Games are not just games

Playing games is a waste of time, they say. Games make you lazy. Games are distracting. Games are for children. I've heard all of these and more, but these are all misconceptions, propagated by boomers and people with little understanding of games and their benefits on society.

I have played games since I can remember. At around 4-5 years old I've touched my first computer, and on it, using floppy discs, I started learning to play games. I had games that taught me cognitive skills, such as solving puzzles, remembering patterns and other games that taught me new languages such as English and French. Games, particularly those on consoles and the PC were a huge part of my childhood. We used to meet at my cousin, usually for 3-4 days per week during Summer holidays playing games together. Sometimes we played against each other, sometimes together, and other times I just observed. But it was always a nice time, for I was interacting with my family, laughing together, thinking out problems and creating strategies on the spot. These are skills I've taken with me to adulthood, and they help me every day during work.

Playing real-time strategy (RTS) games from around 5-12 years of age taught me to think quickly and find alternative solutions. Games I played included Starcraft I and II, Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Warcraft I, I & III and Age of Empires. I remember how me and my cousin developed a strategy of beating a map encounter by bending the rules and instead of building an army throughout the game, we stormed the enemy with a few units provided at the start and managed to win in a few minutes. This taught me to think of unique risky ideas which might fail miserably, but if they actually worked they transformed the core philosophy of the game. I also remember playing RTS-LAN games and understanding how bad I am at the game when I was destroyed by my friends. This taught me that however good I thought I was, there was always room for improvement.

Then came the the console age between 12-16 years old where I played a large diversity of games such as Role-Playing Games, fighting games, racing etc. These games were mostly single-player and helped me to develop a sense of independence. I could go through a game learning on my own and whenever we got stuck we discussed between cousins or friends and obtained information to advance in the game. At this same age we started dabbling into card games such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, which taught me how to interact with people but also showed me that I can memorise hundreds of names and all their interactions. These skills were also improved by learning combos in fighting games or learning cheat codes by heart in GTA Vice City and San Andreas. We also developed quick reaction time skills by playing shooting games such as Call of Duty which would come in handy 12 years later to avoid hitting a sheep with my car.

At around 15-16 years I started the infamous Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game (MMORPG) called World of Warcraft (WoW). This is a period of my life where I learnt to work in teams. Joining a guild of 100 or more people as a teenager and getting kicked out for being a drama queen taught me the value of peace-keeping. I learnt how to treat people with respect and dignity and how to work with other people. I've played this game for over 8500 hours, and if this seems insane, it is. I made friends along the way, friends who I celebrated my 18th birthday with in-game, which felt more real to me than the forced birthday wishes in real life. And even though I have forgotten the names of these people, or the names of their characters in game, I can vividly remember being surprised by a digital cake and digital fireworks on an unexpected day which might have otherwise been another dull blip in my teenage years.

Playing in WoW taught me to grind for achievements, which means doing monotonous repetitive tasks to obtain rewards. Being part of guilds, as a new player, as a novice, as a growing skill-full player being assigned as officer, then raiding leader and eventually forming our own guild and acting as Guild Leader taught me how to always strive to improve, but at the same time be grounded. When working with a wide variety of people; some ambitious and striving for perfection way beyond your expectation, some lazy and some rather casual, you learn how to accept diversity and make use of their differences not just for your personal growth but for the growth of the whole guild. WoW has truly been a journey and a game I still enjoy occasionally to this day. I sometimes say that I play this game for it's story telling, but I feel that the reason I enjoyed it this long was the social interaction.

Lastly, came Magic The Gathering (MTG), a card game. This game has provided a space for playing in person with people I didn't know before and a common ground on which to talk with total strangers. It has allowed my friends to gather around a table and spend a couple of hours playing, ending with laughter or banging on the table, shouting profanities at their luck. Creating decks in my head from hundreds of memorised cards and their interactions also helped me learn how to connect the dots on a large scale. Playing the game taught me to think ahead and not to focus just on what I can do, but what my opponent is likely to play on their next turn. Thinking ahead is an important skill that this game teaches you when you find yourself being stopped by your opponent and told "Nope", denying your move and also teaching you the meaning of patience.

