As In Games As In Reality

The following is about how Video-Games Taught me to overcome obstacles in my life. I hope this helps you as it helped me.


Videogames have been a port of escapism for me since I can remember. Cartoons, movies, books, comics... all of this media has no doubt left a profound effect on my existence. In a lot of ways games have been a way out from the stress and torment of the real world.


My mind has created a place that is free from harm, protected, and free. Free to choose what elements of physics, skills, emotions and experiences that I please. My imagination has transcended into a world where I can control everything.
I have learned to drive a Ferrari at high speed in Test Drive 2. Jones In The Fast Lane taught me that when I grow up will have to juggle work, education, and bills in order to survive. In the Last Express I discovered compassion. Sonic was able to move me from the real world onto one of speed and bliss. Metal Gear Solid made think about the politics of the world and the effect human nature can have on us all.


I am part of a generation that has grown up. One that has grown up believing that I can fly a plane, command an army, win a grand prix, save a man and even kill a man. My mind has experienced all of these things in a profound way where my body has done nothing more than press buttons.


In a game I cannot be killed or harmed. I am not punished for making a mistake, nor prosecuted for doing something in a different way. If for some reason I fail I simply try again. In a video game I am invincible. I cannot fail. My being never dies.


The beauty in games for me is not the 3D graphics nor the amazing sound, but what games allow me to feel and the illusion that am experiencing something real. Something... emotional. I have fought in wars that look and feel more real than any book or news item can achieve. Programmers know what makes me sad, happy, scared, or proud. As soon as I play a good game, the restraints of my being and the restrictions of the game-realism slowly melts away. I become immersed with no buttons to press or real-world distractions to encounter. I am in another world.


It is weird to think that I have taken bigger risks in the virtual world. I have clocked countless hours in Gran Turismo doing high speed maneuvers but am too afraid in the real world. Online I will tell someone to STFU whereas I would cower under any confrontation from a physical person. I wish I had a fraction of the success I have achieved in the gaming world. For a long time I believed that the reason why I love games so much is because there I cannot be harmed. That gaming is the only place where I am free.


A game is where fate and the fate of the world is in my hands. In the real world I am powerless.


I was totally wrong.


Whether I am in a game or out in the real world. I am and always will be the same person. There is something in all of us. Some call it our soul or spirit. I simply call it something that is unique about us. It is what makes everyone special. The thing that makes us ‘live’.


I will risk Sonic’s life jumping over spikes because he cannot die. We humans are not so lucky. But there is something in us that cannot die: our souls. I am not a spiritual person but I am convinced that our character is what makes us unique and is the one thing that cannot be taken from us.



The world is a harsh place, but it is a rewarding one. The world can reward your actions. There is a reaction to every action.


The next time you come across some spikes in your life or have a fear of failing. Remember the bold and brave person that cannot be harmed in video games; cannot be harmed in the real world.


Take the risk, get out here, there is a part of you that is invincible.