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Creationism

I almost had to drop my planned topic for today, in favor of this guy:



This guy would appear to be... a dick. What you can't see out of frame is not only several able-bodied men such as myself standing without a seat (had I wanted the seat I would have asked for it, but after sitting at work all day I wanted to stand), but also a significantly advanced in years woman standing and holding a pole to keep from falling down.

The best part was when he took the sock off of one foot to, I don't know, pick his toes or some shit. I didn't turn to look, I was already too disgusted.

Anyway, lately I've had video and computer games on my mind, probably due to the recent several high-profile games launches and a few upcoming.
Spore, Lego Batman, Crysis: Warhead, LittleBigPlanet

You see I used to be a serious gamer, I'm talking hours at a stretch planted in front of
Roller Coaster Tycoon, Half Life 2, or any of the Civilization series. Never much of a real-time strategy fan, too stressful. I switched over to portable when my son was born, having at one time a PSP and a Nintendo DS, but then gradually dropped those as well. I've dipped my toe a bit back into the gaming waters since the launch of the iPhone App Store, but even those are decidedly on the casual side (Sudoku, Spore:Origins (basically FlOw but you tilt the phone to move around), Tangrams).

I thought that it was simply an issue of time: namely not having enough of it. It's tough with work, acting, and a child to cram in meaningless fun. I figured I fought the good fight and Stephen Hawking's nightmarish time-eating Horror Cricket had just caught up to me.

But then I realized something else, something more fundamental had changed. I really think that given more time I just would not spend it gaming. I sometimes have the opportunity, and even try to pursue a hard-core game or two when I have the sequential hours to devote, but my heart's never quite in it.

No, I think I've just decided to draw a line between being a consumer and a creator.

I mean gaming's great and all, but why would I devote hours and hours (some games' stories clock in at 15-20 hours of gameplay, and even orders of magnitude more for an RPG), to a half-baked story whose only real purpose is to get me to the next shooting gallery? Today when I sit down to play a game I feel a palpable sense of time being wasted, time that can never, ever be earned back. 

I don't know if I can officially cut the cord to gaming and swear it off forever, especially not with
Fallout 3 coming out so soon, but I do know that I'd rather spend my time doing something more productive. Or at least thinking about doing something more productive. Or trying to come up with something more productive to do.

No criticism of gamers intended here, I honestly wish I didn't feel this way. It would be so much easier if I could just blow a whole weekend locking Sims in a doorless, toiletless room with a coffee maker, or letting them climb into the pool then removing the ladder.

Ah, those were the days. 

Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 by Registered CommenterJimmy Scotch in | Comments1 Comment
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Reader Comments (1)

Everyone knows my feelings about video games....though GTA2 is fun, and I had fun with Mint and John(not my name!) playing the wii fit.

I like Wii tennis too, but I think video games are time that could be spent more usefully, like...masturbating, or...spelunking.

The internet takes up too much of my attention...that is my bane

September 29, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterTahko

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