The Meaning of Games

A story about you

Little did I know at that time that picking up that highly squared and uncomfortable Nintendo joystick would be the start of a never-ending adventure and passion for video games. I remember playing Super Mario when I was five — that was most likely my first real gaming experience. I also fondly remember how excited I was to finally be able to buy a PS2 with money I had saved, and every laptop and console I’ve owned since.

I’ve had this passion for as long as I can remember and with the passing of years it seems to only get stronger even if the time I have to dedicate to this hobby has decreased. And just as I have grown up and matured, so have games and the gaming landscape as a whole.

Because of more media coverage, in part due to Esports but also because more and more famous people have been revealing their love for video-games, this once-frowned-upon hobby has been getting more attention and has been rapidly gaining social acceptance. The previous cultural image of an over-sized, over-sweaty and over-timid boy locked in his parents’ basement playing games all day has now changed to something that’s discussed openly in public between all sort of people of all ages, genders and backgrounds. Whereas before those that enjoyed this sort of past-time would be coined as “nerds” and “geeks”, today wearing a gamer tag is something that is actually cool.

At a social level, humans have been playing games for a very long time, perhaps dating to the very first time a lie was told, some seventy thousand years ago. It might be really hard to grasp that the first humans could not lie or imagine things that were not true and that being able to tell a story, especially one that featured things that were not real, was a big first step towards human evolution.

Clearly, the gaming industry is picking up more speed and traction, and the reasons that people play video-games for have also become a lot more varied. From being a hobby to becoming a career choice for many. However, for those of us that have grown up gaming, we know that a game can be more than just a really good story. For those of us that have always felt connected to the virtual world it gets to be a lot more personal.

I know many people that have a deep passion for games. It is no surprise that such a post was appreciated and deeply understood because many of us know that games can occupy a very important place in our lives.

Games can make us feel powerful when in reality we mostly feel powerless. They can make us feel understood and part of something, when we feel alone. A good game can be a friend, a workplace, a challenge and an adventure all rolled into one. It can turn us into warriors, explorers, pilots, or just your average plumber jumping over hills and breaking bricks in order to save his princess. Games can teach us about beauty, honor, truth, but also about hate, consequences and shame. They can build real friendships and even end some. People have made international teams, crossed countries and continents to meet people in real life and even married individuals that they met in games — people that were once only pixels on a screen, nicknames in a database.

I’ve played games for fun, for the challenge, for the immersion and for the company. I’ve made real friends and can honestly say that playing games changed my life in more than one way. But how about you?

Why do you play games?

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