Videos games as a form of escapism? The heck is this?

[Loki Laufeyson]

Alright, but how many gamers tend to pick up their games more after a long, stressful day?

A lot of them, I bet.

But there's a massive difference between picking up a game to destress and feeling like it's a good escape for a while than literally not being able to put it down and being unable to go back, which is extremely rare.

Although really to summarize my view on this, the quote's got it covered.

Indeed. People play Animal Crossing to unwind, i know this because i do it and many have said as much. People play GTA as a form of catharsis. "My day sucked, so im gonna go mow people down in a corvette in GTA. Or play multiplayer TF2, etc.) My mum plays puzzle games on her iPad in order to entertain herself, but also to keep her mind off stressful stuff. I like playing Zelda cuz i can kinda immerse myself in that world/verse. I watch film and read books for the same reasons. Why do people love Final Fantasy? Because the stories are good and they can get lost in the characters. Why is Fire Emblem Awakening with its self-insert Avatar, so goddamn popular?

[Loki Laufeyson]

Alright, but how many gamers tend to pick up their games more after a long, stressful day?

A lot of them, I bet.

But there's a massive difference between picking up a game to destress and feeling like it's a good escape for a while than literally not being able to put it down and being unable to go back, which is extremely rare.

Although really to summarize my view on this, the quote's got it covered.

Indeed. People play Animal Crossing to unwind, i know this because i do it and many have said as much. People play GTA as a form of catharsis. "My day sucked, so im gonna go mow people down in a corvette in GTA. Or play multiplayer TF2, etc.) My mum plays puzzle games on her iPad in order to entertain herself, but also to keep her mind off stressful stuff. I like playing Zelda cuz i can kinda immerse myself in that world/verse. I watch film and read books for the same reasons. Why do people love Final Fantasy? Because the stories are good and they can get lost in the characters. Why is Fire Emblem Awakening with its self-insert Avatar, so goddamn popular?

[Chiki]

1 - Yes, you mentioned entertainment and not video games. Seems legit. My bad.

Still, could you show this evidence of yours? I like Psychology.

2 - I don't see how it makes sense to limit the definition to "unpleasant realities", but I'm not going to discuss with the dictionary (unless it is a magical dictionary from Hogwarts).

It's really obvious lol. Just look at stories of how intelligent animals and people suffer from solitary confinement. And goldfish don't at all. The difference must be intelligence. Here's a story: http://discovermagazine.com/2003/oct/feateye

You really don't understand how "unpleasant" matters? It's simple: I play video games to "escape" reality (studying transformational grammar) but it's not unpleasant for me to study it. I enjoy it. Just not as much as playing games.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Chiki

[Junkhead]

Humans are smarter than animals, that's a new one. o:

[Chiki]

Humans are smarter than animals, that's a new one. o:

Too bad you're trying to be cute and completely failing. That I'm making a trivial conclusion can't be understood from my post at all. I'm talking about other animals like dolphins, elephants, octopuses etc. vs. shrimps and goldfish.

[Skynstein]

Why is the OP so mad about it? Everyday modern life is boring to most of us who can afford games. It's completely acceptable to play games as escapism, and it doesn't make you a lesser person at all.

Games are more escapist than other media because they put YOU in the hero's shoes.

[Rapier]

Because the wiki writer's generalization was stupid and also a leap of logic with no source to back it up. Then again, I wonder how this is even important.

"The reason most people first pick up a video game is to escape; to become the all-important hero, to take control in a chaotic situation, save the day, and be praised for it. Video games are a sojourn from the humdrum of everyday life."

You really don't understand how "unpleasant" matters? It's simple: I play video games to "escape" reality (studying transformational grammar) but it's not unpleasant for me to study it. I enjoy it. Just not as much as playing games.

The keyword is "unpleasant". Why is it necessary to be unpleasant to escape? I am pleased with my own reality, yet I like watching and reading fantasy books because my reality binds my creativity, whereas these books don't. So the "unpleasant" part can be discarded from the definition.

[Garnef]

I love how you're referring to his opinion as "stupid". In all honesty, even if he is generalizing a little, that doesn't mean it is a bad mindset to have. It's a positive mindset, and I believe it's simply the thought that counts in this matter.

Overall, this thread is starting to get incredibly silly, and I don't see it ending well at all, in the path that it's going.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Nexas

[Chiki]

The keyword is "unpleasant". Why is it necessary to be unpleasant to escape? I am pleased with my own reality, yet I like watching and reading fantasy books because my reality binds my creativity, whereas these books don't. So the "unpleasant" part can be discarded from the definition.

.........Ok? You can't just pick and choose what you want in a definition. LOL It's not the same concept anymore. I can tell you're still an amateur.

This may seem surprising to you, but the word "escape" carries negative connotations. If you're doing something pleasurable and then do something more pleasurable, are you escaping reality? Sounds ridiculous. For example, if you're fapping, and then your girlfriend offers to give you a blowjob, are you escaping reality? No, that's stupid.

