First let's get one thing straight, I love video games! I was born in 1980 and in elementary school Nintendo was the biggest thing ever... that and Garbage Pail Kids! I was practically born a gamer, and most likely unless there is a freak accident and I lose my hands and feet, I will die a gamer. Some of my fondest memories are playing Kid Icarus with my cousin in elementary school, trading NES games at school, playing Final Fantasy I for the first time and being amazed because I never played anything like it, finally beating Metroid, when my best friend at the time Jerry beat Secret of Mana without me after we played the whole game together (I still give him hell about that 18 years later), and even staying up all night because Cloud went on one of his psychotic breaks for an hour and I couldn't save my damn game! So clearly gaming is a big part of my life I will never forget. So this is merely a thread for gathering of opinions, and is no way meant to single anyone out or bring judgement upon anyone.
I'll go ahead and sum up this post in two quotes...
"It's only after we've lost everything that we are free to do anything"
and
"The things you own end up owning you"
2 examples from one of my favorite movies/books Fight Club, and about a million other quotes from classes taken at The Ohio State University really make me think about being a gamer and collecting games, and even other things that "define" people in our society. Nice clothes, cars, smart phones, televisions, your iPod, even stuff like furniture, and stupid stuff you buy to decorate your home. Being a member on the neo-geo.com digitpress.com forums for nearly 10 years now I have come to understand what these quotes mean finally. As i'm sure nearly all our long standing members have seen here, or are living it at this very moment. We see people here disappear over the years because they have been consumed by the collecting and realize they are in way over there heads. They fail out of school, lose their jobs, friends, and famiy, go into debt because they have to get that copy of that rare PC Engine game on ebay that might never show up again. I don't think theres a week that goes by on the Neo forums there isn't a post similar to "car broke down need cash fast!, or spent too much on homecarts paypal me"! You meet some of these people in real life and they have stupid amounts of stuff to show off that they never played. I too am guilty. At one point I had a complete english Turbo Grafx/CD collection, and over 2000 games for other consoles. My house was overrun with crap I never used. So I sold most of it. I still have maybe 200 games, games I consider to be only the best, and my neo cabinet with around 50 games that I will never sell. But it makes me wonder at times....
At what point does gaming consume you? At what point have you went too far?
Sure you could say I have a ton of games but gaming makes me happy so it's not a problem. I'm not broke, and I find time for family and a social life, I maintain a solid 3.5 gpa. I don't have a problem. But ask yourself this. What if for one month you left your cell phone at home and used it only for emergencies, left the iPod in the dresser drawer and met some people (I personally never approach people on a MP3 player), unplugged the television, the computer, and un-hooked all the gaming consoles? What would happen? Most likely you would be bored as hell for a few days, BUT you would find stuff to do eventually. Maybe, just maybe you would discover yourself and pick up that guitar that's collecting dust in the corner for 5 years, and actually learn to play it, or write a novel, or hit the weight room or go running like you always put off so you could manage your WOW character. Or maybe you would even visit your grandmother in the nursing home or meet some friends and take a spontaneous road trip out of state.
The point i'm trying to get across is HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE REALLY HAPPY UNTIL YOU GET OUT THERE AND LIVE YOUR LIFE A DIFFERENT WAY AND POTENTIALLY DISCOVER THINGS THAT HAVE MORE MEANING, THAT YOU MAY NEVER HAVE EVEN KNOWN WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPIER THAN GAMING, OR COLLECTING ANYTHING IN GENERAL?
Also I wonder how you all feel as gaming as an art form? The critics all say video games will never be art, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, or The Last Blade will never be the Mona Lisa. But to some of us it feels that way. I know it does to me. I get way more satisfaction from playing Ikaruga than looking at a 500 year old painting. But if I painted the painting maybe that would be a different matter all together. Video games consist of art, music, story telling, and photography. So how can something that includes everything said to be "art" in one interactive package not be art?
I'm curious as to all your opinions, and to whether you all think if you put down the joystick you could potentially find more time in life to do things. Let everyone know what you think, and if it applies what in life you have never done you always wanted to do. I plan on taking a full month away from "stuff" after this quarter of school, just to see if I die without it. I'm curious if anyone else is willing to give it a try.