Progress & Perspective

For this week's post, I wanted to talk about one of the biggest reasons video games helped me so much when I was growing up. It really took me a few years in hindsight to put my finger on it and how by even being aware of it did not diminish the importance of it. The role of progress in a video game and how that affects an individual is a concept that I don't believe has been studied very much (if at all yet) in a scholarly sense. When my life was crappy, I knew I could turn to video games and make a difference, whether it was collecting heart pieces, catching that elusive Pokemon, or defeating Kefka.

(He's Square's version of the Joker I swear! All he needs is Mark Hamill's voice.)

Regardless of how your real life may be, by supplementing any "real life" progress (tests, dates, family, and other stressors) by accomplishing something that often rewards you psychically with in games items or experience also does so psychologically in the real world. I know it boosted my confidence and gave me a sense of accomplishment which was not imaginary by any means. Having that effect helped me to get through many things, and that confidence boost was sometimes the extra bit that pushed me to strive for something. I definitively had ambition to do well with my life, but at the time lacked self esteem and self worth. When you can say you just defeated someone trying to conquer the world though, anything that you might be dealing with at school just got a little less daunting. Such things didn't replace any real life accomplishments, but they helped to make them happen.

Obviously only having such things to one's name can be dangerous to a degree. Hubris and overconfidence distorting one's abilities and skills is not the best thing to be touting. But, I will say that's also a part of growing up and getting to know yourself within that context. So, even if you do become rather egotistical and like to rub it someone's face with a sense of superiority by the setup of you're Pokemon lineup, only to realize that someone just kicked you're butt with a Magicarp, it is nevertheless a learning experience.

Specifically focusing on Pokemon, when you originally caught all 150 (Mew didn't count in the lineup achievement wise back then I believe) what you received in the end was a diploma from Celadon city that you could print out as a thanks from the developers. What this says to me (among many other songs, movies, and books) is that it is the journey and the act of progressing through the journey (and thus the self discovery) that matters.

The fact that all this really comes down to one's attitude and perception is rather amazing. The problems you have to face are still there, it's simply the way that you now are facing your problems that are different. On that note I'd like to leave you with a rather succinct quote from everyone's favorite pirate Jack Sparrow: 

"The problem is not the problem; the problem is your attitude about the problem"

Now where's my jar of dirt?

*As a side note, I'd like to bring to your attention a kickstarter that  my friend the wonderful Matthew Ritter, is helping to create. Welcome to Boon Hill is a game about graveyards, tombstones, and the joy of solitude. It has just reached the 10k mark, which  means the game will be crossplatform, including ios and Android. If you've always been interested in the tombstones that you find in games and enjoy the simplicity of exploring a graveyard, Boon Hill is right up your alley: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1607565961/welcome-to-boon-hill/posts/490899?ref=email&show_token=dc6f92238695bd45