Got news?   tips@destructoid.com  |  Never miss a story:   RSS + Twitter + YouTube
Hey! New here? Destructoid is a gaming discussion community, updated nearly every 20 minutes. Make a quick avatar to comment and enter our contests. Take the tour!

 


Home Things gamers do updates

Life in a video game: the pros and cons

6:31 AM on 06.14.2007, Faith 22 comments

Life in a video game: the pros and cons photo
     Things gamers do
What if tomorrow morning you woke up and your life was exactly like your favorite video game?

What would you look forward to doing first? Would you drive down the I-90 in your Pontiac Sunfire at 100mph with no regard for traffic laws or your own life, or would you travel cross country killing monsters and rescuing damsels in distress in order to get laid?

Oh the possibilities would be endless, but what about the bad points of living in a video game world? Imagine getting stuck in a rock for an hour because of a glitch in the matrix or being forced to kill a monster every friggn' five minutes just to get to McDonalds for a Big Mac.

Well, hit the jump for a list of the 10 pros and cons of living in a video game world and then you can decide whether it would be worth living in a virtual world.

Pros:

1. Death is no longer permanent. No matter how many times you die, there will always be a reset button, extra life, continue or save and load spot available. Screw up as much as you want in life. You can always reload your life from a previous point or re-spawn again for another chance at life.

2. Killing people would be easy. Don't like your boss? Take him out with a head shot and don't worry about any repercussions, because you'll never get in trouble for killing anyone. Best of all, after they die, the body will just disappear. No body, no clean up.

3. Power ups. Didn't get any sleep last night? Burning the candle at both ends? Grab a power up item and watch your energy level return. Also the bonus of power ups is that they provide you with cool powers, magic or inventory items. No cash required.

4. Best looking body in the game. That's right. Heroes and heroines always have the best looks out of all the characters -- never worry about being ugly again. Ladies, gravity resistant boobs are also available without the worries of them getting in your way while fighting. You can even use the character maker screen to change your looks, if you would rather look like an orc in order to scare the bajesus out of your friends.

5. Unlimited inventory room. You'll be able to carry as many weapons or items you want without ever running out of inventory room or collapsing under their weight. Sure, you may look a little funny with an axe sticking out of your pocket, but who cares? You can carry an arsenal in your fanny pack.

6. Always getting the babe. That's right, gentlemen. Acts of daily bravery will help you score with the ladies. No more looking like a geek when you tell a hottie that you're a level 70 Dark Elf. The ladies will literally jump into your arms, especially if you save them from being raped by Bowser.

7. Being able to perform the most amazing, impossible tasks without losing any limbs or teeth. You'll be able to scale walls with ease, jump large distances over pits and take out small armies simply by performing a spin attack. Cool, huh? Flying over large distances will probably be the best power of all though.

8. Free stuff available everywhere. Food, weapons, clothes, gold and everything else you need to get through life will be available for free in barrels, on the ground, and in people's homes. Best of all, no one will accuse you of stealing. Sure, they will be stores to buy other goods in but kill enough enemies or latte drinking business men and the gold will be yours in no time. Better than working at McDonalds for it.

9. Status Meters. You'll be able to know when you're moments away from death and grab a potion before you expire. Magic, weapons, and items will be interchangeable without even looking in your inventory. Everything about you will be available in your view at all times. “Oops, my sperm level is low. Perhaps I better stop banging all the DOA chicks before I go limp.”

10. Cheat codes. Basically you’d have the ability to do whatever the hell you want with just the right button sequence. Flying, endless health points, killing people with one hit or a horde of potions the size of your house. Of course, you have to find the codes first though and hoard them away from your friends, so they don’t have the ability to input codes too.

Cons:

1. Monsters, monsters and more monsters. Everywhere you go in the world, there will be monsters and you'll spend more time killing them or running away from them than going pee or showering.

