Growing Out of Video Games
Never Thought I’d Say This
I really never thought I’d say it, but I think I’ve grown out of video games. As a bookish kid growing up in the late 90’s and early 00’s, when video games were just entering their golden age, I thought things would be great forever. Video games followed me through elementary and high school, especially strategy series with stories I found interesting. The three that follow are among my most memorable favorites – the best overall representatives of what I love in a game. Just know I’ve played a lot more than these three.
Yggdra Union (2006)
Yggdra Union[1] is not a popular game, or one you may have heard of, but one that had me greatly invested. It was in my life around the 7th to 9th grade – or through junior high, or up to the second year of high school, depending on how you count it. Made for the PlayStation Portable (PSP), it covers the story of an overthrown princess on a mission to take back her country. She collects an army of companions – the lovable thief hoping for money, the young knight, the mermaid, and many others, all with the goal of taking back her country and avenging herself upon the man who invaded her country and killed her father, the Dragon Emperor Gulcasa[2].
With this story as a backdrop, Sting Entertainment offers a unique and interesting tactics game – the core mechanic being a Union. Unlike most strategy games, both you and your enemy can only make one attack a turn, but by using Unions, you can bring in large numbers of your own units to attack large numbers of enemy units in a Union, each fighting in sequential battles. A key part of the game is defeating strong enemies by knocking weaker enemy units out of the Union, allowing your units to force the key enemy into battle over and over again.
This is the kind of game that I used to really go through – quick, finite role-playing games or real-time strategy games that you can play in bursts and can get through in a reasonable amount of time. Yggdra Union in particular captured me because of a combination of the interesting mechanics and the story that, unlike many games of the time, embraced the horrors of war and the flaws of its characters, while not allowing the story to be dominated by it. This is the kind of game that got me hooked – much the same as Metal Gear Solid with stealth. To this day, I still love video games as a vehicle for ideas, and for their ability to force decisions from you. In my opinion, the best part of a game is that it forces you to make good decisions under pressure to succeed – and anything that gets in the way of that is bad.
World of Tanks (2016)
I got into World of Tanks[3] in 2016, fairly late into its development, thanks to some friends who were into the game. It’s a somewhat historical third-person shooter where you control a historical or theoretical tank and take it into 15 on 15 battles. Once in a game, your goal is to spot the opposing tanks and knock them out or capture the base, with in-game currency (silver) awarded for spotting, damaging, or destroying enemy vehicles.
This was a great game for me – studying history is fun for me, coordinating with friends is fun, and it was nice to have another common point of reference. Over years, however, I fell out of love with the game. New tanks kept getting introduced, making it harder to remember how to deal with each individual opponent. Mechanical changes messed with my game intuition and skill, impairing the feeling of making good decisions. Randomness in accuracy, damage, and teammate quality, while acceptable at first, increased in frustration. With my particular niche being in stealth and defensive play, this was particularly bad for me – as the style relied on your allies helping to gun enemies down, which you can’t always count on. Sometimes I had great games, sometimes I had terrible games.
Eventually, though, time wore on, the meta got away from me, and within two or three years, I had fallen out of the game. This would be my experience as I got through the later parts of high school and college – less time than ever, more time put into my degree and my friends, leaving video games behind. I wondered for a time if the fire was still there or not, and recently, I found out.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000)
Coming from the great old days of real-time strategy from Westwood, among the pioneers of the genre, this title was probably my introduction to gaming – and what an introduction it was! Live-acted cutscenes telling the story of a wacky, sci-fi Cold War gone hot where the Soviets invade the United States, where Statue of Liberty is destroyed[4], Chicago is nuked[5], the Eiffel Tower is turned into a giant Tesla coil[6] that shoots arcing bolts of electricity across the whole city, and many, many more things. The whole premise of the game involves Albert Einstein going back in time to remove Adolf Hitler from the timeline – it’s gonzo, and I love it. I would put hours into the campaign or the skirmishes as a child, happily directing my little units to blast away at the computer’s little units. I have great memories of this game as a blast to play through, a hilarious story, with a fun campaign that forces you to think but is never impossible – just right for me.
