8-Bit Worldview

Most people relate things they experience to things they've already experienced; this is normal. Some people relate things they experience to fictional experiences they've had, such as books or movies. I'm pretty sure that's normal, too.

I view the world through the eyes of the games I've played.

Partially, this is because of my own focus on gaming - while I've also read a ton, and watched my fair share of movies and TV, I can't exactly say I haven't put a lot of thought into the "how" and "why" of video games.

Partially, though, it's because it's a darn useful way to look at things. No other media could so easily have taught me the concept of "left" and "right" as did Super Mario Bros. In fact, I taught my girlfriend the same method - she has problems keeping "left" and "right" straight without thinking about it for a second - and it's helped her remember which is which much faster than before.

Not to mention "Link to the Past" and the cardinal compass directions.

But I've learned more from videogames than just directions and other simple concepts. I've also used that paradigm as a way to interact with people. I'm introverted, not terribly so but enough that it can be tough to initiate a conversation or pipe up and say something. Video games, however, teach a worldview that encourages extroversion: It's always a good idea to walk up to every NPC in town, and talk to them, because they will always say something worth listening to (if it's not actually helpful, it's often immersive, or at least funny). In fact, in many games, the only way to advance is to talk to people without being prompted to. This may be bad game design nowadays, but back in the day such invisible event flags were pretty standard.

It's also taught me about working in groups. In my younger days, I often hated working in groups because I'd be the one smart kid in the group who'd want to actually get the work done. Many games discourage this, by presenting challenges that require multiple people (with varying skillsets!) to overcome easily. However, a smart player can still overcome many of these challenges with a single character if that character is overleveled, with a broad range of skills - and I very much try to be an overleveled person with a wide range of skills, thank you.

Finally - finally for now, at any rate - it's taught me to keep working, if only just a little, after a job is done. There's always the chance of post-game content, or of an ending not being a 'true' ending, or of a treasure left behind in a fully-explored area. Unlike all the above, this is a lesson that I'm still working on incorporating into my everyday life... But actually making a game, through my school's Final Project, seems to be a gauntlet of nothing but object lessons in this.

Not that that's a bad thing. I may not have to learn all the lessons video games have to offer, but I do feel a compunction to level them up regularly.

Encounter'd

I attended a session of D&D Encounters last night, going to the local gaming store with my girlfriend. I'd never been to this gaming store before, but she had; neither of us had played there before, however.

We wandered the store for a while, before we asked to sign up for Encounters proper, and looked at the products (an impressive selection! Lots of miniatures! Dice, dice, dice!). That's one thing you can't get online or at a big-box store - the variety of tools and shiny things that pertain to one specific aspect of one's geekery.

The actual Encounters experience was largely positive for both of us, though my girlfriend didn't enjoy her character (the fighter) as much as I did mine (the psion). We both kinda dug the Dark Sun campaign setting, and appreciated how it's a move away from standard fantasy, though we both decided that the setting's FallOut-esque post-apocalyptia was an acquired taste that we could, in time, acquire.

The group of people we gamed with were friendly and fun to play with - most had been playing at that table in Encounters since the start of the Dark Sun adventure, but one or two were just as new as us.

All in all, we both thought it'd be worth trying again - I'll probably try to give it a go at the gaming store closer to my school, and my GF might give it a go if her usual D&D group goes on hiatus again, plus or minus when the Dark Sun stuff ends and they go on to the next set of encounters.