I’ve stopped watching tv shows, reading books, and pretty much breathing air since the release of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim came out. Now, I realize talk about video games could be rather boring, but I think that even if you didn’t like video games, and roleplaying games specifically, you’ll feel differently about this one.
There are games out there that go beyond just being a “video game”, which, to my surprise, those words still hold some negativity to it. Yet, you can’t ignore a multi-billion dollar industry that has captivated so many people, and may be the inevitable downfall of society (more on that later). So when games like the Modern Warfare series, with it’s addictive, competitive, online component and games like the Uncharted series, where it’s cinematic bits and gameplay are more akin to movies than games, it’s hard to find something that can stand up and stand out from those established and beloved franchises. Holy crap that was a long sentence. Thus rises the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a fantasy role playing game that people, even those bothering to read this post, may feel is out of their depth, because let’s face it, roleplaying games are for nerds.
From the moment you step onto the snowy grounds of Skyrim, your mind may change. Seeing everything through the eyes of your adventurer, which you create yourself, almost from scratch, you travel the lands and pretty much do whatever you please. It’s like Grand Theft Auto Middle Earth. Wow, I wish I was the first one to come up with that, but I’m sure someone out there beat me to that one. Nonetheless, it’s a vast open land where you pretty much do anything you want and go anywhere you please. And that’s the hook. That’s what gets me and would get anyone who may not be a lover of these kinds of games. You don’t have to follow the main story, because no matter where you go, there’s always something to do, someone who needs your help, something to kill or something to make.
I cannot praise this game enough, and I really should just get rid of everything I own, because I will be investing hours into this game. Now, I know I just previously wrote about being a grown up, and trust me, I’m being “grown up” about it. Playing only when I have free time and still making time for things like this blog, which I’ve been sorely neglecting, and other things. Still, with so many things to do, and so many random events going on, you’d be hard pressed not to get lost in this world.
My best example of how interesting and random and vast this world is, and what prompted me to write this, is an event that happened to me out of nowhere. There is a city, which is in the center of Skyrim, called Whiterun. I return to this city, after much adventuring, and I was just going about my business, trying to sell my wares and finish up a few meandering quests, when some fellow comes up to me and asks me if I want to challenge him to a drinking contest. Now I could have said no, and just moved on, but I figure, what’s the harm? It’s just some two bit character wanting to get drunk, I’ve seen so many drunks before. What happens next is right out of the Hangover, minus the vulgarity and nudity (sadness), and it’s awesome. It was just a random guy, at a random inn, where I could have said yay or nay on the contest, and things just go all over the place. It’s that seemlingly random event that makes this world feel and act alive. You, the player dictate what happens in your world, and though quests and events will play out the same for everyone, not everyone will have the same experience, and that’s what makes this game awesome.
There’s many beautiul landscapes to behold, cities to visit, caves to plunder, and creatures to admire, especially when fighting the dragons It is a vast and open world, with people from all walks of life and personality. I’m giving an amazing amount of high praise to this game, and it deserves it. Is it better than other video games? That’s dependent on the person, but I know that it ranks up there as my #1 game right now. I’ve loved this series, as I’ve been playing since Morrowind, which is a fairly old game, and I will definitely be playing this game for a long time to come. But one can play video games, a little too much.
After thinking about video games for awhile, as again, I am playing the crap out of Skyrim when I can, I noticed something prevalent in the news and in society. Now this is coming from a gamer, and a very proud gamer at that. But I think video games are a huge problem in society. I know, this is a weird turn of events from just praising a game that can literally take hundreds of hours to play, but it seems that our society has really taken and run with video games, to the point where I think that it’s really screwing with society.
There is no definitive research on this, but articles throughout the last couple of years do hint that video game playing is a problem. Hell I know this first hand as I play games where people sink hours upon hours into it without getting anything, in the real world, accomplished. There was a World of Warcraft phenomenon where people would just endlessly play and lose out on their friends and family and their health in order to get that next big trinket or their next level up. I’m a confessed leveling junky myself, yet I know when to put the controller down. But I think that’s becoming less and less prevalent as we see kids and teens and even adults, just putting all their money and their time into these games that take over their lives.
Image: Jeroen van Oostrom / FreeDigitalPhotos.netI’m not saying that video games are evil, but we as a people are using them as an excuse to be lazy, to skirt responsibility, and to run away from our problems. It’s the ultimate distraction, where we can just get lost in a game and pretend the world didn’t exist and repeat. As I mentioned earlier with World of Warcraft, in it’s past life, it’s claimed LIVES! People have freaking died over this game due to lack of food, or too much food and lack of exercise or whatever the case may be. You can find articles on the internet, of people found dead at their computers, their toon/avatar/character, sitting patiently on the screen for it’s next move, and I think it’s not going to be the last time.
I think we as a people needed an excuse to be lazy, as if being lazy wasn’t excuse enough. But we see it all the time, with people who prefer to play another round of Modern Warfare than to get up and go to school. I could be wrong on this whole thing, but yet I feel like I’m not. It’s like I stepped into that world and saw some of it’s inhabitants, and it wasn’t good. And I’m not saying this is the case for MOST video gamers, but I think there are still a good number of them who fall into this category. With millions of gamers around the world, you’d be hard pressed to not find that addict. Maybe that’s it. Maybe people are just becoming more addicted, or maybe just becoming more lazy, or both. I just hope I never fall into that hole, though I do realize I may have a foot in it.
We all have our addictions, and this is not the first time I’ve talked about addiction to video games, and for some it’s food, others cigarettes, and others alcohol, and what do they all have in common? Too much of it can ruin lives. So if you know someone who’s an insane video game fanatic, you may want to do an intervention. It’s strange to bring this up, because maybe I recognize this a little in myself, but to a much lesser degree. Still, it’s scary to think about, and even scarier if you’re in it.
