Nihar Sonalkar
Fact or Fiction?
When we think of a piece of art such as a movie, a painting, or a video game, we often overlook the vast amounts of hours, failures, and undertakings the artist, producers, directors, and the entire crew put into them to give us something so beautiful it becomes the perfect, the pristine. The mess underneath the final product is unimportant to us, as if it never existed. Is it possible then, that we share the similar viewpoints towards people? Tom Bissell states in his article “Video games: the addiction”, “Writing and reading allow one consciousness to find and take shelter in another. When the minds of the reader and writer perfectly and inimitably connect, objects, events and emotions become doubly vivid –more real, somehow, than real things” (Bissell). This statement rings true to not only writing as an art form, but every other form that art is capable of taking: video games, movies, paintings, drawings. They all have a comparable effect on the individual; taking him/her into the minds of those responsible for their individual thoughts and ideas.
We see the outer shell; we become the outer shells, hiding any instance that makes us human. There is, of course, nothing wrong with talking to shells, if the only conversation we want to have is a formal greeting and a smile. However, this shell is broken when the product is complete, when one immerses him/herself completely within a foreign environment. We want more. Gone are the days when all that was needed to intrigue our inquisitive minds was text; sure, there are still a few who devoutly sit down to read their selected novel, but for the majority of the people who lack the patience, it seems as though their time is running out. “Today, however, the pleasures of literary connection seem leftover and familiar” (Bissell). We demand more in the realm of fiction, a picture to go with words, dialogue instead of sentences, and action going hand in hand with imagery. Running away, every second of the day is this child called time. Nonchalant in its ways, unkind to those who couldn’t keep up; it would seem that the speed at which time is travelling only appears to be increasing as we make our advancements in technology, communication, and association.
With an improvement in our manner of communicating with the world, with the help of social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, and the vast amount of information available to us, there’s just never enough time. In a situation like this, one would imagine the individual to be driven insane! But, I don’t see anyone running around pulling his or her hair out, so what exactly do we do?
Of course in a literal sense, all we needed to enter this world was a computer, electricity, and the capabilities to connect to the internet.But in reality, when compared to actions required by the past two decades or so, all of it amounts to nothing.
We open our mind to the vast expanses of the Internet, of the world, taking in as much information as we can handle, and then recede back from whence we came. We travel to exotic locations, to magical lands, where there are dragons and knights; we swim in an ocean of color, a myriad of sound; we jump from the sketches of nightmares, from the bare white to the dark black; we travel to the ends of the Earth, to countries we have never heard of, or to cities we dreamed of. We close our browsers; our games; our televisions; and we head to bed. This is the universe of the Internet, and all we had to do to enter it was: nothing.
I feel drowsy. My mind doesn’t work like it used to when I was in high school. When I see myself now, my thoughts seem so clouded, so slow, so jaded. Every day begins the same way, a routine: I wake my drowsy eyes, brush my teeth with my hand half dangling over the sink, take a bath, have breakfast, and leave for college. Everything just works like clockwork, my mind a lazy accomplice in this scholarly venture. I reach home at night, spending almost twelve hours lounging around in college, educating myself with the daily happenings and whatnots. If my brain hasn’t already been squeezed out of all the juice that was present in the morning, I may crank open a book to read, but if the power’s all drained out, I would most likely start one of the few games I play. My weary eyes stare at the desktop, at the variety of icons present, but there is this one icon that beckons my cursor, a ferocious red dragon—appearing smoke-like, its body engulfed with flames licking the radiant white aura that surrounds it—entombed within the number “2”. I enter Guild Wars 2, a fairly new game, with all the signs of your typical MMORPG, some even going as far as to call it a World of Warcraft clone. Developed by ArenaNet, and published by NCsoft in 2012, Guild Wars 2 is far from a copy of the world famous World of Warcraft. The reason I believe that to be true may just be my bias towards the series –having played both games extensively– or its ability to be so much more captivating, or maybe even both. When you first enter Guild Wars 2, you are asked to select a server –a world within a world, if you may—and create your character, your entrance into this beautifully designed, and skillfully crafted world of Tyria. The player may choose between one of five different races: the Humans, a proud and unfaltering people; the Charr, a feline race filled with ferocity and fury; the Asura, the indomitable geniuses in the arts of techmetallurgy and golemancy; the Norn, a strong and mighty race, towering over all; and finally the Sylvari, born from a dream, and a part of nature itself. Once you have finally selected what race you want to play as, to explore this alien land, we enter the phase of customizing your character. For some this part of creating one’s character may take as little as a few seconds, picking from a slew of options made available to them through the “Random” button. But for those who really want to enjoy the adventure, to make their character as unique and acceptable to their specific likings, this process can take hours. From a raggedy old individual, to a young child-like persona, the player controls the consequence of his/her own imagination.