Games have been part of my life from the beginning and they have also affected a lot of people I know. Games do not make people lazy. Games help people fight depression. Games help people make friends and socialise. Games help people improve their cognitive and social skills. Games are not just games.

This post was inspired by this quote from the game World of Warcraft

Three Hues of Dusk

Black shores of forgotten seas

And strings of orange light

Between two impossible skies

Lie dormant, waiting night

The gentle quiet of early dark

And a calm silent breeze
On these velvet purple waters

The caress of soothing peace

Hues of day now gone

Faded into the blackened night

The distant echoing hum

And far off balls of yellow-white

Dear Virelda

Dear Virelda,
You came into this world when the world had left us all behind. The black mist was and is still our greatest struggle. It is a boundary between our world and our society. Yet, it is not the real threat to our survival. The world moved on long ago and the black mist is just a little after-thought of the chaos that had befallen our lands.

It is said that the great cities of the Far Beyond were ten times larger and twice as tall as our own. Their towers scraped the skies not where the clouds touch their spires but where the clouds look like tutus around their waist. And even though the people of those cities fought hard against the changes that occurred, they all failed to persevere. The cities were abandoned and the hollow shells of those towers eventually crumbled with time. Not Skyscapes however. We lived. 

The black mist engulfed our delta like an amoeba engulfs a particle of food. It came slowly over the years, and then thickened with the years that passed. The soil beneath turned to dust and the roots and blades of grass withered away into the stale air. The Great Mountains to the West held the black mist from spilling over to the forests of the Far Beyond and this was not our greatest misfortune. It was in fact a stroke of luck. For even if the Black Mist prevented us from walking off across the mountains, it also prevented things from coming our way. The Far Beyond, they say, is a land that we should never even think of venturing into. This is why the Poison Wall was grown. For the wall protects us from the ground, and the Black Mist from the skies. 

You might grow thinking there is little to know about our world. Some people will silence you when you ask questions and others will fear your curiosity and ignore you. Do not be like the rest of them Virelda. Ask questions, but ask them to the right people. The Golden Library holds scrolls and documents forgotten even by the Elite. It is a treasure chest filled with gems from the past. Seek this knowledge and make it your purpose to learn what was and what is of our world. Do not succumb to obsession, however, for the hasty mind makes errors and errors can be dangerous in our times. Have patience Virelda. With time you will learn things that will define you and our city and eventually, change will come. 

For now I'll leave you with my trusted friend and cousin Joe, for I have been banished from Skyscapes. This is the result of over-indulgence in one's own curiosity and obsession. Do not be like me Virelda. I will watch over you, don't worry, as I have always did. When it is time, nineteen years from now, Joe will show you this letter, and all will be revealed.

Let the sun shine over the magnificence of our city, as it shall shine on your life Virelda.

Much love,
Dad.

Moving Backwards into the Future

There is a distinction between relevance and apparent existence. Does a tree make a sound in the forest if it falls and there is no one to listen to it? Yes, it does, and yes it does not. It is all relative, and it has to do with relevance.

Let's take man as the point of reference and the sound as the relevant event that is being studied in regards to man. If there is no man to hear the tree fall, then it is as if it never fell, because for man it had no relevance. If, say, we took the damage to the ecosystem as the relevant event, than we could say that the tree falling had a relevant effect on man trying to save the ecosystem, and therefore the falling of the tree indeed happened, in relevance to the effects on man. Yet, if sound has no real impact on man (the observer) than the event of a tree falling and making sound in the absence of man has no real relevance to man and it is as if it never did any sound.

If we take this to a new level, what if the past exists because we can remember it? Let's take myself as an example. Ryan now has choices to make as he grows up. Take two choices as an example; a) I have to go abroad in a week, b) I do not go abroad next week. If I go abroad, I die in an airplane accident. If I don't go abroad, I stay alive. This means that my future holds two possibilities. Either I die in a week or I don't. In the former case, my future self seizes to exist in one week. In the latter, my future self continues to exist until an indefinite time in the future when it dies.

