Temptation

Over the last two weeks or so, I’ve had cravings to play more games again. I think I know why, so let’s get into it.

I mentioned before how I’d restricted my gaming to couch co-op games, and over the last two weeks, the gf and I have been getting bored of our current array of games to choose from. This lead to me hunting around for something new to play, and I came across “Stardew Valley”. I’d heard of it before, and it looked like a very chill and entertaining game. The only trouble was that the gf didn’t want to play it, and neither did any of my local friends!

I’m sure there are plenty of people online who would play with me, or I could just play solo, but I restricted my gaming to couch co-op only, so as to ensure that I don’t game excessively again. I didn’t want to break that rule, and so this last week I’ve just been tormenting myself by watching play-through videos and beginner guides.

Then yesterday, the ultimate temptation presented itself. You see, I was supposed to meet up with an old friend who I hadn’t seen in months, but we had to cancel as the weather was bad. So there I was with a whole day to myself, stuck in the house, no-one else around, and nothing planned to do. Not to mention my laptop was brutally and evilly staring at me. Did I also mention that I’d had a hard week at work? It was a perfect storm, and it wouldn’t have been hard to justify playing a few games by myself for a few hours. I mean, would it really have been that different to watching a movie or two?

Well, I’m happy to say that I didn’t take the bait. Instead, I watched a bunch of personal development videos in an effort to take my mind off gaming. That was when a slightly unusual video popped up under recommendations. The core message was that if a person really wants to stop consuming (whether that’s junk food, movies, mobile apps, games, or other things), then that person must start creating instead. They need to make something.

Well that got me thinking, I’ve had a few fun ideas for games of my own over the years, and I’ve always felt that games could be used to do more for people than just entertain. The sheer amount of knowledge I acquired through getting sucked into WoW proves that games can teach a person a lot (whether useful or not).

And so instead of breaking my rule and sneakily playing some games yesterday, I decided to muck around with “GameMaker”, a game engine which can be used to make your own games. As I’m writing this article now on Sunday, I can tell you truthfully that I did not play any games yesterday, other than a very simple Asteroids-clone which I coded myself with the help of a tutorial. It was a fun process, and I hope it will lead to something more. In fact, I’m excited to get my gamepad working with it next.

I’m not sure if making my own games is the wisest choice, especially when I’ve been trying to reduce the amount of time I spend playing games, but I will be creating something, and it’s something I feel excited about. I also felt quite happy this morning, just baking a cheesecake with the gf, and playing some board games. The cravings I mentioned at the start of this article, seem to have dissipated somewhat. For now at least.