Are you Escapist or Explorer?

[Silva]

(I thought about this originally for tabletop RPGs but I guess it fits videogames too so here we go)


Escapist = gaming to distance from reality issues.

x

Explorer = gaming to explore those reality issues.

It's fair to say everybody is driven by, and touches on, both elements while playing (among others), but if you had to choose only one, which one would it be? To escape reality or to explore it?

For eg, I'm an Explorer. Even when playing fictional worlds, I love exploring real world issues and situations, be it Shadowrun' fantasy racism, Runequest's myths and superstitions, Monsterhearts' teen drama or Dogs in the Vineyard's moral dilemmas, the fiction for me is just a vehicle to explore real world. EDIT for some videogame examples: Planescape's existential dilemmas, Nocturne' moral Reasons, Alpha Centauri's ideological conflict, King of Dragon Pass' cultural connumdruns, Ultima series Avatar dilemmas, etc.

That doesn't mean I dislike more fantasy-inclined games with idealistic goals like saving the world or killing evil baddies, sure I do, but these don't usually excite me as much.


Skinwalker , I wanna hear you.

 

[pOcHa]

(I thought about this originally for tabletop RPGs but I guess it fits videogames too so here we go)


Escapist = gaming to distance from reality issues.

x

Explorer = gaming to explore those reality issues.

It's fair to say everybody is driven by, and touches on, both elements while playing (among others), but if you had to choose only one, which one would it be? To escape reality or to explore it?

For eg, I'm an Explorer. Even when playing fictional worlds, I love exploring real world issues and situations, be it Shadowrun' fantasy racism, Runequest's myths and superstitions, Monsterhearts' teen drama or Dogs in the Vineyard's moral dilemmas, the fiction for me is just a vehicle to explore real world. That doesn't mean I dislike more fantasy-inclined games with idealistic goals like saving the world or killing evil baddies, sure I do, but these don't usually excite me as much.


Skinwalker , I wanna hear you.

how can you type so much with an arthritic hand, old one

 

[Bester]

Modern day "issues" shouldn't even be in fantasy or sci-fi, motherfucker. That's why they're modern day issues, they're not some eternal issues.
Issues are the result of historic context. Any fantasy or sci-fi would have different context => different issues.

I react to modern day "issues" in fantasy the same way I react to them in real life.

I see racism = I don't find it interesting and try to rush through it.
Superstition/religions = stupid, rush through.
"We got into a world where there's SLAVERY, so we're nuking these evil people, their children, their women, everyone and we save the enslaved race so they can build wakanda" = I can't read this shit. I almost physically hurt.

I hear a lot that literary works of fiction are supposed to help us understand the modern world through a narrative prism, but I think it's bullshit. You want to understand modern world - read history and Marx.

Fantasy/sci-fi is supposed to excite with its originality.
You oppose escapist to explorer, but it's not like that. I don't want to "escape reality" and I don't want to "explore issues". I want to explore new ideas, new worlds.

 

[Silva]

Modern day "issues" shouldn't even be in fantasy or sci-fi, motherfucker. That's why they're modern day issues, they're not some eternal issues.
Issues are the result of historic context. Any fantasy or sci-fi would have different context => different issues.

I react to modern day "issues" in fantasy the same way I react to them in real life.

I see racism = I don't find it interesting and try to rush through it.
Superstition/religions = stupid, rush through.
"We got into a world where there's SLAVERY, so we're nuking these evil people, their children, their women, everyone and we save the enslaved race so they can build wakanda" = I can't read this shit. I almost physically hurt.

I hear a lot that literary works of fiction are supposed to help us understand the modern world through a narrative prism, but I think it's bullshit. You want to understand modern world - read history and Marx.

Fantasy/sci-fi is supposed to excite with its originality.
You oppose escapist to explorer, but it's not like that. I don't want to "escape reality" and I don't want to "explore issues". I want to explore new ideas, new worlds.

Woah hold your horses there. I didn't mean just MODERN day issues, but human issues as a whole. Planescape Torment would be a good example as it deals with a lot of moral and existential dilemmas, but even Dark Souls has some of that in it's conflict between humanity x royalty. Contrast that with say, Doom, R-Type or Mario Odyssey where there's very little to no human dilemmas at all.

