Most of us will never stand before thousands of screaming fans. We will never see our name in lights 20 feet tall. Our names will never make a newspaper headline, or be a reference point for people's fondest memory. Most of us will never be great. And that includes me.
As one of those people who grew up dreaming of greatness, or at the very least of the lives of great people, I've had to find ways to deal with this disappointment. I've had to find my own sense of accomplishment in smaller things. I chose video games.
I've been playing computer games since, wow, as far as back as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories were Lemonade Stand on the Apple IIe. Later, on my mom's IBM clone 8088, I played Zork, and a very (VERY) buggy version of The Hobbit. Of course there were arcade games too, but I lost interest in those almost as soon as puberty hit. My love of PC games, though, has lasted a lifetime.
And I think I finally know why thanks to Everquest 2, and I can sum it up in one word - Victory.
There is no video game experience that I've found as satisfactory as a good raid. 23 people you may only know by their voice, that you may never see face to face (or want to), and that you may not even like most of the time, acting as a team to overcome a goal. Through perseverance, teamwork, and practice you eventually do something that alone none of you could do. You kill a mythical beast. You slay a god. You save the world.
When a beast dies there is cheering. Your guild is your own crowd. The guild page your own newspaper, and the place you could see your name in lights 200 pixels tall. All of you celebrate, and hold your heads high. You breath deep and feel the ease and power of a job well done. We came, we saw, we conquered...
A video game.
It's a small victory, but in a life of great disappointments the smallest victories are notable. The ones we can share are the ones that make it all worthwhile.
As one of those people who grew up dreaming of greatness, or at the very least of the lives of great people, I've had to find ways to deal with this disappointment. I've had to find my own sense of accomplishment in smaller things. I chose video games.
I've been playing computer games since, wow, as far as back as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories were Lemonade Stand on the Apple IIe. Later, on my mom's IBM clone 8088, I played Zork, and a very (VERY) buggy version of The Hobbit. Of course there were arcade games too, but I lost interest in those almost as soon as puberty hit. My love of PC games, though, has lasted a lifetime.
And I think I finally know why thanks to Everquest 2, and I can sum it up in one word - Victory.
There is no video game experience that I've found as satisfactory as a good raid. 23 people you may only know by their voice, that you may never see face to face (or want to), and that you may not even like most of the time, acting as a team to overcome a goal. Through perseverance, teamwork, and practice you eventually do something that alone none of you could do. You kill a mythical beast. You slay a god. You save the world.
When a beast dies there is cheering. Your guild is your own crowd. The guild page your own newspaper, and the place you could see your name in lights 200 pixels tall. All of you celebrate, and hold your heads high. You breath deep and feel the ease and power of a job well done. We came, we saw, we conquered...
A video game.
It's a small victory, but in a life of great disappointments the smallest victories are notable. The ones we can share are the ones that make it all worthwhile.
toothpickmoe:
This is beautiful, and I've never played any MMORPG.