There are times when being a gamer doesn’t help out much in real life. Take the season of summer, for instance, when it’s too fucking hot to be outside, but somehow staying inside in the air conditioning all day to play video games instead of wanting to go for a walk on a beautiful, sunny, 105 degree day makes you the weird one. There are, however, those time in life when being a gamer is a great thing, two of which dawned on me this week.
1. CHRISTMAS
I was making out my Christmas list this week when it occurred to me; being an adult would suck ass without video games. You can say all you want about Christmas being all about joy, family, friends, and humanity’s ultimate salvation, and I will totally agree with you, but don’t the presents just make it that much sweeter? I realized that my Christmas list, filled with video games, video game accessories, and gift cards to stores that sell all of the above, could just as easily be the Christmas list of an excited 12 year old. When else in the history of all mankind has it been socially acceptable for a 31 year old man and a child to have similar Christmas lists and neither one be headed for the institution? It hit me that because of video games, I will always get to be a little bit of a kid on Christmas.
2.DOWNTIME
I don’t mean the downtime when you are bored, I mean the downtime when you are down. Without bitching too much, let me tell you that this week I found out that I have a hernia that is a result of an emergency appendectomy earlier this year. I’ll have the surgery in early January and because of the nature of the hernia, I won’t be able to go back to work for at least a week. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to have the surgery and I don’t really like being stuck at home for a week, but shit, it’s a lot easier to take knowing that “Fallout 3” is on my above mentioned Christmas list.
So, while gaming is sometimes seen as something that gets in the way of real life, there are those times when it makes our lives all the better. Gaming will ad joy to my Holiday Season and keep me sane during a shitty recovery time. Sometimes, damn, it feels good to be a gamer.
I agree with the downtime comment. One of my favorite gaming memories is of playing GRAW on the PS3 during a long sick leave from work. I was actually miserable enough that sometimes I just wanted to sleep during the day to get a break from the fever/sore throat/congestion. But the chance to play the game uninterrupted and not feel guilty about being unproductive was gaming heaven. The game wasn't bad either, though I liked Rainbow Six: Vegas more.
Exactly. I sprained my injured ankle a few years ago not too bad, but it was exaggerated enough for me to take a week off from work with pay and got to play games sleep and whatnot undisturbed. One of the best feeling in the world, relaxation.
If only I could do that again, I'd stay home and play FO3 all day