Today, the game is available through the Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection[7], which I was generously gifted by a friend. Of course, I had to try and boot up the old flame again and… I got hit with a simultaneous wave of nostalgia and disappointment. The music and aesthetic were just as I remembered it – Frank Klepacki’s industrial rock[8] there for my head to bang to, the menu screens from my childhood - everything was as it was except for the game. The controls were bad. The constant barrage of notifications annoyed me. I had lost, over the years, the muscle memory of right clicking to deselect units or moving around the map. Things were just not clicking. My formational experience had come for me, and it had failed. That particular fire for playing and winning was gone, being consigned to the past.
And you know what? That’s pretty cool.
Games We Play
I was asked when I was younger “When will you grow out of video games?” – and while I didn’t give an answer, in my mind I was sure that I would never grow out of it. It would be part of my life forever, appended onto the end of relaxed weekends or early afternoons, a cherry on top of a day of work or one of the many things I do to unwind at the end of the day. That doesn’t seem to be in the cards, based on my experiences, so the natural thing to ask is – what will take its place?
To figure that out, we’ll have to think about what makes video games fun in the first place. For me, as you can see above, it was never about the game itself. Whether it’s figuring out the right strategy to see more of Yggdra Union’s story, hanging out with my friends on World of Tanks, or enjoying the insane world of Red Alert 2 – playing the game was only part of the fun. Bonding with others, solving the puzzle, or just enjoying the experience – that’s where the fun came from, and those things are not exclusive to video games.
Real life has those things in spades, is a lot less predictable, and a lot more consequence-laden. That’s why it’s the best game ever.
Want to bond with your friends? Tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, or board games like Catan. Work together on cars, swap tips on building or maintaining houses, the prices of groceries, and so on. Swapping tips to get through a game is the same as swapping tips to get through right.
Want to figure out a puzzle? Figuring out the best way to do your job isthe obvious one, but I’d like to figure out fermentation – figuring out the right times for sourdough bread to make sure it’s proofed just right for your temperature, the physics of moisture and how it makes cooking times longer or shorter, or how long to cook your yogurt or brine your cabbage to get it just tart enough for what you like. Vinegar and alcohol aren’t far off.
Want to enjoy the experience? Have a quiet walk in the park or an idle moment at the end of the day, reflecting on what you’ve done, where you are, and what you’re going to do. Savor the life you live, rather than just adding more undigested experiences. Then put your digested thoughts out on Substack.
It might not be on video, but there are plenty of games left to play.
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/2107860/Yggdra_Union/
[2] If his name wasn’t badass enough, listen to his theme.
[3] https://store.steampowered.com/app/1407200/World_of_Tanks/
[7] https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/39394/Command__Conquer_The_Ultimate_Collection/
[8] Hell March 2, from this game, is still burned into my brain.
Hi Argo, this is a good post for me, because I have never played a video game. I am totally ignorant. I have watched people (kids) play at it, which I thought was shocking. I can't remember when, maybe 15 years ago. The console was hooked to the TV, and they went on-line to find someone to play against, (from another city, or even another country). Then they sneak their token around in the rubble of a destroyed landscape, and when they see eyes peering out they fired a few quick shots. (and get points).
One time I did have an account at "2nd Life". Is that the right title? You engaged with other players in real time on various landscapes (that I think you created yourself), and interacted, trying to build a life with friends, possessions and wealth. You do work for others, buy and sell, and decorate your house and stuff. I remember sitting around a campfire talking, well, I was mostly listening.
You said: "I love video games as a vehicle for ideas." That is probably my main "beef", (objection). In other words, who gives Walt Disney the right to tell my children the difference between good and evil, the basis of conflict resolution, or the lack of it, and when it is proper to use force? Really I boycott everything to do with Disney, and anyone like him. (Sure I watched the Mickey Mouse Club on TV at age 10, but I have never been to a Disney world).
So then we get to cartoons and video games. What on earth is the fascination with prepubescent cartoon girls that carry and point an automatic star-wars laser killing machine, and fly around to save the world from Doctor Fangs? It is so-ooo unbelievably obscene.
