Scratch That, Reverse It: Do we feel that exploring the gaming world to the fullest extant is impossible or simply improbable?
I love me some video games. I've always rather found since getting somewhat into them that I'd like to learn about new games, see what’s available and what’s coming out, as well as catch a gleaning of the past before us, investigating what games caught our minds eye in yester year and that provide inspiration to the game developers of today. Because it's cool to know these things I convince myself, it's cool to be able to enter a conversation with knowledge of a game that you've tried and played. I remember beginning a Let's Play with a friend and finding knowing what Turtles In Time for SNES was made me able to make the gameplay feel a little more interactive in terms of knowing what subject matter we could tread.
But in honesty, I have a small confession. This article will feel a little more an opinion piece as I shall level with you now what I feel to be the answer; it is rather impossible for us to experience every game that the gaming world has to offer in our lives. Don't get me wrong, by the end of the piece you'll see I'm not dissuading you from trying to invest greatly in learning about and playing games. Being unable to experience every game in our lifetime is not for lack of trying but it requires an absolute devotion to the medium that puts aside social contenders and reality mandates that drives the body to do things it perhaps should not do. As I've mentioned before, the original Mega Man, even with the best help I could afford to access, took me the better part of a whole day to finally consider in any way close to finished. So, why do I write this is the question I have to pose and the answer would be, it is not perhaps possible to, in the time our lives and obligations afford us, finish every game but perhaps improbable would be best. I cannot pretend there are none who would seek to devote their lives to games. Fan is a word derived of fanatic and as such, it entails a certain lustre for what you like in a way that bears an increasing similarity to a form of addiction. But I know no one who loves games enough to go down that path, mealy people who very much like it and use their free time effectively. No, the point of this article is not to lose heart a little when you don't get a reference in a conversation talking about Contra, or why Yosuke is so stupid in Persona 4, or on that matter, what Last Bible is. It's odd, I write this because of personal experience. These moments haven't made me want to research games, because it's never I feel the same as connecting with someone having played the content. It's different in a conversation about video games, you find that the interactive level moulds the experience and thus every conversation you have links you in terms of subject matter while differing in terms of story to tell, making them rather interesting. What I would advise is not lose heart. But maybe try the game they speak of after the conversation and come back to it. It's not much, but learning game culture is a good google search away whereas experiencing it can be a little harder, but a little more rewarding. Which leads me to the knife edge of this explanatory article.
In many ways, sometimes gaming experience is not necessarily dependent on how many of something you might play, but could be linked somewhat into what it is you're engaging with. My experience with what I play has informed me not just into what my personal preferences are but also allowed me to experiment with a wider plateau of games and genres at that. I've tried a few platformers, from the original Mega Man now to the more modern Super Mario Galaxy, entertained ideas of racers, with F-Zero GX and F-1 World Grand Prix II for N64. Strategy games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem, Fighting Games ala X-Men Next Dimension and Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom III, puzzle games akin to Professor Layton and the Curious Village or Tetris. In many ways, this article is simply an urging that goes a step further then simply experimenting with games. Experiment with a wider variety of games, across genres and platforms, those titles I've mentioned? If you have them or your friends have them, play them, ask to play with them try them, engage with them for fun, don't fear investing in the experience out of worries over the time spent, simply enjoy the moment exploring the ideas behind the game and the game itself. Understanding is something I've mentioned before but while I believe it is highly improbable for us to play every game there is individually in our lifetimes without putting things we care about other then games to the side, I do think that cross genre play is important to both garnering your tastes and investigating the development of the current video game industry as well as its departure point and arriving destination. Explore what you like indeed, but make sure that you don't seal yourself away and stick to what you like alone. You can, but in many ways, you don't know if you might like something sometimes unless you brave trying it for yourself. Exploration is still incredibly important in our modern world, even if its no longer across seas at the present but rather through our own sense of self. Cheesy in wording, honest in thought.
I admit, I've had my doubts about shooting games before, but have enjoyed, when I tried them, the Valve series of shooters such as Half Life or Left 4 Dead, having found a control scheme that suits me somewhat. I wouldn't have discovered that if I'd not tried one of those hundred plus steam games I own. In summation, you understand my point I gather. It's up to us to choose what we explore and play so we can gain a better understanding of ourselves and its fine to have a lot of games but I know that means perhaps we should play them, a problem that is a little more common then we might think. Sometimes, it's best not to hesitate, but to simply do, to try. Now I'm going to consider playing Advance Wars again because my life is entirely within the realm of my control.
Of course.