To find out what a word means, put it in different contexts (thought experiments) and see if others agree with you.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Chiki

[RJWalker]

Why are people so upset? What's wrong with escapism? What's so god damn offensive about that?

[Randa]

.........Ok? You can't just pick and choose what you want in a definition.

[General Banzai]

the real offense is the writing

“Majora’s Mask” is a tale of loneliness, betrayal, love, mortality, and unholy power– and that’s why we love it. Unlike any other Zelda game, “Majora’s Mask” is able to reach into the darkest depths of a gamer’s subconscious and drudge up all of the forgotten underlying reasons the gamer had begun playing video games in the first place. Majora attacked our weaknesses, and we were glad for it.

The reason most people first pick up a video game is to escape; to become the all-important hero, to take control in a chaotic situation, save the day, and be praised for it. Video games are a sojourn from the humdrum of everyday life.

like look at this huffington post bullshit

1. [blank] is a tale of

2. use of third-person plural to make writer's opinion to sound like a collective opinion

3. second sentence is fucking orgasm of words that all suggest the same thing: "darkest depths", "subconscious", "drudge up", "forgotten", "underlying". like seriously only one or two of these are needed to get the point across. you don't need to be using thesaurus words to sound pedantic

4. [insert bad sounding thing], and we liked it

5. semicolon

6. list says fuck you to parallel structure halfway through in order to give a heightened sense of urgency but yet again the writer is saying the same damn thing with every list item

7. sojourn

8. "humdrum of everyday life" redundant, only stated this way because the writer really wanted to use the word humdrum

lemme rewrite this to make it so you don't want to smack whoever wrote it

"Majora's Mask" is a dark departure from the Zelda formula. It affected me on a personal level, attacking the underlying reason I played games in the first place: to escape from everyday life. I wanted to be a hero, journey through fantastic landscapes, save the day.

assumedly, now that you've cut down all the redundant masturbatory text, you can now move on to actually analyze the game

Edited December 10, 2014 by General Banzai

[Tryhard]

While I do think it's presumptuous to assert that most use games as a form of escapism, I don't really see that as something I have a problem with itself. Games can be escapism, just like any other source of media or entertainment.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Tryhard

[Makaze]

You sound like Makaze. You can't make overly generalizing claims about people's psychology like this.

I was actually going to contradict Fox's post...

What otherwise is the point of entertainment? It has no survival or reproductive value.

I think there is a tie between imagination/entertainment, and intuitive/abstract learning. There is some evidence that humans learn via passive immersion, especially through the guise of games, with little to no studying or stress. That would mean it ultimately aids problem solving and general learning.

Personally, I don't think empathy for fictional characters presents less survival value than empathy for real people.

I think it's empirically undeniable that creativity and story telling ability is attractive to both sexes. As reproductive value goes, it's a good trait to have.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Makaze

[shadowofchaos]

...What the hell are you so mad about?

Honestly, this thread is an amazing read. But even with the nitpicking... at the end of the day, I don't see what the problem is except the OP getting offended too easily.

[Irysa]

*snip*

assumedly, now that you've cut down all the redundant masturbatory text, you can now move on to actually analyze the game

Whilst I agree the original is excessive, just a little bit of masturbatory text is nice for some prose. It's not a scientific paper, it's an editorial, so writers are allowed to be expressive if it doesn't detract from their point (which admittedly, in this case, it does)

I realise I am now nitpicking your nitpicking but I lament when I see people wanting to just apply brevity to everything. We're not robots!

[Rapier]

.........Ok? You can't just pick and choose what you want in a definition. LOL It's not the same concept anymore.

That's not the point. See, I explicitelly said I am not going to discuss with the dictionary. I just said that it makes little sense to restrict the term escapism to unpleasant realities (read below). This is different from picking and choosing what I want in an universal, objective definition.

This may seem surprising to you, but the word "escape" carries negative connotations.

Actually, I knew you'd say that. My question remains if it carries negative connotations in all cases, because escape's meaning is "to get out". The negative connotations are only flavor. Are the negative connotations in that case as intrisecally as they are in, say, theft?

Edited December 10, 2014 by Rapier

[Chastlily]

I partially agree with the statement because indeed Video Games can be a form of escape for some people (myseif included) but I agree with OP because I don't think everybody plays video games and take it extremly seriously

[FrostyFireMage]

Uh, most people enjoy overcoming challenges. If people just want escapism they can just watch a movie.

That article does sound pretty pretentious.

[Phoenix Wright]

the real offense is the writing

“Majora’s Mask” is a tale of loneliness, betrayal, love, mortality, and unholy power– and that’s why we love it. Unlike any other Zelda game, “Majora’s Mask” is able to reach into the darkest depths of a gamer’s subconscious and drudge up all of the forgotten underlying reasons the gamer had begun playing video games in the first place. Majora attacked our weaknesses, and we were glad for it.

