Category: Philosophy

Categories
Personal Philosophy Video Games

On Gaming.

I’ve been getting into podcasts hard these past 6 months. I have been doing quite a bit of long distance driving recently and podcasts have been a savior during the boredom of I-65. One of the shows that brought me to this post was called “A Life Well Wasted.” It’s about video games, but almost tangentially. If any of you out there are NPR or This American Life fans it’s done in a style closely resembling that. It is more about stories people have about games or related to games and less about the games themselves. As the shows tagline says, “An Internet radio show about video games and the people who love them.” More an emphasis on the people.

The topic of one of the shows was “Why do you game?”. It seems like a harmless and easy enough question, but it’s really quite loaded. It’s hard to actually put into words why you like something. Example: “Why do you like Chocolate?” (provided you do). Aside from “‘Cuz it tastes good!” you really have to put some thought into it.

I was actually surprised at some of the answers. I guess I just never thought to step back and examine why other people indulge in this activity. To my dismay probably 3/4 of the answers given were about escaping reality and how it helps people forget about there own lives. That is not exactly the answer I was expecting. While this post is mostly about my own views on the topic I just thought that it was pretty alarming to hear that my fellow gaming brethren(and sistren) are enjoying one of my favorite pastimes purely as an alternative to alcohol.

Unless you game yourself the appeal is kind of hard to see. To me the closest cousin to games is books. While video games are primarily a visual medium (hell, video is right in it’s name) they have the ability to tell complex stories with morals and deep characterization. Also, like books, video games can be poor, audience-pleasing releases. I don’t want to debate it in this specific post, but I do consider video games, like books to be a form of art.

I have spent a good portion of my life playing them so I better have a pretty good reason for playing them! With that statement I begin my explanation of why I game. Gaming is myriad things to me. It’s been a starter and bonder of friendships, an exploration into human motions, a stress reliever, and a friend to lean on when you are having just the worst kind of day. While I don’t play video games as a form of escapism, I do enjoy the worlds they take you off to. Just like reading a fantastic novel, you often get whisked away to impossible places with a cast of characters you soon won’t forget. RPG’s are really fantastic about bringing emotion to the forefront of the game. People of my generation seem to be deeply impacted by Final Fantasy VII not because the gameplay was stellar (it wasn’t in hindsight), but by the story and characters. Who didn’t feel it when Aeris died? Video games have a way of making you feel apart of story like no other medium has done for me. You directly influence how the story plays out (to an extent).

Story is not the only driving factor to why I game though, as stated above. The social aspect of gaming has been around longer than the advent of large single player adventures. Competing whether on a team of by yourself is so gratifying. That one kill to win the match. The power up that jettisons you to victory. The overall feeling of dominating your opponent is fantastic. I could go on and on about multiplayer gaming, but instead of recounting memories to you I will simply say that it is one of the better ways to spend a night.

I know it might sound kind of pathetic, but gaming has been there like very few things have. Whenever I am stressed or just have a “case of the Mondays” I know that I can pop in Halo, Mario, Street Fighter, or Zelda and have a smile on my face. Some people have books, movies, or music, but If I had to pick one thing that has impacted my life in a significant way it would be gaming.

While I could talk about this topic for far longer than anyone cares to hear, that is why I game. If there is any gamers out there who are reading this, why do you game? I’d love to hear why. Just drop a comment.

Categories
Nonsense Philosophy

On Being Muggle and Why It’s Way Better

nowizard

I have Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone going on in the background right now, and I figured this would be just a prime to write this article that’s been bouncing around in my head. I read the first Harry Potter book way back when it came out in 1998. I read it and to be honest I liked it. I kind of lost touch with the series after that though. I read about 1/4 of the second book, but hadn’t talked about or even looked at another book until about 2 months ago. My girlfriend was quite enamored with the series and with the new movie coming out and the movie series just about to be wrapped up I just decided to cave and see what the fuss was about. Surprisingly I didn’t hear any bits of the story even though just about everyone around me was flipping our about it.

 

I am not finished with them all yet (currently on book 4), but I do actually enjoy them. I see the appeal. The writing is solid and the story is exciting. I must put a disclaimer up because this article is written only knowing the story up to about 1/4 of the 4th book read. The one thing that bothered me is that Muggles are portrayed as kind of stupid or not as worthy as the magic folk.

