Day 52: A Rant About Video Games and Listlessness

I’ll begin with my youth and experience with video games. I played them a lot. It started when my Grandma bought my sister and me a Nintendo. It was the greatest thing in the world. We played Duck Hunt, Mario, Excite Bike, and Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out for hours, but I never remember playing games for, let’s say, four hours straight. I remember playing a lot, but not as much as I did as a teenager. There were plenty of other things to do as a kid, especially at Grandma’s house.

When I got a little bit older, I got a Sega. I remember playing Mortal Kombat 2 with my cousin Troy. We played for maybe a couple hours at a time, but we also took a lot of walks and played football in the backyard. Once the N64 and PS2 rolled around, I was probably playing video games every day for many hours on end. The games took longer to beat and they had interesting storylines. GoldenEye set the bar for multiplayer, and my friends and I played that game every chance we got. I probably put at least 100 hours into the game.

Those were the middle school and early high school years, where we felt there was very little to do besides entertain ourselves with video games or movies. The Internet was just developing into the behemoth that it is today, and it cost a lot more money to be connected for hours.

All of my friends and I played all sorts of video games for many hours that accumulated into days. Video games brought us adventure and wonder and accomplishment. Video games built our self-esteem, at least in the digital world. Video games taught us strategy, how to solve puzzles, how to work as a team, how to communicate, how to lose and win with dignity and without breaking the controller.

Video games allowed us to imagine a world different than our own, much like the novels of Jules Vern, Tolkien, and H.G. Wells. They brought us joy and entertainment like all the radio shows of the early 20th century and the TV series since the early ’50s. But video games are better because you get to control the characters. You become the character and care even more what happens to them because it is your skill that determines if the hero lives or dies.

For two generations now, adults have been knocking video games and saying that they are a waste of time. I will agree and disagree with that statement. Video games, like everything else in this world, are rewarding to a point. Too much of anything is bad. And kids don’t naturally develop self-limitations. They are like dogs that don’t know when they have eaten too much.

There was a turning point for me with video games. I was in college and still played video games almost every day. A massive multiplayer online game came out called World of Warcraft. Apparently, it was the best thing since someone decided to mix flavored cream really fast and then freeze it. So, I gave it a try. I bought a three-month subscription, but after one month I was done. For me, there were not enough rewards for the time that I was spending playing it. I started to realize that with other games as I grew older. Many of the games we play on our phones like Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, and Simpsons Tapped Out have no real end. They are a continuous experience that will never end because the developers want more of your time and money.

I think I was around twenty-five when the real decline of video games happened. They weren’t a regular part of my life anymore. There were more important things to do like spend time with my family and friends. Sure, I still play some games here and there, but nothing like I used to. Video games are a fun hobby to entertain myself for a little while and to play with friends.

What I see now in our youth is nothing different than what was happening when I grew up. There are just a lot more people and a lot more games now. Many adults still play games as a regular part of their daily routine. Some adults (beyond the developers) get paid to play video games and record themselves for people to watch! Kudos to those guys and girls that figured out how to monetize their hobby.

But like professional football and basketball, our youth needs to understand the reality of the video game world. If someone wants to grow up to make video games, it is going to take a lot of hard work either through school or some other sort of training. If someone wants to record themselves playing video games, they better have a damn good personality or be entertaining in some way. The market is flooded with people that want to make money just playing video games. But like books, movies, and any other kind of art, you need a niche. You need to stand out somehow.

Kids and adults are not lazy because of video games or phones. It is not up to society to choose how other people use their time. Not everyone has to be a superstar and stand out and contribute great things to society. Most people contribute what they can and go home to entertain themselves for a few hours before going to bed.

I think our laziness, apathy, and lethargy has developed through our need for convenience. Most of us in America don’t have to worry too much about food, water, or shelter. Yes, we have to worry about getting a job and keeping a job, but that is not too difficult for millions of people. We manage. We get by. But for many of us, beyond surviving and supporting our family, I think there is a lack of pride and sense of accomplishment that causes melancholy and depression. There is no more westward expansion or dreaming of a better life in the new world. We did it. We have it. And now we don’t know what the fuck to do. There are no more adventures. Our lives do not compare to the fictional characters we write about and put up on the big screen. Our lives do not compare to the triumphs I feel while playing Skyrim. For those that are making the movies and making the shows and making the video games and making the art, by creating these worlds we all want to apart of, I genuinely hope you feel fulfilled.

What I realized as I grew older and continued to play video games every day was that I was not contributing anything to the real world. Yes, the real world still does seem kind of bland compared to the vastness of RPGs, but the actions taken in video games can be erased with a switch. Many video games allow you to choose a good or evil path. Evil is usually fun and slightly easier than being good, but being good offered more rewards. The developers of video games try to imitate real life. By trying to improve my own life and the lives around me, I am making a real difference in the world. Though, the rewards may not be in the form of gold chests or a new helmet with +50 health.

By actively trying to improve my thoughts, words, and actions every day, the world has shown me a life worth living outside of a screen. And in this world and in this universe there is so much that we have not explored and have not discovered. Life is an ever-changing level in which there are many checkmarks and rewards; they just don’t appear in big bold words in the sky.

With all the food, water, and shelter we need, I think the human race is bored. We are bored so we create games. Some games are tangible and some are virtual. Some games cause wars between countries while others cause arguments between siblings. Some games take a few hours while others take multiple lifetimes. We are all playing one game or another. Although in life, we get to choose the rules, the goal, and we get to decide if we win or lose.

As an adult, observing the world while knowing how I traveled through youth, I still cannot say that video games are a bad thing for people. They may actually be essential to some people’s imagination. They may be the inspiration that takes the first human past Jupiter. They may be the key to bringing the world together. Who knows?

Video games are art. And like all art, there is good and bad art. I don’t think that repetitively playing the same maps over and over again, with varying weapons and equipment, to kill your opponents is a productive way to live days to years of your life. I am not saying that Call of Duty and Fortnite are bad games; I am saying that games can also become addictive to the point that the user becomes self-destructive in their physical and mental health.

Listlessness and video games may have some correlation, but I think there is very little causation. Many active people play video games regularly. I think the listlessness of our society comes from boredom, depression, and a lack of inspiration or duty. It could also be a feeling of helplessness. It could be acute attacks on our existential mind as we look up at the stars and realize that everything is moving farther and farther away from us faster and faster and in a few million years we will not be able to see the stars outside of our own galaxy, but by that time we will be dead and gone and the sun would have become a supernova by then, so none of this really matters at all and I might as well watch another episode and laugh a little before I die.

---

Author's Note #1: Congratulations!

Author's Note #2: Um...nevermind.

Author's Note #3: If there were typos or grammatical errors, I apologize and I don't care.