Right before I die in choice A, my future self in timeline A remembers my present self. By doing so, choice A is a relevant pathway into the future. By observing myself in a week, my future self in timeline B also remembers my present self, and by so doing so choice B becomes a relevant pathway.
However, pathway B also creates an indefinite amount of alternate pathways to my death. Each of those pathways, which are a consequence of choice B also remember my present self, and by so doing they positively reinforce choice B.

At every choice, the chance of picking either A or B is still 50%. However, the relevance of the future Ryan in all pathways leading from choice B is larger than the single pathway (to death) leading from choice A. This means that choice B has more relevance to the present than choice A.

My apparent existence tells me that for every point in time where I have a choice between two choices, I always pick one or the other randomly equally (assuming that the event leading from the choice  has no relevance on your choice). If both choices, A and B were equally relevant to me then I would pick either one at 50% chance. What if, however, this is not so? What if our present is created by our future? If choice B results in a higher number of future pathways then wouldn't choice B be picked more often in the present? For this to happen there must be one of two possible scenarios; either the future is creating the past, or the future is transferring information to the past, affecting it.

Either one of these scenarios seems implausible in our current understanding. Our vision of reality tells us that we are moving towards the future by creating events and picking choices in the present leaving behind an untouchable immutable past. However, what would happen if we were to learn that the present self has further power on the past than on our future?

What if by remembering the past, we are keeping that past-self alive? What if all the future Ryan's resulting from choice B are remembering Ryan choosing choice B, then doesn't that put more relevance on Ryan choosing choice B? Ryan choosing choice B thus has more relevance to the present than choice A because the future Ryan is giving it relevance.

I could, therefore, be moving backwards into the future. By remembering the past I give relevance to it. And those choices in the present that lead to larger amount of branching pathways in the future are not the result of a deliberate choice in the present but a consequence of their relevance to the future. The future is thus creating the present.

A Hug

Saw her there standing in a corner. Tears hanging on her chin, her red cheeks watery, glistening in the light of this nice day. And I looked into her eyes as she looked into mine. I walked, slowly towards her as she stood there. With open arms, I hugged her fragile state.

I wanted to squeeze her pain away. My arms wrapped around her tense body, her stiff muscles against mine. Her head nestled on my shoulders as her sobbing slowed, her chin dampening my hair.

Then my arms wrapped tightly firm around her, my fingers anchoring on her clothes. She stood there, still with her arms draping down. I caged her inside my warmth and there I gave her shelter.

Into the distance I stared and of nothing I thought. This wasn't a moment to think, but one to feel. Her beating heart thumped against my chest. Her blushing cheeks radiated heat into my neck.

There we stood silent. That was all I could give. That was all she needed.

Little Beating Heart

Every little thing's
That gonna flicker
In this beating heart
Will die out
And every little thing
That was once close
To this beating heart
Will vanish with it
All the little things
That once danced
With the rhythm
Of this beating heart
Cease to move
To the little things
And to my heart
Forever loved
Once forgotten
Beats no more.

An Adventure

At the foot of the white-tipped mountain
We set up camp on green blades of grass
And that night under a black sky dotted with stars
We slept singing songs of old and eating bread
For the next day, early as the sun broke
We set forth, for the peak of ice we walked.

It took us six days, we hiked we climbed
Across the beaten track and beyond the paths
We met a lake of blue and green with fish
And beavers that swam and pulled logs in it
We hunted one and ate it hot on a blazing fire
Made from wood that we got from trees of Spruce

On the seventh day when the sun peaking out
From behind the horizon it welcomed us
Upon the peak of Mount Magut we stretched our feet
And we laughed and clapped hi-fives
And hugged each other in the cold air
That swept up from down below

We then looked at each other for a moment
Back and forth we nodded agreement
And we jumped down the mountain
With parachutes we swayed fast.
Down fast we went against the cold breeze
The camps down below like ants we saw

And in a few minutes we descended
In an open field of grass we landed
And laughed and hugged
For the climb of days took so brief now
To get back to camps and a fire we set up
And there we lay and sang and bread we ate.