 

Personally, being Muggle is way better. Most people find the adventure and intrigue the of the wizard far more interesting than any old Muggle. The ability to defy the laws of physics, conjure stuff out of the ether, sure sounds pretty awesome. My evidence against it all has to do with that ability. If you are not challenged you normally don’t change behavior. Look at their cities and schools. Everything is straight out of the 18 or 19th century. The wizarding world is stuck centuries behind the Muggle world. They have just ceased to evolve as a people. Muggle’s on the other hand didn’t have magic to do their bidding. They had their minds and the sweat on their brow. They/we learned to harness nature itself. We solved all our problems using just our minds. In many ways we have surpassed the magic world. The Weasleys don’t even know how to use a telephone and they have more expose to the Muggle world than most. We have jet planes, computers, telephones, and the internet. Hell we even left the planet with much less technology than we have today.

 

Now I don’t doubt that some Wizards went into science, mathematics, and engineering, but I am referring to the vast majority. I also understand this is all fictional and I am looking way to far into this debate that no one was having. I tend to overanalyze things that need you to just live within the confines of the story. It’s just who I am. Basically what I am trying to say is being Muggle is WAY better.

Categories
Japan Media Philosophy

The Great Happiness Hole

The Great Happiness Space

I heard about this film called The Great Happiness Space from a blog I follow and was intrigued by the concept. It was a documentary on the “host clubs” that litter parts of Japan. The concept of these are that women come in an pay for time with a host of their choice. The ultimate goal of these places is not to provide sex, but to provide companionship. For reference the female reverse exists as well. It might seem a little strange here, on the other side of the planet, to pay just to hang out with someone. That’s not to say that nothing more ever happens, it’s just not the service that is advertised. Anyway a history lesson on host clubs is not the focus of this post, nor the documentary; a little background was needed though.

The documentary is kind of a taxi cab confessions of one of the clubs in Osaka called Rakkyo . The spotlight is usually shined upon the clubs owner Issei. The sheer dichotomy of this man’s personality is beyond mind boggling. The rest of the time is split between many of the club’s frequenters. They try the best they can to explain their justifications for spending almost all their free time within the establishment.

I really had no idea what I was stepping into when I started watching. I didn’t read a whole lot about it and hadn’t heard of it until about a week ago. The synopsis was fairly vague, just a general outline really. What was supposed to be a documentary on host clubs turned out to be more focused upon human frailty and the constant need for validation. It’s really a sobering film.

I found myself at many junctures with my jaw open at the absurdity of some of the amounts of money that were thrown around. Some hosts would make upwards of $50,000 per month! When interviewing some girls about how much they would spend there it averaged about $1000 per night with some girls going up to $5000 in one evening! The most amazing thing is that no one throwing these numbers around did so with any thought or even shame for wasting all that money.

The documentary starts to pull away from the pack when the girls and the hosts start talking about what they are actually selling/buying. The hosts openly admit that they are selling dreams, fake love. They lie to these girls faces and tell them exactly what they want to hear. Many of them say they have so many clients that people become easy to read and they can shape and mold their personality to fit the person’s needs. They often times get girls who fall in love with them, even propose at times. That’s what keeps them coming back. They fall helplessly in love and try ensnare the hosts as their own. The hosts go on to explain some strategies for getting out of talks like that and to give them hope so they come back. That all sounds pretty terrible, extremely terrible really. The hosts should be run out of town for what they are peddling! But wait, what do the girls think?

The clients, when interviewed, seemed to be pretty aware of the situation. They are in love with guys who are paid to take them to an imaginary world. They still fool themselves into thinking that something may happen down the line. The real kicker comes when you find out how they finance their extravagant expenditures. I won’t tell you that, but I am sure you can guess. It really turns into a vicious cycle.

As sorry as I felt for these people watching it, the theory of the whole thing is extremely easy to relate to. People are not made to be completely independent, we are social creatures and require interaction. We all need to be validated now and again. The problem is that the host clubs only provide a temporary relief from that feeling; it’s only a band-aid on the underlying problem. Watching it you could tell that everyone at the clubs were wearing masks; alone in the crowd.

As depressing as it was, it was enlightening and at the very least entertaining. Go pick it up!