Before I begin - please stop laughing. I’m quite serious; there really
is a spiritual reason to play video games. Lest you roll your eyes
again, let me explain:
Video games serve as a solid reminder
that the physical universe is an illusion. A game (like life) has a
central character that you identify with and control as though you were
the character. With the character comes a set of relationships, varying
from simple to complex; with other characters and the game-world itself.
There
are goals, rewards, pitfalls and challenges; ‘enemies’, ‘friends’,
tools, levels and missions - creating a vivid impression of reality
that we can easily lose ourselves in for several hours (days or weeks
or months of subjective game-time).
Yet, after we complete the
game, or shut it off and save our progress for next time; it becomes
apparent that after all our striving, evasion of obstacles and
acquisition of prizes, even all the difficult missions we’ve completed
- nothing’s really been accomplished.
We’ve just spent several
hours sitting in front of a screen…moving our thumbs and eyes and
little else. There is no real reward for completing the game. There is
no punishment for losing it, or giving up and quitting. It doesn’t make
a damn bit of difference what we did in the game - it hasn’t changed a
single thing and we’re no better or worse for having played.
Now
here’s the clincher: so-called ‘real’ life isn’t any different. The
formula is exactly the same; we’ve just identified so closely with the
character in this game, we’re convinced that’s who we are. The truth
is, we’re just playing a larger, higher-definition game. The single
most-repeated concept in spiritual literature and scripture is: “THIS
ISN’T REAL”. The second-most repeated concept: “You are not the doer.”
Why do you suppose that is?
Imagine you got so caught up in a
video game that you could actually feel the character’s wounds,
exertions, aches and pains; and to top it off, you’d forget it’s even a
game. It wouldn’t be nearly as much fun to play, would it? All the
situations that were previously entertaining would suddenly become
deadly serious; the path to your goals would be fraught with suffering;
and the goals themselves would turn out to be utterly transient,
intangible and meaningless anyway. ..Sound familiar?
If played
with awareness, video games (in my opinion) can serve as a reminder of
who you really are, and what this ‘life’ really is. It’s much easier
(and produces better results) to play as a ‘player’ than a ‘character’.
- Raz
"The US-based indie games developer Aleth Labs today announced with great joy and thrill that their retro-like comedic puzzle adventure "ELON, is coming to PC via Steam this year (2024)." - Jonas Ek, TGG.
"The Sherman Oaks-based (CA, the US) indie games publisher Joystick Ventures and Melbourne-based (Australia) indie games developer Effort Star, are today very happy and excited to announce that their psychedelic turn-based bullet hell roguelike "Enter the Chronosphere", is dropping its time-limited Steam demo on May 13th, 2024 (the demo is a part of Steam’s Endless Replayability event)." - Jonas Ek, TGG.
Biomutant comes to the Nintendo Switch. A decent port, but nothing groundbreaking.