Real-life Gamer

I was invited as a guest speaker to a Youth Center Happi. This youth center's focus is on game playing youngsters, therefore it has multiple PC's that are connected to the internet. People can play internet based multiplayer games for free as long as there's room for everyone.

MY PRESENTATION

I went there to give a presentation about 'How I've applied games in real-life'. I have played games since the first Atari's Ping-Pong game with two white sticks and a rectangular ball on the screen. It was tremendously fun game back in the 80's ;) As I've grown older the role of game playing in my life has change dramatically. For example in the year 2001 I decided that won't play games at all. I also decided not to watch television anymore. I still don't watch television but games I started to play again on the Christmas of 2007. For the last few years, Christmas has been a period of 2 weeks in my life, when there's nothing going on. I've decided to use that free-time efficiently and play through games that I'm interested in. Once a year I get a quick overview of how games have evolved, and in addition I get a good feeling that I've managed to play through a challenging game (or non-challenging)!

GAMES AND REAL-LIFE

My favorite game type is the role-playing game (Final Fantasy, Fallout 3 etc.). I usually choose to play the good guy, and I try to develop him to become even better as person. In a similar way I build my own life in reality. I learn and develop new skills constantly, and I try to put them in good use. Every now and then I might also play 3D-shooters, 3D-action games and racing games. My last exceptional experience was the Lips sing-along game on Xbox 360. I first practiced singing with that game and after few weeks I had the guts to go sing karaoke with few of my friends. At some point we managed to go sing karaoke once a week. I think I developed as a singer quite well, although I'm very, very, very far away from being a talented singer :) But it's fun skill, and I feel successful when my friend's don't have to cover their ears when they hear me singing ;)

CONCLUSION

In my case games are a good way to learn new things. In role-playing games you can even try out your moral beliefs. It's easier to do bad things in a game but these days some of the games are so well made, that if you do a bad thing, it might really get you depressed. At least they affect me, therefore I also try to be as good as possible even in games.

Sometimes I also use games as a hiding place from reality. But again, advancing in a game makes me feel better; Like I've achieved something. And when I bring this confident, good feeling back to reality, my real-life seems to be advancing in an easier way as well.

For some game playing can be an addiction. As with any kind of addiction, if it controls you, it's not good. But if you control your addiction, then it's okay. Everything done in a moderate level is usually sustainable in the long-run. Top-athletes are always on the edge of going too far. But I bet they understand it better than an average person, when enough is enough.

You are the only one who can live your life to the fullest. If some addiction controls the direction of your life, then you're not necessarily making all the decisions in your life. Know who you are, and then maximize your potential. It's not an easy path but I bet it's damn worthwhile in the long run!

'Perfection with Passion'


PICTURES

My friend Riku who invited me to event.