I love video games.
Do i suck ass at, like, every single one I play? Yes. Is playing them a productive use of my time? No. Do I only own like 4? Yes. Do I play the games that many people think are a staple in gaming and that everyone needs to try? No. Are some games made by really shitty corporations or people? Yes. Do I play them with my friends or spend a ton of time in vcs with people who share my interests? No. Do they make me upset or angry or frustrated more than I would like to admit? Yes. Are all the communities surrounding video games good? No. Do I occasionally find them incredibly annoying and want to stop playing forever? Yes. are they at all perfect? No.
Is it possible to admit all of those things are true and still love video games anyway?
Yes, Yes it is.
And do I?
Yes, Yes I do.
Why? Because even if I don't play a certain game or many games at all, and even if I think it has a bad creator or community, and even if I don't understand the hype around a game or think it seems stupid, and even if the games create moments that make me upset and angry and frustrated and everything in between, and even if i'm bad at them and they are a bad use of my time, I can realize all that, and speak up against everything that I think is wrong and still appreciate all that video games have done for both me and the world anyway.
Because in this case, it doesn't need to be just one or the other, you can admit that parts of a game are wrong and still love the pieces that are left behind. This isn't a mindset you can have in most cases, but in this one? I think it is the best mindset to have.
because in the end, video games aren't just games. to the people that love them they are so, so much more.
becase for every game that has ever been made there is someone out there who loves it with their entire heart. And to the people who love them, video games can everything and nothing all at the same time, a way of making friends and being in a comunity, a way to be accepted or to escape the real world, a way to tell storys and make memorys, a way to create incredible things or to appreciate what others have built, a way to be in a place where you know the all the answers or in a place where you know nothing at all, a way to meet people who share your intrests or to be alone, a way to express yourself or to build a legacy that will outlive you, a way to feel everything or to feel nothing, a way be in a world where you know you are on the right track or where you know you are free, a way to take a break or to do something that makes your heart pound, a way to save everything you find or to burn everything in your path to the ground, a way to discover something you are good at or find something that you truly enjoy, a way to to see the highest peaks and the deepest caverns and anything else you could ever imagen or your that heart could ever desier. video games are a way to win and to lose and to climb and to fall and to live and to die.And most of all, (at least for me), video games are a way to be, to just exist.
no expectations, no need to be perfect, no constant, nagging feeling that you are doing something wrong or that you are on the edge of collapse.
because with video games, it's just you, a screen, and a million different worlds that are yet to be explored, sitting at your finger tips, just waiting, patiently, to be discovered. Waiting, patiently, for you to find them.
