The ability to game
Morgan Murrah
At some point, I started to lose the ability to have mindless fun. Workaholism affected me in many ways… then I let games back into my life.
The deadlines. The importance of the work. The meaningfulness of volunteering as adjacent work. It all started to weigh on me.
The assessment of my life in recent years was rough. Working too much, pouring oneself into volunteer work. Everyone was giving me signals to relax for my own benefit and somewhat of others.
Would I ever be able to relax? Between Saturday cooldown and Sunday scaries, there wasn’t much time for a game in spirit or physical time.
I let work fizzle my ability to switch off. In some language, this is called burnout.
Then I let Games back in
I booted up games on Switch, Steam and Playdate I had not played in months or years. It was hard at first. As soon as I started, I would think things like:
- Why aren’t you earning money right now?
- What about preparing for work
- What about the news and keeping informed?
But as I played smaller periods and then longer periods, it started to feel like I was regrowing a small part of my brain which had denatured.
Some Classics welcomed me in like a glove
- Skyrim
- Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Metal Gear Solid 3
- Civilization Series
- Rome: Total War
Particularly, Playdate games captured my curiosity for only short periods of time but broke the habit of not being able to play a game.
Then, masterful long games like Breath of the Wild welcomed me in for longer playing sessions.
Then, MGS3 taught me it was OK to fail a bunch again, as some of the levels are hard!
Finally, for now, Rome Total War is engaging my curiosity for strategy.