The End Of Games (part 2)
I'm not gonna lie... I've second guessed my decision a few times since the last post. And I can hardly believe how many days have already gone by since then.
Despite any demonic attempts to re-shackle me with fond addiction- and I easily/freely call it that- I haven't reneged on my decision because of God's refining work, which has soundly reached the point where video games are wholly less appealing than following Christ. Hallelujah! This single point is the largest reason for my resolution.
Just to clarify, as I never explicitly said what I decided (because honestly I hadn't yet), here's my conclusion, which is best described by what my decision is not. I am not ruling out ever playing video games again. Might sound contrary to what I'm talking about, but making a decision like that is just asking to fail. It's legalistic, self-will fueled, motivated by law, and guaranteed to make me eat my words later. Not something I like to do when I like words so much. I'm also not saying you should should make the same decision that I'm taking forever to outline because it's a personal decision that should be made according to your life. Which God owns, by the way.
Sigh. I think I'm getting worse at this blogging stuff the longer I do it. I don't edit. Theoretically it will end up being much more personable and feel like I'm sharing with you personally, like a friend talking about life. But I don't want it to just be "talk"; rather, something that encourages and/or challenges. So far, I just end up with paragraphs like this, that just make things confusing. I remain optimistic though. :-)
"Alright everybody! Intermission is over!"
My decision is just not to spend any more afternoons or nights or mornings in hours long games played by me, for me, with no one but me.
And now, for the reasoning section.
The definition and application of video games could be boiled down to "waste of time, entertainment". Could be argued as usable for socializing. Could be argued as good for your eyes or bad for your eyes. Improves your reflexes. Adds to your waist size. Produces conversation topics. Kills creativity, increases imagination. To me, all can be true, because I've experienced them all, and there are plenty more. While pros and cons can be argued for everything, what's important is why you play. And when I say "you", I'm really referring to my personal life experience, as a gamer.
For me, things reached a critical point after yet another brother moved away, making multiplayer a pleasant time found only in the sparse moments we stake out when we're all together again. Online multiplayer is another option, but no matter what anyone tells you, isn't something everyone naturally likes. That was the case for me, and singleplayer has revealed it's shortcomings over the course of time. A couple of years ago I made the decision to stop playing any game I wanted, and instead play only truly astounding/amazing games. This drastically reduced the amount of games I played, as well as the time. Definitely a step of God's continuous work in me.
Despite climbing to a purer level of gaming (in a gaming sense), I felt growing dissatisfaction with gaming altogether, and here's some of why. Like most things of this world, gaming is frequently used as a substitute for Christ to get fulfillment, but I realized a few crippling problems with it.
First: I have to be playing. If I'm not playing, I don't get fulfillment.
Second: I have to win most of the time. If I don't win I painfully see how much of a waste of time it is.
Third: It has to be challenging and take skill to win. Otherwise, losing and winning doesn't matter.
This doesn't entirely apply to all games, but it works as a general frame of reference. All of it has to do with progress. Gaming is many things, used to relieve stress, relax, have fun with friends, some good things. But there are always achievements, or medals, or level percentages, or extras and easter eggs, or better equipment and skills to play with, which accurately targets our desire to make progress. To win. To be good at something. And in singleplayer, there's no one but the AI to play, and given time, it's not hard to get really good. A substitute for, and escape from, reality.
So for me, Sins Of A Solar Empire: Rebellion, showed up for pre-order. At this time I was occasionally playing Demigod, SOASE Trinity, Soldat, Portal, and one or two ps2 games, like Fight Night: Round 3. All of which are really fantastic at what they do. But I asked myself, why do I want rebellion? The game is incredible and mindblowing, but in the end, just like every other game, there's a cheerful "You Win!" screen, or gloriously extended screen, and then you start over again and the previous game is almost entirely forgotten.
Because a lot of gaming is progress. The fun is in the process of winning, the overpowering of the opposition, the doing. And the biggest lie of gaming is that you're making real progress.
I never made one whit of progress playing a game. That's all it is. A game. Meant to be enjoyed, useable for good in the right circumstances, but still just a game.
Progress is just a different way of saying fulfillment, which is why games won't satisfy. They can only fill while you play them. Thank God, Christ is not the same way. Christ is always at work in us, making progress, and if we simply follow him, we will feel that progress, that real satisfaction that comes from fulfillment by doing what is right. By making progress in our lives, something we will always be doing. One way or another.
There are other reasons and logical arguments I could make for my decision to stop playing games for myself, but this one topic of progress was the biggie I hoped to fully convey. I hope you found this two-part read interesting in some way.... I ended up spending a lot longer on it than I thought I would, and also only covering a small part of what I thought I would. Comments are always appreciated, no matter how long!
