i swer i’m not high…
Video games are (usually) designed in such a way that there is a guaranteed path to victory. You just need to find it. So failing means you found one more path that doesn’t lead to victory. That mindset helps motivate me to keep trying until I find the path that the designers made for me to find.
Life is not that way, unfortunately. There are plenty of no-win scenarios. Running into those makes me want to curl up in a ball under a blanket and run away from my problems.
I’m currently experiencing this, which is why I’m on lemmy instead of working. I’m currently in database hell and I can’t find the way out.
Right here with you bud. Currently on the low end of the vicious cycle in which I get a new job, be the absolute best at it for awhile, then get burn out and quit. I’m pretty fucking close to quitting. And I don’t know what I’m gonna do next. Thanks ADHD
There are plenty of no-win scenarios.
This was something great about the Witcher 3. More than one quest, you end up with choices between one shitty outcome or another with no happy ending. For a fantasy game in a magical world, it wasn’t afraid to be realistic.
I’d say in video games you can always find a way to win a battle. In real life more often you need to find a way out from the battle.
In life there’s no isolated consequences neither a guaranteed path to success
This is a critical piece of the puzzle and I love that you pointed it out. Bare necessities aside (shelter, food, etc), we start out with a set of win conditions (from parents, friends, etc), but ultimately we can determine them ourselves. In most democracies, nobody can tell you how to live your life.
Idk man my life fell apart and I failed out of college. Hard. Picked myself back up and learned a trade and I’ve had a very successful career that I love and a beautiful old home I’m remodeling and a partner who loves me and we’re gonna get married soon.
Video games are just something to pass the time.
All of life involves doing things to pass the time. What makes video games (and all hobbies) different is that you do it voluntarily because you enjoy it.
I too have a job that I like very much (love is a strong word for a place of employment because if I didn’t have bills I wouldn’t be working let’s be real). I also have a home that I am happy in, a loving partner and a young son.
I achieved most of these things thanks to video games. They got me interested in computers which led to a lucrative career in technology. They helped me unwind after countless long days of work which kept me from losing my mind. They led to life long friendships due to the shared common interest. I was able to pick up my wife thanks to what I learned from Leisure Suit Larry, etc.
I guess what I’m saying is a healthy relationship with any hobby can be good, or bad when taken to an extreme.
“Don’t go hollow, now.”
There is so much focus on the lore of Miyazaki’s games, but not enough about how it also has hella meta commentary on games and players, too. One of the main ones is how death doesn’t matter, and no matter how hard things get you, the player, can overcome all these obstacles and beat the game if you persist. There are examples of those who do survive until the end, and many examples of those who give up at various stages of the game, much like how real players would if they find themselves unable to beat a particular boss necessary to complete the game. The NPC’s stories often mirror that of a player who faces the same objectives.
Miyazaki? As in Hayao Miyazaki, the Studio Ghibli director? What video games has he done?
No, there’s a Hidetaka Miyazaki now, the head of FromSoftware who is unrelated to Hayao Miyazaki as far as I know. It took me a while to figure that out.
Ah yes, Hidetaka “No such thing as too many poison swamps” Miyazaki
Ohhh!
Thank you, this makes much more sense in the context of modern FromSoft games!
Jane McGonigal has a TED Talk about exactly this: https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world
This is what I love about the Souls genre. It’s a great feeling to chase.
Same with competitive sports. As a tennis player, if I lose a match I’m usually doubly motivated to get back out there for another one.
My therapist told me this exact thing last week.
The group of Intellect Devourers, when you’re lv 1 in the beginning of Baldur’s Gate 3, proved this shower thought about 5 times for me.
