Did you ever play a game and just think about it? I mean really think. I doubt you have, unless you’re like me and you take everything from a moral standpoint. Some people use video games as stress relievers, or as a way to just be cool. But I think it’s a way to be yourself, and express yourself throughout your characters.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Are we all supposed to be a pink puff ball that can suck up anything and take on their form? No, unfortunately not all games are allegory for real life, but most can be taken that way if you look hard enough.
Take Mario games for instance. The latest game, New Super Mario Bros. Wii. I’ve played it and it’s a blast, but i must admit: I’m not the best at it. When I play with my little brother, we’ve gotten to the fifth world and I had accumulated eleven continues, which adds up to fifty-five additional lives.
I know, I know, I’m not skilled, but I can understand things and one of the reasons that I’m not completely destroyed by the fact that I epically fail at video games is that I learned persistence through Mario. Think about it for a minute, when you’re playing a video game, do you press the ‘continue’ button? Or simply turn off the game and try later? Something people don’t seem to understand is that when you press the ‘continue’ button, you are explaining your personality. You are showing that you simply don’t throw away your goal, but you try and achieve it.
Another aspect of gaming is that you get to use the main character as yourself, or maybe even someone you wish to be. Take the game Kingdom Hearts for example. I can personally attest to wanting to be like Sora, going away from my normal life and experiencing the exciting lifestyle and becoming a hero. After all, who doesn’t like that? A reason RPG’s are so popular is because they give you a way of getting your hidden wants and desires out and make yourself feel like you’re being the person that you’re controlling. Which is mostly the reason why game-creators make a way for you to make your avatar the way you want them to. Which could be the reason why so many people make their avatars so exciting or interesting. They want their avatars to truly be themselves.

Constantly in gaming I find that people continue to see their enemies as their real-life enemies. People in the movies or on TV always say something along the lines of, “picture Mr. Blah blah blahstin, or Ms. Boringburg.” And then they get better at it. I guess people really do that, because I found myself picturing my own personal “Bowser” while playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii. And surprisingly I was getting better and better until I felt the urge to destroy my own “Bowser” and I won.

So in short, it seems that people tend to want to use videogames as ways of escaping from the real-life drama. But hey, who says that’s a bad thing? Especially if you have a boring life and you don’t have a problem with an imaginary lifestyle.