 

[Serious_Business]

Cute post. I was going to reply "I am a Masturbator", but I guess I'll take it seriously, if only for the ancient joining date (I applaud old guys not being jaded and cynical).

I suppose the discussion has the risk of becoming "political" in the sense that the "real issues" you're describing will be denounced as moral signifiers. Indeed the notion of issue seems to imply some kind of moral tension. And then one can answer that art, or at least games, should not be moral or political, but pure aesthetic experiences. According to your division, however, that may make them "escapist", i.e. distanced from reality. But w h a t i s r e a l i t y ? ? ? Can you distance from it in some sense? What are you distancing from exactly? Perhaps "moral issues". But of course, these issues are not the entirety of reality.

Anyway, all I'm saying is that a proper answer implies deconstructing your division. I do this because, you know, because I am a Masturbator. I see that you try to expand on it in a further post by implying that issues of reality can be "existential" or universal in some humanist sense. I don't think that works very well, but, good luck.

 

[NecroLord]

Escapist.

 

[Butter]

Fantasy as a cipher for real world issues is fucking gay cringe. Just let me drop a warhammer on a goblin's skull without it being a commentary on race relations or some other bullshit.

 

[NecroLord]

Fantasy as a cipher for real world issues is fucking gay cringe. Just let me drop a warhammer on a goblin's skull without it being a commentary on race relations or some other bullshit.

Indeed.
It's what led to this utter lack of creativity and soullessness.

 

[Silva]

It's a pretty dry period for FPS games as well. FEAR is probably the best entry in the whole genre from that era.

Fantasy as a cipher for real world issues is fucking gay cringe. Just let me drop a warhammer on a goblin's skull without it being a commentary on race relations or some other bullshit.

Indeed.
It's what led to this utter lack of creativity and soullessness.

Sure Warhammer is cool af but c'mon, if you don't apreciate SMAC ideological conflicts or Pathologic misery tourism you're no true Codexer.

 

[Iucounu]

Woah hold your horses there. I didn't mean just MODERN day issues, but human issues as a whole.

Sounds interesting, but how many games do explore such issues? SOMA comes to mind obviously, but not much else that I have played. Then again today's woke games don't let you to escape modern issues either, so the choice is moot.

 

[Gandalf]

The games shaped me as much as probably old Star Wars movies. The brainwash is real, I'm not kidding.

As for playing, nowdays it's mainly brain excercise for me, I think.

 

[Silva]

Cute post. I was going to reply "I am a Masturbator", but I guess I'll take it seriously, if only for the ancient joining date (I applaud old guys not being jaded and cynical).

I suppose the discussion has the risk of becoming "political" in the sense that the "real issues" you're describing will be denounced as moral signifiers. Indeed the notion of issue seems to imply some kind of moral tension. And then one can answer that art, or at least games, should not be moral or political, but pure aesthetic experiences. According to your division, however, that may make them "escapist", i.e. distanced from reality. But w h a t i s r e a l i t y ? ? ? Can you distance from it in some sense? What are you distancing from exactly? Perhaps "moral issues". But of course, these issues are not the entirety of reality.

Anyway, all I'm saying is that a proper answer implies deconstructing your division. I do this because, you know, because I am a Masturbator. I see that you try to expand on it in a further post by implying that issues of reality can be "existential" or universal in some humanist sense. I don't think that works very well, but, good luck.

Do you see value in PST or Pathologic or SMAC existental and moral dilammas? Do you think those elements enhance their role as art? If so, I would say you're at least midway in the spectrum, and could even be an "explorer".

 

[Silva]

Woah hold your horses there. I didn't mean just MODERN day issues, but human issues as a whole.

Sounds interesting, but how many games do explore such issues? SOMA comes to mind obviously, but not much else that I have played. Then again today's woke games don't let you to escape modern issues either, so the choice is moot.

Agree SOMA is great at this. One of the best, really.

I posit SMAC ideological factions and their conflicts are a nice vehicle for such exploration, as is PST existential dilemmas and Pathologic moral ones.

 

[NecroLord]

Cute post. I was going to reply "I am a Masturbator", but I guess I'll take it seriously, if only for the ancient joining date (I applaud old guys not being jaded and cynical).

