Day 10: The Things We Keep (pt. 2): My Hoarder Life (in video games)

I remember playing Fallout 3 for the PS3. For those you that don’t know what that is, let me explain it in two sentences: Fallout 3 is a game set in a post-nuclear, completely open world where, as the main character, you are completing quests of your choosing (or not) while exploring this vast wasteland amongst various forms of monsters, robots, animals, and other humans that are trying to kill you and take all of your things. The world of Fallout 3 contains many important items that will help you on your journeys, along with even more items that are basically useless except to sell or to store in your tiny home as souvenirs. And that is what I did with many things that I found during my adventures. I would store as much as I could at my home just in case I would ever want to use the items later. Or I would store something because it was funny or a memento. During my time playing this game (several dozens of hours), I realized how much time and energy I was wasting bring stuff back to my home when I could have just left the stuff lying on the ground or stashed in whatever cabinet I found it in. There was no need to have that much crap.

Skrim came out after Fallout 3, but it was created by the same developers. Everything about Skyrim is very similar to Fallout in terms of an open-world and random things to use or collect, except Skrim and the rest of the Elder Scrolls series is set in an environment not unlike Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. It’s fantasy. It has dragons. It’s awesome. Again, I find myself collecting things. But they are not just things anymore. They are readable books, extremely rare masks and outfits, and unique weapons that are just too cool to leave at the bottom of a dungeon. Additionally, Skrim gives the user more ability to customize their home and be able to display all their hard work of collecting things. You can put clothes on mannequins, literally put books on a bookshelf, and hang your kick-ass weapons on the walls. Short of mounting the head of a dead dragon above the fireplace, Skyrim does a fantastic job of making “home” feel like a home. The game made you feel like all that hard work of collecting shit and bringing it back to your house was worth it. And it was for a while.

Through playing these immersive games that take over your life for months at a time, I eventually realized that the only important things that I had in the game I could carry on my back. For those of you that haven’t played those games, I will tell you that there is a weight limit for your character, which keeps the gameplay semi-realistic. All those additional things that you may want to store in your house have weight and sometimes you have to drop other things to find space for one heavy weapon or suit of armor or dragon bone. And dragon bones are super freaking heavy!

Anyway, I found myself not picking up anything. My houses (yes, that was plural) were backed with all sorts of books, weapons, potions, armor, metal ingots, raw plants and ingredients, scrolls, necklaces, boots, bracelets, and enough leather hides to clothe the population of Canada. I had accumulated everything I needed to be nearly invincible to any enemy I could encounter. Nothing I could pick up would help me. It would only over-encumber me to a point where I couldn’t walk. And by having anything I needed I became bored. The fun comes with the challenge. It took me having everything to realize that I didn’t want any of it. And then I started a new game.

I think about those games every time I’m at a bookstore; every time I’m looking at vinyl records; every time an ad for a Pink Floyd t-shirt scrolls past my thumb on Facebook; every time I am walking through the video game section at Walmart; and every time Amazon gives me suggestions for what to buy next with the thing that I already bought. Every time, I ask myself, “Will that thing really add value to my life?” The answer is usually no. Naturally, I will still pick up the book, check out the cover, and read a few pages. But then I will set it down, smile, and walk out the door empty-handed.

It is not the things we have that add value to our lives, it the adventure of life that is the true value.

To be continued…

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Author’s Note #1: The less I have, the freer I feel.

Author's Note #2: For those of you that do not play video games, I can only imagine the feeling of irrelevance towards video games you must feel and the pity for those of us that spend hundreds of hours investing ourselves in a non-real world, life, or adventure. Believe me, I hear ya. Nevertheless, you can trust me when I tell you that video games are extremely fun and rewarding to the players, us humans, during our real lives. The trick, for me, was finding a happy and healthy balance between video games and real-life productivity and social interaction.