When asked, most 'enthusiast gamers' say that they play games to escape. But when asked exactly what it is that they are escaping from, they often have a lot of difficulty in giving a coherent and comprehensive answer. I personally think that it is enjoyable to escape into game worlds. They offer a change of pace; they offer different rules, activities, and interactions. There is something comforting about it. There's a loving bond we share with the controller and the virtual space. However, I think that there is a higher purpose (For want of a better phrase) for video games than escapism. There needs to be, otherwise we'll all get lost and maybenever come back.

Something worried me recently. I was enjoying playing a game, but after a while I got tired or something and stopped playing. After I stopped though, I felt strange. I felt kind of weak...I felt weak without the game. It was a distant and subtle feeling; but it was there. Also what happend was that I felt I was still playing the game in my mind, even without the controller in my hand. All my mind could think of for maybe an hour or two afterwards, was getting back into the virtual world. I realized that each game is its own power source. We are our own source of energy and strength, but when we play games we sort of substitute that or divert that into the power/rule structure of the game. If we play games a lot, I think one of the major problems is if we just become vehicles for the games to play themselves. It got me thinking about persistant online worlds, and even social networks. I realized that a lot of us treat games as a seperate world, put aside for leisure. Yet a lot of people work exactly for leisure! So really, games have become a substitute for life for a lot of'enthusiast gamers'. There is something religious about it.

I think that it's very important to have fun. It's importantto be inspired by art to imagine new realities. And I think the strongest purpose for games is to challenge our limitations. They're put there for us to realize that we can create our own rules, our own identity, and we can learn a lot about life from playing. The power fantasies are really power facts, it's just that the game itself is an illusory, symbolic structure that communicates this message in a very HYPER way. I think it's important that we can come away from a game and feel a little bit liberated each time. And when we look at the realities that stare at us in life, we can be challenged to change that reality, and better our situation.

Games were never meant to be a substitution for life. They lay down rules, and tell us that we can change them, and that we can overcome any fear and eventually realize our potential.