Maybe I Don't Really Like Video Games?

You know, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. This is a question that has sprung in my mind many times before. Do I really like Video Games? I really Don't know. You see, I play video games, a lot, but the problem is, is that I don't really enjoy them most of the time. Now by enjoy I don't mean that I think the game is no fun or terrible it's just that I never ever am as pulled in by a game as many other people seem to be.

Everyone seems to have stories about these awesome moments they've had in a game, or about how they noticed certain aspects of a game, while for me I don't see any of these things. For example, my friends talk about all these amazing moments they have playing GTA4, like simple things like cool jump off of a ramp or a funny happening between them and a pedestrian where they ended up running him over in a car. Now these are all cool, but when I have these moments I can't help myself to think, "Yeah that happened, whatever it isn't really that amazing." I still don't know why I don't seem to notice or enjoy certain aspects of games that other people do. Maybe I'm just a jaded asshole. I honestly don't know.

Even though I don't notice all of these kind of things that other people do, I still feel like I enjoy video games. Just not in the same way. I have always been a big film buff. I've always admired many films and have dabbled in acting myself once having dreams of being apart of the industry. This is where my somewhat weird perspective on games comes in, I enjoy a game like I would enjoy a movie. I play, more or less, for the experience rather than the gameplay. I want to be taken away into another world. I think that's such an amazing feeling. It's almost like being sucked into a movie but even more so. I feel like everything I do has an impact on the world, and in many cases, it does. I love that feeling so much. I always hated watching a film and knowing that shit was going to go down and the only thing I could do was be that annoying guy in the theatre going "No don't go in there, runnn runnnn!!!" (Oh god, for the record I really don't talk like that).  I just enjoy the feeling of control over my surroundings, most of the time I couldn't give a shit about gameplay. Which feels like a awful thing to say.

Feeling some sense of control is one thing, but games have given me a sense of belonging also. Very recently I've become apart of the Giantbomb community and have been doing as much as I can to participate in it as much as possible. This is one thing that makes me completely adore video games. It's fanbase. I love the culture that has spawned around video games. I love it simply because video games can bring people together so well. I can honestly say some of my most memorable gaming moments were the ones that I shared with my friends.Online or real life. There's just this big sense of comradery that's created because we all have the same passion. In the end this is the greatest thing to ever come out of gaming and it's culture. Because of video games I would never decide to produce a podcast with a couple of guys, I would never even bother to write. Somehow gaming has motivated me to do something semi-productive for once in my life.

I think it's more of what has come out of gaming that makes me love it rather than the actual game itself.  

You know, writing this and looking through everything I've said so far, I think I've already come to a conclusion. Yeah, I do like games. Sure, maybe not for the gameplay, but for the more broader reasons. The people, the experiences. So yeah, I guess I like games then.