Posted by: Ryan


It's 1AM. There's no one else in the room. Just me, my three or four-year-old Mac Mini, and a free computer game. Tonight didn't go as well as I'd expected.

I'm awake playing Grid Wars 2 with Kevin Rudolf's Let It Rock playing on repeat in the background. Grid Wars 2 is a freeware Geometry Wars clone; a Robotron-style dual stick shmup, and all of your enemies are just outlined, neon-colored shapes. The game is completely abstract.


Grid Wars 2

And yet, maybe about a minute into the game, it has your complete and undivided attention. If it doesn't have your complete attention, you probably won't make it more than a minute into the game. When I'm playing Grid Wars, all of my attention is on it. No other form of entertainment works like that for me. My mind wanders during the slow portions of a book, I can fall asleep during a movie, but I can't imagine falling asleep in the middle of playing Grid Wars 2, because the simple act of playing it requires me to focus.

I've heard people say that they play games as a form of escapism. I feel like I've read quite a few articles that say things like:

"Games are escapism. At their core, games offer the player a way to experience a place or moment in time which would otherwise be unattainable. Whether that moment is impossible (exploring a ruined dome city on the floor of the ocean) or merely highly improbable (living the life of a night vision goggle-wearing super-spy), games take us out of our time and place and put us into a new one." (via GameSetWatch)

The examples they use for escapism always involves role-playing. People think escapism means being an Elf on Middle-Earth or a being a Jedi in Star Wars. But for me, escapism just means keeping my mind off of things.

Alone, late at night in my room, it's easy to sit around in the quiet and let my mind wander off to all the things that are bothering me. But when I'm playing Grid Wars, I'm focusing all of my attention on this one thing, and so I'm not thinking about anything else. When I'm playing, I'm not thinking about my relationship problems. There's nothing there to remind me about the bill collectors calling me. The game won't let me think about it. All my mind is allowed to think about is moving, shooting, and trying not to die. I'm free from all other thoughts.

That my friends, is true escapism.
.
.
.