As I suppose is the case with many twenty-somethings without much responsibility in their lives, I sometimes feel like wandering aimlessly, waiting for life to surprise me. However, living in a pretty ordinary part of Montreal (which is still livelier than its suburbs), I often have to go some distance to reach any place of interest. Wherever this leads me, there are many things that I would like to try, but that civil code or personal safety concerns discourage me to. And no matter what happens, I always end back in the same place I came from. Needless to say, sometimes I just feel like living somewhere else, according to other rules ; to live another life. Which, of course, video games allow me to do, in a limited but enthralling way. But what useful purpose could that possibly serve?
I had been questioning this for some time when something strange happened over the course of my recent sessions with a friend's Xbox 360: trying out several games for which my expectations weren't very high, I noticed that many of them somehow managed to get under my skin and engage me in rich and inspiring ways. This had been preceded by a solid year of relentlessly scanning "smart" gaming blogs and indulging in the fascinating creations of the independent community. Considering what was behind and what was still to come, I figured: "Hey, wouldn't it be time to share a bit of the fun?". And to divert a little from my main outlet, French-language film site Panorama.
My aim with this first attempt at blogging is not to provide formal reviews, but subjective accounts of my experiences with games, exploring their effects, psychology, and hopefully their broader meaning. As I grow more and more comfortable with my abilities at discussing film, and as I seem to follow rather easily the evolution of this particular field, I find it incredibly stimulating that the state of video game discussion appears so alive and uncertain, in search of a proper direction. For better or worse, video games engage the mind in very conflicting and personal ways, and I feel that they are reaching a crucial stage of their growth as an art form. They have been around for quite some time, after all...
Given the time, attention and money investments that they require on the part of the player, are video games really the medium of the bored and privileged? Are they meant to provide safe and easily cathartic evasions from uneventful lives? I honestly cannot say for sure. What I do believe is that games (or whatever you want to call them) have the means to help us understand each other and the world that we live in. By expanding and restricting various aspects of individual freedom, they can allow for meaningful introspection in fascinating ways. Such game experiences have been present all along, but now is the moment that they seem to be coming into the light, and it is in our best interest to discuss them, make them known, and try to understand what they are trying to communicate. By joining my voice to the chorus, I hope to serve this noble purpose.
I had been questioning this for some time when something strange happened over the course of my recent sessions with a friend's Xbox 360: trying out several games for which my expectations weren't very high, I noticed that many of them somehow managed to get under my skin and engage me in rich and inspiring ways. This had been preceded by a solid year of relentlessly scanning "smart" gaming blogs and indulging in the fascinating creations of the independent community. Considering what was behind and what was still to come, I figured: "Hey, wouldn't it be time to share a bit of the fun?". And to divert a little from my main outlet, French-language film site Panorama.
My aim with this first attempt at blogging is not to provide formal reviews, but subjective accounts of my experiences with games, exploring their effects, psychology, and hopefully their broader meaning. As I grow more and more comfortable with my abilities at discussing film, and as I seem to follow rather easily the evolution of this particular field, I find it incredibly stimulating that the state of video game discussion appears so alive and uncertain, in search of a proper direction. For better or worse, video games engage the mind in very conflicting and personal ways, and I feel that they are reaching a crucial stage of their growth as an art form. They have been around for quite some time, after all...
Given the time, attention and money investments that they require on the part of the player, are video games really the medium of the bored and privileged? Are they meant to provide safe and easily cathartic evasions from uneventful lives? I honestly cannot say for sure. What I do believe is that games (or whatever you want to call them) have the means to help us understand each other and the world that we live in. By expanding and restricting various aspects of individual freedom, they can allow for meaningful introspection in fascinating ways. Such game experiences have been present all along, but now is the moment that they seem to be coming into the light, and it is in our best interest to discuss them, make them known, and try to understand what they are trying to communicate. By joining my voice to the chorus, I hope to serve this noble purpose.
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