Escapism
Lying in bed last night, trying to get to sleep for the third time, I realised what it is about games that makes them so integral to my life at this particular moment: the escapism. With my FYP (or rather, stress about it) filling my every waking moment, it is only those few hours spent gaming that are keeping me sane. Yes, I’m spending time with friends, be it in the lab or at the pub an so forth, but the main topic of conversation is work. It’s still on our minds, unrelenting and omnipresent. But when I’m playing something, it all goes away.
Ducking from tree to tree in Crysis, hoping my stealth doesn’t run out before I make it to the next. Storming round a corner and being met by a wall of flak in Unreal Tournament 3. Calling in an orbital strike from my secluded spot amongst the hills of the Lake District in Enemy Territory. Setting those damned RED spies on fire. All totally separate from my real life, and yet integral to it at the same time.
It’s not just that initial escapism either. Playing games for a few hours in a day otherwise punctuated by working or talking about working gives me something to focus on as I try and drift off. A happy place, if you will. Clichéd I know, but getting to sleep with a mind still racing about stressful things is all but impossible. Having those few hours to look over and think about just gives me something I can drift off to sleep to.
Right, looking at the time, I best go play some more Crysis before bed, otherwise I wont sleep!
[...] - Redux Back in April I wrote about escapism, specifically that gleaned from playing games, as the perfect cure to mounting stress levels. At [...]
[...] take any more than a passing interest in, something that filled my spare time, allowed me to escape from my hum-drum existence. More importantly, it was my thing; plenty of people in my circle of friends play games, but there [...]