Between selecting one’s race and customizing one’s character, comes the important task of selecting what class the individual wants to play. Guild Wars 2 allows players to select from a variety of eight different classes: the Elementalist, the Warrior, the Guardian, the Engineer, the Hunter, the Necromancer, the Thief, and the Mesmer. Each class offering a different playstyle, and different perspective to what the game has to offer. This class selection allows the users to play the game in a manner in which they want. The choice they make, speaks a lot about their personalities, their likes, dislikes, how they want to be seen in their newly adopted world. When I made my choice, I decided that I wanted to be a stalwart and sturdy wall for my allies, one who would not hesitate to get into the fray, an individual who would gladly risk his life to save his allies. I decided to make the Guardian. There are various reasons as to why someone would select the class they did: maybe they enjoy sneaky and eviscerating play-style of a thief, or perhaps they find it exciting to destroy their enemies with the brute force and strength of a warrior. Whatever the reason may be, an individual’s selection of his or her class is affected by some tiny, even minuscule aspect of their real lives.
For the player, his/her name is one of the more important aspects in a game. The name carries a sense of identity, of being, of existing. It simplifies a person into letters, words. After you have customized your persona, you are asked to select a name. On some occasions, if you’re really lucky, the name you think of in a matter of seconds will fit the character you are trying to build. However, for the most part, the name of your character is a demanding and time-consuming process, just like coming up with a title for a painting, a sketch, or a book. This process of naming a character comes as a sort of mechanical and organic process: the player may go online to get any sort of inspiration; once inspired to the brim, the player goes back to his/her character and thinks of what it is they want to their character to convey; how would the name fit the class they’ve selected, and whether they want their names to be seen as grand, or legendary, or common.
My journey begins, and Haddow Neverwinter is born. A fledgling Guardian, trying to make his way in this new and fantastic world of Tyria. Born of a royal family, Haddow’s adventure begins battling a horde of centaurs who have invaded his homeland of Kryta. He is immediately thrust into a scenario that forces him to overcome odds that would otherwise appear to be devastatingly fatal. The characters that pop out of our imagination are made by us, and in turn, these characters make us. Haddow – the guardian, protector of innocents, and harbinger of justice – was just an idea that I had created a long time ago, and although his name changed over the years, the idea remained the same. It is often said that the books we read shape how we think. We often believe that to be the case because we relate to the stories, in some form or another. In a similar manner, the characters we face in the new media of computer games have an effect that changes our perspective.
I remember, before I started playing Guild Wars 2 or League of Legends or the innumerable games I’ve cycled through over the years, I was an extremely shy boy. It was probably a case of low self-image, but I overcame that obstacle through gaming. In gaming, I wasn’t myself; I was someone stronger, both mentally and physically, capable of the most outstanding feats. My actual persona was anonymous, and through this knowledge, I was able to break out of my shell and open up to the vast expanses of the online world. The idea of Haddow had become something greater than just a character I had concocted in my head. This idea, that I was stronger than what I gave myself credit for, was my salvation, during all those years of self-doubt, and anguish.
We shape our characters, and in turn our characters shape us. In the end, all we are, are stories.
Work Cited:
ArenaNet. “GuildWars2.com.” Guild Wars 2. NCsoft, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. <http://www.guildwars2.com/en/>.
Bissell, Tom. “Video Games: The Addiction.” The Observer. Guardian News and Media, 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2010/mar/21/tom-bissell-video-game-cocaine-addiction>.