Com'mon, IT'S JUST NORMAL, what the frig?
Of course Tanks? You need to know about it. Tanks don't fight other tanks, one in a thousand. First they roll over land mines, second flying drones knock them out by the 100's and third, artillery shells are so accurate that they can drop one in your pocket while you are running. Half the tank crews are dead.
Then Red-Alert; now we get to the COMMIES, it's a billionaire game, to kill anyone that would dare to bring the peasants out of poverty.
Wow, You are being prepared for something. What do you think that is?????
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Hi Argo; First of all, I understand that you know about everything, because I see you are most often the first “Like” on Simplicus.
This is a great thread, because we can sort out fact from fiction. Of course, we all know that mortal combat games are only a diversion. Or do we?
(By the way; FPV drones are Ukrainian weapons. Russia mostly uses the Lancet drones that take out the majority of tanks and armored vehicles. They are lightweight plastic that have a limited radar signature. With a 40 Km range and a 3 Kg explosive charge, they “loiter” overhead, until they spot a target, and are manufactured in the 1,000’s every month. Over 10,000 tanks and armored personnel carriers have been destroyed with drones, land mines and artillery shells, counting both sides. Often the crew jump out and run. Other times they are toasted with the secondary ammunition explosion. I don't know the ratio of survivors.
What are gamers being prepared for? Lancet pilots. They have quick reactions and are intently focused on a screen. They are the single soldiers who take out the most enemy, maybe 4 – 5 kills per day, adding up to 100’s. Their battle life may be several months, until their operation center is discovered, and bombed. Of course, they move a lot, trying to avoid detection.
I have never been to a Communist country, not Cuba, Russia, the USSR, China, Viet Nam (or, are there any others, Venezuela is socialist, right)? Oh, I went to Laos twice. Actually, from the definition, I believe there never was a Communist country, and they probably only used that title to be provocative, or to model the future. Stalin said we are “building socialism in one country”, and China claims “Marxism with Chinese Characteristics”, (for a new age), whatever that could mean?
One feature of the Soviet Union, however, was there were no billionaires allowed. Some of them joined with the socialist system, some moved out to the west, and some (the White Russians) started a war to regain their position and their fortunes. If the Soviet Union had any success, either economically or in providing for its citizens, the whole world would have turned inside-out for the billionaires. (Billionaires is just a shorthand for the elites).
Did Billionaires give a damn about Soviet repression? They also used repression wherever it suited them. I sure don’t think they cared about it, although many of the repressed were the western agents, known as the 5th column. They only cared, that by hook or by crook, the Soviets must not succeed at anything. Combating the Soviets was a 70-year obsession, and now, well, why give up on a “good thing”?
So - We have a game called RED-ALERT. Oh my, how scary. Let’s go get them. I never played it, so I don’t know its redeeming features. I wonder if the present-day Russians and Chinese play it? Video games must be big in China? Do they have a game called Kill-the-Kapitalist? Seems absurd, doesn't it. What would be a good combat game for them then?
How about “Billionaire-Roundup”. The first element would be paying the underworld to get maps of all the billionaire mansions throughout the world. Some players would be trackers and some actionaries. As you gather points you can engage, first with IED’s, Improvised Explosive Device, and you can plant them along the road where billionaires travel. Then move to car bombs, or magnetic explosives snapped to the bottom of the billionaire’s car. Sniper rifles are easy enough to come by, and you could get extra points for long-distance hits.
If you get more points, you can infiltrate private airports and load a suitcase bomb into their private plane. You can hire a Jihad suicide bomber to crash the gate of their mansion with a truckload of TNT. Maybe you can buy manpads (Man portable air defense system), from a Ukrainian surplus store and actually bring down a plane. The details of the game would have multiple exciting options and it would be much more fun to kill someone in power. Normal combat games just kill grunts (slang for common infantry), or maybe a special-ops squad.
Would that be classified as a HATE GAME? (Com’on, it’s all in fun of course.)
Where would your marketing area be? Well, maybe it wouldn’t sell. Pretty absurd, right? That is something only our western civilization could involve with.
But I would say, such a game might change the face of the world.
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