2. Annoying music. All day long you’ll have to listen to your theme music playing unless you go into a shop or a dungeon, then you’ll be treated to different annoying music. You better hope to God that someone didn’t program your life game with midi themes or you’ll never be sane again.

3. Freeze ups. Imagine walking down the street and the whole world freezes up. Hitting your reset button and waiting for the world to reboot would be a real pain in the butt, especially if it’s the tenth time that day and you’re late for work.

4. Invisible walls. You thought living in a small town was bad, wait until you find out that the game developers of your video game life deciding to limit your world to just your small town. You can see the highway but your car can’t actually get on the on ramp to get to it because there’s an invisible wall to keep you within your town.

5. Glitches. You are kicking some big, bad boss's butt and suddenly he gets caught in a wall and you can’t finish him off. Imagine having to get a sledge hammer just to get the boss out of the wall. Fun, huh?

6. Single Storyline. Instead of being able to do anything and go anywhere you wish, your game life was programmed with a single plot line which you must follow to the letter. No bathroom stops, no time for sex with your hot sidekick and no time to watch some TV. You can’t even kill the annoying wise man who keeps asking you to save the world over and over again. “I SAID, NO! DIDN’T YOU HEAR ME, OLD MAN?!”

7. People asking you for gold or items. The auction house would be a sea of people asking for money or items. “Can I borrow your armor? I’m going on a raid tonight and my armor just doesn’t fit right any more.” “Hey, can I get 500 gold coins from you? I really need to buy that power band and I’m a little short.”

8. Microtransactions. Every game has them; stupid microtransactions that require you to pay for new adventures, expansions, horse armor or spells. Think of them like the taxes of the real world. Never ending and not really worth what you get for them.

9. Looking like a girl when you’re a guy. Lucky you! You get stuck in a Square-Enix game and have to go around looking like a dark and brooding pretty boy for the rest of your life. Better buy a big sword to make up for your rich, conditioned hair otherwise the enemies are going to laugh at you.

10. Dangerous Terrain. If you stay within the borders of your city, then you’ll be fine but leave the city and you’ll be faced with dark and scary forests, lava pits, caves, dungeons and icy mountain ranges. Better pack a survival kit because these places don’t have a Holiday Inn.


Next page: More Listmania! stories




10BobMarleys's Avatar
10BobMarleys at 06/14/2007 07:00
I wanna be the long peice from Tetris. heh heh......
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 06/14/2007 07:09
I lol'ed
SeraphX's Avatar
SeraphX at 06/14/2007 07:11
You forget the fact that know one seems to care if you barge into their house and take shit, and no one is ever too busy to talk.
Morrius's Avatar
Morrius at 06/14/2007 07:32
Pros:

11. Patches - Improve your life with one simple easy treatment, no fuss, no mess, and completely free!

Cons:

11. Severe lack of genital organs. That is, unless you're playing fahrenheit or virtually jenna. However, problem can be resolved for certain games, such as tomb raider and DOAX (see previous point, patches)
Ndizi's Avatar
Ndizi at 06/14/2007 08:05
I've always found it annoying that as soon as you kill anything everyone immediately knows it is you. Don't bother taking him out to a ditch and shoot him where no one can see you, you'll lose Karma anyway.
Uncle Larrys Van's Avatar
Uncle Larrys Van at 06/14/2007 09:17
Well the chance to be Bruce Campbell is very tempting but I think I would hate it if I left town and killed a horde of zombies only to find that I forgot something at home and turn around to see that same horde there again. Didn't I just kill you guys?
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 06/14/2007 09:27
Also, pottery always conceals gems or life power-ups.
hardwareguy's Avatar
hardwareguy at 06/14/2007 09:56
You forgot the biggest con of all:
You do not control yourself. You perform at the whim of an otherworldly power who controls all your actions and can turn off your game at any moment sending you into a black limbo until he decides to load your game again.
Fana7ic's Avatar
Fana7ic at 06/14/2007 10:37
Zombie killing spree, go!
snotrocket's Avatar
snotrocket at 06/14/2007 10:40
Funny write up :D Always will wonder what life would be like in a game :(
Agent Nixon's Avatar
Agent Nixon at 06/14/2007 11:53
what's worse is when you're stuck in a game with a shitty camera system.
l0cke's Avatar
l0cke at 06/14/2007 12:27
"DAMMIT I just switched back to the first person view! Stop going into third!"
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 06/14/2007 13:18
I'd say just the fact that you can have save points and reset buttons would go a long way towards outweighing most of those cons.
Ed Cetera's Avatar
Ed Cetera at 06/14/2007 13:19
And another pro is that, if life is a videogame, you can drive 1000+ mph on your hoverboard/super spaceship/badass car without being pulled over by the police (that is, if you are not living in a game like Mafia where you get pulled over for being one above the 30 mph limit).
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 06/14/2007 13:25
Number four doesn't apply to me. I never have to worry about being ugly, ever. So that makes for more cons than pros.
duhJeenyus's Avatar
duhJeenyus at 06/14/2007 13:45
Yeah it would suck if Oblivion gates started popping up everywhere, especially if it was in my backyard. My dogs would love tearing the imps to shreds though.
garrfunkel's Avatar
garrfunkel at 06/14/2007 18:57
gravity resistant boobs? sounds like hell to me. the fun of watchin a girl joggin would be gone entirely.
Alaphic's Avatar
Alaphic at 06/15/2007 03:00
@hardwareguy:

Ya know, in a nutshell, you kinda just described religion.

Resets and save points would be the shit though. Another pro would be the fact that you would almost never have to sleep or eat unless the storyline required it.
Otomiruninja's Avatar
Otomiruninja at 03/04/2009 22:02
@alaphic

Agreed.
Spike401k's Avatar
Spike401k at 03/07/2009 09:18
Your forgetting, if things got too hard you could always turn the difficulty down to easy. Or vice versa (make it harder on yourself).
prev next

Returning Dtoiders: login now to post a comment

Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just Create an avatar now - it's fast and free: PLUS you also get your own gaming blog and begin posting stories and uploading videos in our open community area that may also appear on our home page. Sign up and we'll guide you through it, it's easy and 100% anonymous.




 Original Videos

 Reviews
Mad Dog McCree Gunslinger Pack
Overlord II
Yosumin Live!
Let's Tap
Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Wii)
View all Game Reviews

 Community blogs -   39769 Dtoiders!

This month's theme: Untapped Potential

New to Dtoid? Read the survival guide


 Originals

How Pokemon Red is blatantly better than Pokemon Blue











more original Destructoid stories



 Popular now more













Destructoid is:
Nick Chester
Editor-in-Chief
Jim Sterling
Reviews Editor
Dale North
News Editor
Hamza Aziz
Community Manager
Anthony Burch
Features Editor
Rey Gutierrez
Video editor & director
Niero
Founder, publisher
Letters to the editors
tips@destructoid.com
Associate Editors
Ashley Davis Jonathan Holmes
Brad Nicholson Jonathan Ross
Brad Rice Jordan Devore
Chad Concelmo Matthew Razak
Colette Bennett Tom Fronczak
Conrad Zimmerman Topher Cantler
Dyson Samit Sarkar
Contributors
Adam Dork
Ben Perlee
Daniel Lingen
Joseph Leray
Joe Burling
Mikey
Will Maddock
Stella Wong




get involved

register or login
post a blog
post a forum
enter a contest
discuss a review
contribute a news tip
write a guest editorial
support

new member's guide
login assistance
tech support
report abuse
email our editors
read our dev blog
nuclear crisis?
keep in touch

RSS feed
Twitter
Facebook
Myspace
Flickr
Game nights
Meet-ups
seriously

about us
advertising
terms of use
privacy policy
jobs at MM
buy our crap
our network

Tomopop
Japanator




Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press
living the dream since March 16, 2006