Drinking from my glass of Milk, I catch up my Twitter feed. The lovely Ashley Davis says the Monthly Musings are back, and with a topic that anyone can write about it. Yeah, sure, anyone can write about, but, It’s difficult. REALLY DIFFICULT.

What I mean is, you can talk about videogames as an escape from your life, but, it could take two very different ways. In one hand, you can end up talking like a fanboy on how awesome it’s that game, the one who clear your mind and let you feel that awesome sensation of temporally freedom. On the other hand, we can start talking and sharing our deep feelings, those who are locked inside our hearts, and those who we don’t share with anyone, being afraid of looking pathetic at the eyes of the rest just because we thought the entire world hate us with passion.

Personally, I really don’t know if there’s a correct way to write this. I can compare my life experiences and comparing to videogames, if just and only videogames can serve as an escape, how much our friends are involved, etc. I don’t even know how to title this. But let’s do the exercise, maybe it can help. After all, like my favorite robotic friend used to say: “Thank you for helping us help you help us all”.

It’s about the game or the person. I don’t even know where to start.



It’s funny; I had a “nice” childhood, mainly because my family treats me like a King. Yeah, I don’t even have too many friends (not even online) but I always get what I want (at least on the physical things aspect). The lack of friends was nothing compared to the awesomeness of a Nintendo 64. I spent hours and hours playing Mario games. Luckily, some neighbors also had a N64 so we played sometimes. Yes, it was luck. Back there I was happy, no concerns and worries at all. My parents never had a fight (till today) and even if there was a problem with family members, money, health, whatever, they never told me anything, just to keep me happy. It was a permanent escape. One that I don’t even wanted, and/or wasn’t aware at all.



It wasn’t till I reached my puberty and middle school, when I realized about problems and things that were changing. The Gamecube wasn’t very attractive to most people and everyone, EVERYONE had a PS2 (you know, piracy over here it’s terrible with all the Unlocking on that system). Also, just at that point in my life, I was discovering Arcade games. Everybody had tough years, this were one of the worst; I’m not afraid to say that during all these years I never had a girlfriend, but god damn it, I won a lot of good friends. All thanks to Dance Dance Revolution. The shy Danzflor went away, It became a dancing machine (now you know the origin of my nickname) At first everyone laughed at me, but when they saw me dancing (you know, free styling) I gain they respect. Thanks to that I escaped from all the school problems, and every one of us might have had the same problems back then I guess (Grades, Annoying classmates, girls and a big etc.).

But then, I realized while playing these rhythm games, that is not only the game your way to escape from the absurd reality, friends play a crucial role in this. I still got those friends, and I still making friends today thanks to that. Because, you all know it, it’s better to play with some friends. Laugh with them, Yell at them, drink with them. That’s something that services like LIVE and PSN are minimizing these days. I’m not saying they are evil and should be eliminated, no. I just miss the days when everyone had to bring their controller and party. Probably that’s the main reason why we have so many annoying kids yelling at us when we play Modern Warfare. They are so stressed in their life, so they have to yell a stranger and call him “fag” for no apparent reason. All those problems, and all day glued to the console because their parents don’t do their job make them do that. In a way, videogames are helping them (but at what cost? My poor ears)



Now days, when I feel a little stressed from University, a just launch Steam and I play some Team Fortress 2, and I don’t even care if I’m losing or winning, I’m having fun. All those games that help me to runaway, have the common factor that every game should accomplish: entertain you, one way or another. More than the game itself, probably after all it’s just the person and videogames as one. As I expose before, there are some specific games that changed my way of seeing and living my life, but when you are having fun, you can escape from anything that it’s going on around you.

To conclude this, we are all different, and different games makes us what we are today, after all, that’s why we are here, why you’re reading this. Videogames related things make us feel like awesome, we feel joy, we feel pride. Destructoid plays an important role It’s like we want to hug some developer so hard for make such a great game, and here it applies the same concept, when we want to hug Niero so badly for creating our second home. It’s a escape to read gaming news, and not the bad ones we saw every day.

At the end of the day, thanks to this thing I realized something. It helps me. I don’t write exactly how bad my life was at some point or how a single game changed my life (DDR was just on of them). Games are fun, were invented for that. The Videogame Universe is our escape, from a good or a bad reality. That’s why we are here. And no matter how’s your mood, just plug your pc or console and save the world. Again. It's going to help you at the same time.

Yes, I’m feeling better now.

[Chell header image taken from Chibi-Beckett's deviantART. Thanks to Chibi-con for help with some corrections]