Electric Turnip
  • Blog
  • Stories
    • Story 000
    • Story 001
    • Story 002
    • Story 004
    • Story 007 - Unfinished
    • Story 008
    • Story 010 - BattleWagon
    • Story 012
  • Images
    • Adventure Caddie concept gallery
    • Page Design Gallery
    • Older Work
  • 5FEAT Video
  • Videos
  • Game Experiments
    • Climb
    • Super Shapetoy
    • TurboGarbageTruck
    • 031 - Best Games - Enchanter
    • 033 - Shader Test
  • Contact

034

6/24/2013

0 Comments

 
I'm scared of video games.

I'm scared of committing 20, 40, 100 hours to a single experience. I'm scared of spending time and energy on repetitive combat loop design. I'm scared of exploring new mechanics only to come up against their limits. I'm scared of an isolating entertainment medium that few of my peers relate to.

I have been playing video games for most of my life. Every time I start a new one, I'm scared. I feel nervous and anxious as the opening splash screens play. I spend some time in the menus so that I don't have to face starting the game proper. I feel disconnected from the controls and flail around for a while. I feel like I missed some critical training in the opening sequences. I'm lost. I don't know how to play this game, and I never will. Everyone else knows what to do, but I don't. I'm playing it wrong. I'm terrible at this game.

I've been playing these things for decades. I played the first of them when they were new, and now I play the latest. Okay, I typically play them a few months after everyone else, but I've made my peace with that.

As games became more complex and impenetrable, I kept playing them. I would go pretty deep, if it meant I could enjoy a new game. I was as scared of getting into Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat in their time, as I am of most current games. Now I link together the motions and combos required as a function of muscle memory.

Still that fear is there. Still, I play these games, and still I scramble to start a new one as soon as I complete an old one. For as much as they scare me at the start, I know that halfway through an entertaining 20 hour game, I'm going to spend 40 of the hours I’m not playing, thinking about playing.

I am invested in games more than any other entertainment medium. I put more mental energy into the hobby than most other things in my life. I genuinely enjoy most games I play, but still, I am scared to start a new one.

If even half of the people who don’t regularly play games feel this same fear when presented with the prospect of starting one, how in the world will the medium ever draw a larger audience?
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    June 2012
    October 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    November 2010
    October 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    Categories

    All
    Adventure Caddie
    Best Games

    RSS Feed

Owen McManus
  • Blog
  • Stories
    • Story 000
    • Story 001
    • Story 002
    • Story 004
    • Story 007 - Unfinished
    • Story 008
    • Story 010 - BattleWagon
    • Story 012
  • Images
    • Adventure Caddie concept gallery
    • Page Design Gallery
    • Older Work
  • 5FEAT Video
  • Videos
  • Game Experiments
    • Climb
    • Super Shapetoy
    • TurboGarbageTruck
    • 031 - Best Games - Enchanter
    • 033 - Shader Test
  • Contact