The reason most people first pick up a video game is to escape; to become the all-important hero, to take control in a chaotic situation, save the day, and be praised for it. Video games are a sojourn from the humdrum of everyday life.

like look at this huffington post bullshit

1. [blank] is a tale of

2. use of third-person plural to make writer's opinion to sound like a collective opinion

3. second sentence is fucking orgasm of words that all suggest the same thing: "darkest depths", "subconscious", "drudge up", "forgotten", "underlying". like seriously only one or two of these are needed to get the point across. you don't need to be using thesaurus words to sound pedantic

4. [insert bad sounding thing], and we liked it

5. semicolon

6. list says fuck you to parallel structure halfway through in order to give a heightened sense of urgency but yet again the writer is saying the same damn thing with every list item

7. sojourn

8. "humdrum of everyday life" redundant, only stated this way because the writer really wanted to use the word humdrum

lemme rewrite this to make it so you don't want to smack whoever wrote it

"Majora's Mask" is a dark departure from the Zelda formula. It affected me on a personal level, attacking the underlying reason I played games in the first place: to escape from everyday life. I wanted to be a hero, journey through fantastic landscapes, save the day.

assumedly, now that you've cut down all the redundant masturbatory text, you can now move on to actually analyze the game

+1

though i don't think there's anything wrong with using a semicolon or the word, "sojourn."

[Chiki]

That's not the point. See, I explicitelly said I am not going to discuss with the dictionary. I just said that it makes little sense to restrict the term escapism to unpleasant realities (read below). This is different from picking and choosing what I want in an universal, objective definition.

Actually, I knew you'd say that. My question remains if it carries negative connotations in all cases, because escape's meaning is "to get out". The negative connotations are only flavor. Are the negative connotations in that case as intrisecally as they are in, say, theft?

You're discussing with the dictionary if you're doing that.... You're changing the definition of a word. That's exactly what "arguing with the dictionary" is.

Sure seems like it! If I'm playing Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC and having a lot of fun replaying it, and then the new game comes out for me to torrent as I'm playing it, does that mean I'm "escaping" reality? That sounds freaking ridiculous.

[RJWalker]

This thread is a beautiful train wreck of buttthurt.

[Skynstein]

Yeah I don't see a reason for its existence. Of course games can be escapism. They were just that for me, for a long time.

[Junkhead]

the real offense is the writing

“Majora’s Mask” is a tale of loneliness, betrayal, love, mortality, and unholy power– and that’s why we love it. Unlike any other Zelda game, “Majora’s Mask” is able to reach into the darkest depths of a gamer’s subconscious and drudge up all of the forgotten underlying reasons the gamer had begun playing video games in the first place. Majora attacked our weaknesses, and we were glad for it.

The reason most people first pick up a video game is to escape; to become the all-important hero, to take control in a chaotic situation, save the day, and be praised for it. Video games are a sojourn from the humdrum of everyday life.

like look at this huffington post bullshit

1. [blank] is a tale of

2. use of third-person plural to make writer's opinion to sound like a collective opinion

3. second sentence is fucking orgasm of words that all suggest the same thing: "darkest depths", "subconscious", "drudge up", "forgotten", "underlying". like seriously only one or two of these are needed to get the point across. you don't need to be using thesaurus words to sound pedantic

4. [insert bad sounding thing], and we liked it

5. semicolon

6. list says fuck you to parallel structure halfway through in order to give a heightened sense of urgency but yet again the writer is saying the same damn thing with every list item

7. sojourn

8. "humdrum of everyday life" redundant, only stated this way because the writer really wanted to use the word humdrum

lemme rewrite this to make it so you don't want to smack whoever wrote it

"Majora's Mask" is a dark departure from the Zelda formula. It affected me on a personal level, attacking the underlying reason I played games in the first place: to escape from everyday life. I wanted to be a hero, journey through fantastic landscapes, save the day.

assumedly, now that you've cut down all the redundant masturbatory text, you can now move on to actually analyze the game

Are you an English major? I'd never be able to put all of that together, but you just explain what I feel when people put all those unnecessary words to sound smarter. It's annoying.

This thread is a beautiful train wreck of buttthurt.

As far as I know, I'm the only one that's actually butthurt. Don't generalize.

Yeah I don't see a reason for its existence. Of course games can be escapism. They were just that for me, for a long time.

You don't see the point even when I bothered to explain it? Anyway, I feel sorry that you see them that way.

[Skynstein]

You don't see the point even when I bothered to explain it? Anyway, I feel sorry that you see them that way.

So far you haven't posted anything to prove that viewing games as escapism is bad. You just attacked this sort of opinion with negative adjectives and stated your own opinion, which is different. Now I respect and even agree with you that games are entertainment, but all forms of entertainment can be escapism, and video games are the biggest examples since the player is the hero and has active role in the development of the story. And there's nothing derogatory about it at all. Before I went through the thread again, I thought you were arguing that games were a higher form of art or something (with which I happen to disagree), but if you think games are just entertainment, you don't really have a better opinion than someone who thinks games are escapism.

Taking some genres into account, playing games as escapism becomes more and more true as games become more immersive. This is especially true in MMORPGs. You can be a burger flipper (or some other boring and repetitive thing) IRL and a powerful warlord or sorcerer in the game. How's that not escapism? That's before I even mentioned games like The Sims and Second Life, which are the epitome of escapism.