I suppose the discussion has the risk of becoming "political" in the sense that the "real issues" you're describing will be denounced as moral signifiers. Indeed the notion of issue seems to imply some kind of moral tension. And then one can answer that art, or at least games, should not be moral or political, but pure aesthetic experiences. According to your division, however, that may make them "escapist", i.e. distanced from reality. But w h a t i s r e a l i t y ? ? ? Can you distance from it in some sense? What are you distancing from exactly? Perhaps "moral issues". But of course, these issues are not the entirety of reality.

Anyway, all I'm saying is that a proper answer implies deconstructing your division. I do this because, you know, because I am a Masturbator. I see that you try to expand on it in a further post by implying that issues of reality can be "existential" or universal in some humanist sense. I don't think that works very well, but, good luck.

Do you see value in PST or Pathologic or SMAC existental and moral dilammas? Do you think those elements enhance their role as art? If so, I would say you're at least midway in the spectrum, and could even be an "explorer".

"What can change the nature of a man?"

 

[Silva]

I smell old grognards afraid to agree with me and being labeled woke fags around here.

Don't be afraid, bros. I'm not taking sides here, only questioning the overall value of humanity exploration in games, and if you personally apreciate that or not in your leisure time.

 

[GrainWetski]

Fantasy as a cipher for real world issues is fucking gay cringe. Just let me drop a warhammer on a goblin's skull without it being a commentary on race relations or some other bullshit.

Is the goblin ugly, greedy and retarded? If so, they're jews. Are the Orcs mindless, violent brutes? Then they're niggers.

We must all be anti-racists and protect our ugly, greedy jews and mindless, violent niggers.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

What is this gay shit? Neither. I just enjoy playing. You should try it sometimes.

If you have to explore these "issues" through video games you're physically, emotionally and intellectually stunted.

 

[NotSweeper]

I just like seeing numbers go up.

 

[Silva]

Ultima series >>>>>>>> your gay Warhammer shit.

 

[Hell Swarm]

Modern day "issues" shouldn't even be in fantasy or sci-fi, motherfucker. That's why they're modern day issues, they're not some eternal issues.

Fantasy as a cipher for real world issues is fucking gay cringe. Just let me drop a warhammer on a goblin's skull without it being a commentary on race relations or some other bullshit.

Fantasy and especially Sci fi have always been part of the cultural commentary scene. Social commentary + Author fetish = Sci fi since it's inception.

Can I be an escaping explorer? Some times I want to play a game to relax and not give a fuck. Other times I enjoy deep stories with complex real world situations explored. Humans are complex animals and change our minds on a whim. Me 20 years ago and me today like exploring different things and think very differently on real world issues. I would like to think most people on codex are deep enough people that we can decide to play Mario to relax one day and then play a deep CRPG the next touching on issues we enjoy exploring or entirely rejecting games based on issues we know are psyops and shouldn't be tolerated in any media you partake of. I'm far more likely to play a game that explores something like Opioid addiction than I am a game trying to tell me gays and trannies are anything but child molesters.

 

[Lucumo]

Neither. I never understood why gaming has to do with reality. I play a game with story because I want to see an interesting story. I play a game focused on gameplay, hoping that it will be interesting, fun and challenging. A game which "tackles" "realistic" issues will never be nearly as deep as the real life. Though, I guess that people who don't realize that will end up as the shallow and immature people of today that we see everywhere. To mature (aka deal with and understand issues) you self-reflect on your thoughts and actions, interact with real people in the real world and gain understanding from that and talk to other people (ideally older ones who know more and are wiser than you).
Drawing anything from an entertainment product (especially games and movies) is just stupid. Games are best when they relay factual information or spark your interest for something (Age of Empires, Civilization, Total War etc for history for example).

 

[jaekl]

I'm a fucken gamer, buddy and don't you forget it!!

 

[Valestein]

I'm a fucken gamer, buddy and don't you forget it!!

I'm a games enjoyer!

 

[Hell Swarm]

I'm a fucken gamer, buddy and don't you forget it!!

I'm a games enjoyer!

WTF is wrong with you? Can we cure this horrible disease?

 

[luj1]

Neither