What do you think of...

[Dakêsîntrah]

Playing other non-Tolkienesque medieval fantasy online computer games?

I have had my fair share of experience over the last few years, but as I have become older, a lot of that interest has faded. I find myself reading, writing and drawing more - because I find more of a satisfaction. There's that feel of getting something of a higher quality done instead of sitting on your bum and staring at a computer screen for hours, click, click, click.

No offense to those 'oldies' who still like to play! But the interest is fading, as it comes and goes. When I come back to those online games I find again those 'friends' who I had met months or even years earlier, still caught in that endless cycle of gaming addiction.

I find I have regressed in 'skill level' compared to their characters, meaning I am supposed to feel bad for taking a break while they should be applauded for 'not wasting any time' being lazy with their character!

I refuse to feel bad about myself!

Sorry about that off-topic rant, but perhaps some of you folks might have some comments or relatable experience?

Perhaps give some sound advice on the adverse effects of modern gamers?

I know Tolkien would never like this kind of stuff, and would prefer it much more intelligent and satisfactory and mature to write your own fiction or doing some drawings - since I know the medieval fantasy genres are inescapable for the geeks in all of us!

I just have a life to live without people trying to suck me back into gaming addiction!

Best Regards!

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I think it is more or less like you said - such things come and fade. It was similar with me, I have played my fair share of games (different ones, not necessarily just fantasy and medieval), but gradually I came to that I am more of a "subcreator", as Tolkien puts it. And in his overall philosophy "every human is essentially a (sub)creator" - as expressed in his essay "On Fairy-Stories" or in "Leaf by Niggle", and less explicitely, I believe, everywhere throughout his works (e.g. Silmarillion - of Aulë and the Dwarves etc.) - he is right, at least in my case (and in the case of like-minded people who are writers and artists, including various object-makers like woodcarvers and the more technician-types; even computer programmers, I believe); but I think actually everyone would affirm that the creative potential and the wish to create something is inside all of us. So, if that is a general human trait, it is only logical that eventually you will desire to actually create something instead of sitting and "receiving".

Of course, with the games, even when I used to play them more often I did my own creative things during my free time, writing, planning tabletop RPGs etc. Actually, now thinking of it, even with the PC games, I liked it the most when the game had a map editor of its own or something like that. In the beginning it was actually the most important thing for me there, and I never quite left that point of view either. Only when some games were too difficult/impossible to edit, I have abandoned that thought.

That said, I still like to play every now and then. But it is in rather specific instances. Games are good for relaxation, and the advantage of those computer ones is that they are relatively complex and you can play them basically anytime whenever you don't have anybody around to spend time with. I think that's the point - otherwise, you can of course as easily play something with your friends real-life. The online games don't satisfy me much more than the "single" ones, because even if you are playing that with your friends, they usually are just another bunch of pixels over there. When we tried to make some online session with my friends, it was usually for the fun of it, i.e. we did it because we wanted to play a particular computer game online with each other there. When we wanted to just play something together, we had our long-time-existing tabletop RPGs, which give you far more freedom to create and develop your character than just a predefined skill tree, equipment and a few basic gestures do - we could effectively make our characters the way we wanted, to the very last detail in their personality.