dbsmith's Blogs

Ahhh remember those long summer days where you used to go outside for hours on end, climb tall trees and jump from one precarious limb to the other? When you and two friends could have 4 hours fun off a tennis ball and a big stick? No? Too young? Staying at home playing XBox instead?

I'm guessing that we're growing up now in an age where gaming is normal. In that you can boast about your Xbox scores at school without getting beaten up. This was not always the case young padawan. *What??* I hear you gasp. *Gaming wasn't always sexy??* Well it's true. Gaming was once on the fringes of mainstream society, encapsulated in seedy arcades and greasy fish and chip stores. One dollar could go a long way if you were good enough. But choice wasn't an option. You could spend hours at a time on ONE game, which amounted to the same repetitive task over and over and over.....

Anyone seen King of Kong? Or Chasing Ghosts? They're documentaries on addicted arcade players back in the 80s.

To me, those were akin to documentaries on Heroin addicts. (Don't get me started on WoW by the way....) Some of them played ONE arcade game for 3 days straight. And lets be honest here, these guys aren't gonna win any bachelor of the year awards. Watch the docos before you take offense - I'm sure they are nice guys, but lets face it: they seem to epitomize the worst case scenario of gamers - pale, bearded, socially awkward guys - the image that often gets (got?) put forward through mainstream media to show gamers.

Fast forward to today. I pose a question (or 4, i cant count). One to which I don't know the answer.

What is gaming's place in today's society? Has it become as normal as say television? Is it "socially acceptable" (as much as I hate bullsh*t terms like that and the ideas behind them) to chat about games as we would any other media?

The other change I have seen over my short life is the ridiculous amount of choice offered to gamers. We have a heap of consoles, thousands of games to choose from, and can even go rent a game at a moment's notice. I think we have become spoilt for choice. At times I feel like I have gamer's ADD, jumping from one game to the next after 15 minutes of play. "Lets play some Unreal Tourny, no wait sick of that, how bout some Mirror's Edge, no wait got sick of that a while ago, maybe some old game like Monkey Island, no I've played that too much"

After much (i.e. 10 seconds) self-analysis and introspection, I think this kind of twitchy can't-be-satisfied feeling comes from an over abundance of choice. If we had just ONE game, as I did in my youth, we would play that to DEATH. And love it. I'm sure that's how many people feel with that crazy WoW drug, but I ain't touchin that.

You know what I've found is the solution to this feeling of dis-satisfaction? Take a break from gaming. Be it an hour or two in the sun, or a entire month away from computers, I guarantee (no money back) that some time away will reinvigorate your gaming spirit.

And, perhaps despite all that,  I still love getting sucked into just one game. I just got back from a long computer-less holiday. Last night, sat down in front of computer and started playing Team Fortress 2. And man did I have a blast. Losing all track of time and place, beard growing longer, skin getting pastier...

So this weekend, I'm gonna go for a run if its sunny, a swim if its not....then probably spend the afternoon playing TF2.