how much I was enjoying the game. And then I had a look at how people “enjoy” nowadays their games. Either through internet streams or even my closest relatives. Damn…I couldn’t make a 9-year-old child understand that the funny part of th game we were both playing together was precisely that: to be playing together together, sharing a good moment and laughing, and not trying to beat anyone’s record or performance. I eventually got tired of trying to convince him about that…and here I am, venting a bit before my weak body does not resist it anymore…
But there is still hope, and many interesting people can be found out there who really enjoy gaming by its essence. I have wandered around many Discord groups where the interests in gaming projects were markedly different, and not always keeping entertainment as their goal. In some of them, though, there are still channels where artistic aspects of gaming are discussed and enjoyed, and where the words «tears», «feelings», «moving», and others, are repeated much more than «record», «challenge», or «streaming». In those places is where I felt welcomed, where I could share my old man stories about games from when I was a child, and about the scaffolds behind the final product. People like Joe and Alan (Positive Concept Games) had enough to say and discuss about the games they loved playing and how do they compare to nowadays «masterpieces». This shows that they enjoyed and keep enjoying games. I was really pleased to feel at home with them, and I wonder how many more of you, game enjoyers, are out there. I want to know more about you, so do not hesitate to contact me and tell me about gaming experiences which were completely special to you.
Hopefully this question, and many more in the future, will make you think about it, or simply enjoy by reading the point of view of somebody who might be completely out of what the real world might expect to be a “real gamer”. And remember the thoughts of an old boatman: videogames are entertainment, the moment you stop entertaining yourself is the moment you should change and do something else.