Despite any demonic attempts to re-shackle me with fond addiction- and I easily/freely call it that- I haven't reneged on my decision because of God's refining work, which has soundly reached the point where video games are wholly less appealing than following Christ. Hallelujah! This single point is the largest reason for my resolution.
Just to clarify, as I never explicitly said what I decided (because honestly I hadn't yet), here's my conclusion, which is best described by what my decision is not. I am not ruling out ever playing video games again. Might sound contrary to what I'm talking about, but making a decision like that is just asking to fail. It's legalistic, self-will fueled, motivated by law, and guaranteed to make me eat my words later. Not something I like to do when I like words so much. I'm also not saying you should should make the same decision that I'm taking forever to outline because it's a personal decision that should be made according to your life. Which God owns, by the way.
Sigh. I think I'm getting worse at this blogging stuff the longer I do it. I don't edit. Theoretically it will end up being much more personable and feel like I'm sharing with you personally, like a friend talking about life. But I don't want it to just be "talk"; rather, something that encourages and/or challenges. So far, I just end up with paragraphs like this, that just make things confusing. I remain optimistic though. :-)
"Alright everybody! Intermission is over!"
My decision is just not to spend any more afternoons or nights or mornings in hours long games played by me, for me, with no one but me.
And now, for the reasoning section.
The definition and application of video games could be boiled down to "waste of time, entertainment". Could be argued as usable for socializing. Could be argued as good for your eyes or bad for your eyes. Improves your reflexes. Adds to your waist size. Produces conversation topics. Kills creativity, increases imagination. To me, all can be true, because I've experienced them all, and there are plenty more. While pros and cons can be argued for everything, what's important is why you play. And when I say "you", I'm really referring to my personal life experience, as a gamer.
For me, things reached a critical point after yet another brother moved away, making multiplayer a pleasant time found only in the sparse moments we stake out when we're all together again. Online multiplayer is another option, but no matter what anyone tells you, isn't something everyone naturally likes. That was the case for me, and singleplayer has revealed it's shortcomings over the course of time. A couple of years ago I made the decision to stop playing any game I wanted, and instead play only truly astounding/amazing games. This drastically reduced the amount of games I played, as well as the time. Definitely a step of God's continuous work in me.
Despite climbing to a purer level of gaming (in a gaming sense), I felt growing dissatisfaction with gaming altogether, and here's some of why. Like most things of this world, gaming is frequently used as a substitute for Christ to get fulfillment, but I realized a few crippling problems with it.
First: I have to be playing. If I'm not playing, I don't get fulfillment.
Second: I have to win most of the time. If I don't win I painfully see how much of a waste of time it is.
Third: It has to be challenging and take skill to win. Otherwise, losing and winning doesn't matter.
This doesn't entirely apply to all games, but it works as a general frame of reference. All of it has to do with progress. Gaming is many things, used to relieve stress, relax, have fun with friends, some good things. But there are always achievements, or medals, or level percentages, or extras and easter eggs, or better equipment and skills to play with, which accurately targets our desire to make progress. To win. To be good at something. And in singleplayer, there's no one but the AI to play, and given time, it's not hard to get really good. A substitute for, and escape from, reality.
So for me, Sins Of A Solar Empire: Rebellion, showed up for pre-order. At this time I was occasionally playing Demigod, SOASE Trinity, Soldat, Portal, and one or two ps2 games, like Fight Night: Round 3. All of which are really fantastic at what they do. But I asked myself, why do I want rebellion? The game is incredible and mindblowing, but in the end, just like every other game, there's a cheerful "You Win!" screen, or gloriously extended screen, and then you start over again and the previous game is almost entirely forgotten.
Because a lot of gaming is progress. The fun is in the process of winning, the overpowering of the opposition, the doing. And the biggest lie of gaming is that you're making real progress.
I never made one whit of progress playing a game. That's all it is. A game. Meant to be enjoyed, useable for good in the right circumstances, but still just a game.
Progress is just a different way of saying fulfillment, which is why games won't satisfy. They can only fill while you play them. Thank God, Christ is not the same way. Christ is always at work in us, making progress, and if we simply follow him, we will feel that progress, that real satisfaction that comes from fulfillment by doing what is right. By making progress in our lives, something we will always be doing. One way or another.
There are other reasons and logical arguments I could make for my decision to stop playing games for myself, but this one topic of progress was the biggie I hoped to fully convey. I hope you found this two-part read interesting in some way.... I ended up spending a lot longer on it than I thought I would, and also only covering a small part of what I thought I would. Comments are always appreciated, no matter how long!
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