I have been eating up fantasy books like they were candy since my brother first introduced me to Tolkien’s The Hobbit when I was in second grade. I love how a good book seems to transport you from your living room couch or car seat into the wonderful realm of possibility – where magic and valor really exist and problems are big and evil and tangible – something that can be overcome by bravery and strategy and war.. where you can rest assured that the hero will win out in the end, that all his struggles will be worth it, that good will triumph over evil and karma will win out…
I recently posted a very lengthy comment (read: essay) in response to a post on my best friend’s blog about video games, stories, real-life adventures, and romance. You can read the post, and subsequent comments, here: www.thepeninthestone.blogspot.com. It’s really worth the read, and might give some insight as to what prompted me to write this evening.
Said friend (hereafter referred to as Big Brother, because that’s the role he most often plays in my life) posed the thesis that the Creation and Sharing of Stories – whether real or imagined – whether through writing, art music, video games, or better yet actually bringing a friend or loved one along on a real journey/adventure – is the quintessential point and purpose of a life well-lived. I happen to agree with him, but it got me thinking about my own approach to life and my relationship with video games.
I feel that I have always approached reading – and gaming – as an escape from real life. Books give you the chance to step outside of yourself, into another world and into someone else’s head. It’s the same with a good movie, a piece of art, even some of the more engaging musical pieces. But in video games, especially a good open-world RPG like Oblivion (click here), Fallout 3 (click me), or The Lord of the Rings Online (click click click), you create an alternate fantasy version of yourself with which to explore and conquer, with your choice of skills, combat preferences, magical powers, and the freedom to explore the world however you choose to. You can be an evil character, stealing and killing and wantonly blowing up whatever you damn well please with a rocket launcher (Fallout 3). Or, you can ignore the quest system entirely and just meander about picking wildflowers and watching the sun rise and set in various beautifully presented locations, all while enjoying the epic in-game soundtrack (Oblivion). You can put your heart and soul into following the storyline, exploring every sub-plot and achieving every optional deed, side-quest or item collection just for the sake of thorough exploration, and consider carefully the moral implications of your main character’s choices (this is usually how Brother approaches these games). It’s all up to you, and since none of these decisions have real-life consequences, there’s a wonderful feeling of freedom in that choice.
In Dragon Quest IX for the Nintendo DS, you can create and customize each member of your party with any number of classes, skill sets and equipment. Basically, you not only make a Fantasy You to be the main character, but also a Fantasy Best Friend / Boyfriend / Girlfriend / Brother / Sister group to keep you company, help you out in battle, or provide free healing. Then you and your little group of Fantasy Friends go out into the world to battle evil and save the world. It’s like The Sims, except instead of worrying about eating, sleeping and pooping before your little Sim head explodes into a billion pieces of STUPID in a super-non-realistic time-based life where it takes an hour to pee but half a second to change clothes and get to work, in this game you’re fighting goofy little monsters, finding treasure and chatting with kings, queens, princesses and weird villains.
I’ve spent much of my free time in the past few weeks immersing myself once again in The Lord of the Rings Online, along with Brother. Along with being a wonderful showcase for my nerdy early-life obsession with this series, it’s a chance for me to actually run around in Middle-Earth as an elf or a hobbit, interact with my favorite characters and generally be a huge happy dork. But that’s beside the point. It’s interesting to note the differences in my play style from Brother’s. While he has been chasing along after every annoying little quest where you have to run back and forth across the Shire delivering the mail or carrying pies (don’t ask), I’ve been meandering about the world killing monsters, picking up a quest or two wherever I see fit, and enjoying the hell out of the crafting professions, often creating items I don’t need just for the sake of creating them and then either giving them away to other gamers or sending them to Brother. I’ve avoided the entire “Auction House” part of the game, where you can bid on or sell items to other players or ‘play the market’ like brother by setting good prices and making a bundle of gold coins off of your crafted items, re-selling items posted by other players, or selling crafting ingredients for the less patient players.
I didn’t understand at first why this part of the game annoyed me so much, or why I chose not to get involved and would much rather just give away items and be poor, or ask Brother to send my characters some gold when I needed to buy something. But I finally figured it out yesterday: it’s because in real life, I spend way too much of my time organizing spreadsheets, keeping track of all the bills, worrying about how to pay for them, trying to sell things on eBay to make some extra cash, and collecting receipts from every grocery store purchase and tank of gas to keep tabs on my stupid always-almost-empty bank account. In my ultimate fantasy world, why would I want my character to have to deal with all that money crap?
The overall point, here, is that when we can put ourselves INTO the story, especially in a really engaging fantasy world like that of the games mentioned above, we often make the choices we wish we could make in real life. I give my character magical powers, I run around exploring the world because in real life I’m kind of stuck in this small college town where my work is and can’t afford to travel much. I leave my worries behind and just have FUN, and where’s the harm in that? I’m not one of those stereotypes who gets so involved in a game that I forget to eat or sleep or go to work. Granted, I’ve occasionally stayed up too late playing and been tired at work the next day. But sometimes you just have to admit that any amount of personal happiness is more important than being well-rested while you’re at a job you don’t particularly care for.
The thing that got me thinking about Brother’s blog post was how much he believes that video games and other stories don’t just entertain, but inspire you to go out and find those real-life adventures we all wish we could have. In my response to this I went on a rant about how even though money may not buy happiness, it sure as hell makes it a lot easier to find, giving you the freedom to travel and try new activities. But the important thing here is that games don’t have to be just games. They can translate to real life in that they showcase for us the things we wish we could do, and a confident and strong person will take from that the desire and actual WILL to go out and DO something about it. Whether that thing is getting a better job so they can actually afford to do some traveling, or whether it’s something small like going hiking or trying karaoke, the main thing is to actually go out there and TRY – to let your adventuresome spirit actually stretch its little legs and grow out of the pure fantasy realm into something that can enter the real world. This is what I really strive for, and Brother has helped me to see that it is possible.
I want to travel. A lot. For long stretches of time. Across all different parts of Europe, up into the mountains of
So I try to content myself for the time being with being a little hobbit in Middle-Earth, with my bow and arrows and hand-crafted armor, riding around on a special horse I had to earn by completing many quests and winning a horse-race (I’m afraid of horses in real life). With my Elf rune-keeper, the magic-wielding badass woman who fries enemies with a strike of lightning. With my human guardian, who runs right into the fray with her sword and shield, getting the enemy’s attention and showing no fear as she bravely defends her friends from harm. And I watch the sun set from the top of a mountain on my computer screen, and jump off a waterfall just to see how far it is to the bottom. But I know now that these fantasy adventures will not be enough for me; that there are real-life adventures out there waiting for me, if I can just find the means and the motivation to chase after them. And, you know, a couple days off of work wouldn’t hurt either =\
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