Since I was little, I immersed myself in the digital world. In these realms of existence, I worked hard and developed skills that allowed me to vanquish each world. It did not matter the type of enemy, I would research many hours into developing a strategy to defeat it.
But as I look back, I start to question the existential sense of that hard work. For when I log off the game, I am but a mortal man, and a feeble one. My arms start shaking when I try to do a pull up. My hands fear gripping a bar with strength. My legs become idiotic when I tell them to be agile. My body awaits a turn when I tell him to react.
And so, the reward for my devotion to this mechanic demiurge is weakness, and an afterlife in a MMORPG for my physical death in the real world.
Devoting hours into digital experience did not make me a wiser man. I dont know about mundane things, like cooking, driving a car, or getting your crap together.
Maybe I learned a few things with games. I learned English, I developed a taste for classical music and progressive rock, I adapted to digital technology. But at what cost?
Even if I look resentful, I try to reason, to think objectively about videogames. And my question is, are playthroughs a valid form of gaming?
Gaming feels like another medium for artistry and creativity. But how much important of that experience is playing them? As I told before, you spend hours into getting a result. But, if this is a fictional result that you can now search on YouTube, what is the meaning of it?
>>28775533
Whats the meaning of videogame achievements? They stay in your hard drive, and rot away with time. You might delete them accidentally. The only reward you get is a false reward. The only positive thing you might obtain is entertainment.
But, is the entertainment lesser when you see it on a video? Is less rewarding watching other getting that Ultimate Sword? Cant I cheer up for the fictional hero bearing the sword, and not for me bearing that sword?
What makes this experience more false than playing the game? Why should I be considered a lesser being, when I am just searching more fun?
Its not like the gamer is showing any prowess. Its not like watching sports versus playing sports. Not like listening to music versus playing an instrument. In this list, doing the thing rewards you with tangible experience. But playing a game, what is the final reward? Being capable of slaying a digital dragon? Knowing how to swarm amongst menacing looking data? Having this considered, why should I be a lesser gamer for just watching the stuff on a video?
This life can end abruptly, with an accident. Why should I spend hours in another life that can end easily as quickly as this one? Cant I become an indifferent deity that contemplates with amusement how a nonexistent person tries to avoid his ultimate fate, with flashy animations?
Now, one would say, I am spewing poison at the video part. But what about the game part? What makes a videogame different from a traditional game? A card game, becomes less traditional if it gets made into a videogame? Think about Pokemon TCG and its adaptation to a videogame, or games like Hearthstone or Valkyrie Crusade.
>>28775557
A videogame, a priori, seems like just another form of game. But, why do I feel it different to a traditional game? Why do I feel like games such as Baldurs Gate and Neverwinter Nights are different from a tabletop RPG, even though they share the same core? Why I feel like spending time with traditional games is less bad that surrounding yourself with videogames?
Is because of the gaming culture? Is because I am starting to perceive gamers as cultists of a demiurge? Acolytes that surround themselves with idols such as a PC, a Xbox One, a PS4, or elder gods like the SNES or the Sega Genesis?
Other cultures, like wargames, TCG, anime and RPG doesnt seem to have that kind of devotion and following.
Why do I think of the videogame addict as a lesser creature than the TCG addict or the anime addict? What is the essential difference between a game and a videogame, what makes the latter drive me off? I try to apply my previous dissertations about the value of real experience to traditional games, but there is a difference, I feel it. But I dont know where is.
With all of this said, what should I do? Enjoy videogames as another form of game? Or embracing that entertainment is the true reward, selling my systems and just enjoying watching others playing videogames I like without the burden of knowing that I am spending time and resources in an entertainment no more rewarding that watching anime?
Gaming is the great fnord.
>>28775580
>>28775661
Wew lad. We've got ourselves a gnostic greenpill here boys!
bennett johnson if thats you shut the fuck up and stop being an attention seeking faggot. i can just tell by the way you misuse your vocabulary to sound intelligent
did my comment get removed?
>>28775805
OP here. Dont know about that Benett Johnson. I spent many days thinking about this stuff, which allowed me to use that vocabulary. Might contain failures, such as my life.
