Escapism. Is this you?

Off-topic
#26

I can’t say that escapism is my motivation in gaming. Rather, I enjoy exploring a new world, learning its culture, lore, customs, and humors; also, having an opportunity to meet and make friends of people I would otherwise never know existed. It’s one of the reasons I have traditionally preferred MMO games to all other genres.

It is also worth calling out that games (MMOs especially) are beginning to play a larger role in things from education to economics, psychology, medicine, military, and training.

So no, actually, I think it would be rather inaccurate to say gamers are always escapists. Though I suppose it is a handy stereotype. Reality is, humans have a true need for play as part of their well-being. Games are just one of many outlets that provide it.

#27

I’ll let you debate that.

#28

The way you talk about staring some hours at a screen and playing a game with a fictional storyline, let me suspect your statement on escapism. :wink:

Escapism was formaly known as a “sikness for women” at the end of the 19th cent. who red to much novels…
In my opinion enjoying a good movie, reading a good book, is also a form of escapism, too.
If this game will be so good and immersive, that I can forget everything around me for a while, than I will be happy.

I like escapism as long as it will not become an unhealthy addiction.

#29

Oh, good! Since you understand that escapism is a word that holds intent in its context and, you obviously are inside my head and know precisely what that is, I can just let you post for me and save myself the time!

cough

Let’s just say that your doubt is yours to tote, I’m perfectly content with knowing my own intentions and motivations… And that escapism is not on the list.

#30

You are welcome! I am always the first to assist everybody who isn’t in need :wink:

#32

“Since you understand that escapism is a word that holds intent in its context…”

I doubt you can even start a role-playing game without escapism as an intent, unless you’re maybe a game designer who wants to study its mechanics.

#33

we cant really discuss the topic if we dont know what escapism really is…
is it good? is it bad? where to “escape” from? what is playing? what is life?!

As long as we have fun playing and do not disregard our dutys

#34

OK, I think this could be misunderstood. It is not ment as discrimination of women, but ment as an example to show how silly, oldfashioned and outdated this term CAN be. If you look close, you will see that I try to say the same like you.
Most forms of escapism are totally accepted nowerdays. I Don’t think “Hollywood” would be such a big player without escapism, cause every fictional movie is an escape from reality for an amount of time.

#35

In Germany we have a famous quote from Paracelsus: "The dose makes the poison."
I think it is the same here… If something is done too much, it turns into something bad.

This are my wise words for the weekend… good bye :wink:

1 Like
#37

Ok, at this point I abadon this and surrender… have a nice weekend. :wink:

#38

Sir, I’ve never said that I’m for escapism. I mostly play computer games for their story and/or challenge (depending on the genre), but I try to identify with the player character as little as possible (though, I admit, I’m not immune to that effect). I’m mostly “reading” RPGs like an “interactive novel” – because it’s all theoretical/hypothetical in video games.

"The medium is the message." –Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
#39

Thus, for example, even in a forum you can role-play.

I’m el ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha. :slight_smile:

#40

Given that there is a dirth of role play in any game these days, not sure that is a valid argument. As to the original point, if one’s intent is to play it cannot be “escapism”; rather, it’s one activity on a (generally) larger list of hobby and enjoyments.

It’s only escapism when used to forget, get away from, or otherwise distract/avoid one’s day to day reality. So even role play is not, necessarily, escapism.

#41

It’s about a specific context that is implied by the comic at the beginning of this topic.

#42

“Given that there is a dirth of role play in any game these days…”

Maybe I’m just lying to myself.

"Above all, avoid falsehood, every kind of falsehood, especially falseness to yourself. Watch over your own deceitfulness and look into it every hour, every minute. Avoid being scornful, both to others and to yourself. What seems to you bad within you will grow purer from the very fact of your observing it in yourself. Avoid fear, too, though fear is only the consequence of every sort of falsehood. Never be frightened at your own faint-heartedness in attaining love. Don't be frightened overmuch even at your evil actions. I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you, for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will even give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labour and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science."

From 'The Brothers Karamazov' (1878–1880) by Fyodor M. Dostoevsky (1821–1881). Part I, Book II, Chapter 4. Translated by Constance Garnett.
#43

“Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?”

J.R.R. Tolkien

Is it worth to seperate escapism from the profane wish to realize dreams you can’t realize in reality? Is escapism and the virtual satisfaction of wishes the same thing or is escapism only the extreme form of it, the absolute loss of the own identity in the virtual world?

1 Like
#44

Hrm… maybe you are. Difficult to say from here.

'Tis curious that we only believe as deeply as we live. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Or perhaps…

A man generally has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one. ~J. Pierpoint Morgan

#45

I hated that song… namely because it got stuck in my head.

#46

“I thought I found a way to enter
It’s just a Reflektor (It’s just a Reflektor)
I thought I found the connector
It’s just a Reflektor (It’s just a Reflektor)”

Arcade Fire - “Reflektor” (2013) - YouTube

#48

That quote is meaningless without the context of Tolkien’s worldview.

"Tolkien maintained a very high view of fantasy. He believed that ‘escape,’ rightly understood, was one of its highest objectives—not as a meaningless escape from reality but as a unique entrance into reality.

“We live in a materialistic age which denies the reality of heaven and hell, of sin and moral responsibility. Lewis and Tolkien were highly successful in capturing and describing those lost realities in fiction. Both writers described life as a cosmic battle between good and evil, in which the smallest character has a critical part to play, with enduring and perhaps eternal consequences. Both writers believed that fiction should not be a meaningless escape from reality. They wrote the kind of books in which the reader identifies with the moral and spiritual struggles of the characters. The heroic decisions of humble, lovable characters, encourage us in our own struggles in our own world.” (source)

As to your questions… I find them confusing. :confused: Perhaps what you were trying to ask is whether escapism/daydreaming is the same as self-deception? Or whether escapism through the playing of video games can lead to self-deception?

I think that the username which I have chosen for this forum says a lot about my stance on this. :slight_smile:

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