Breath of the Wild taught me to appreciate impermanence.I was beginning to lose gas on gaming; nothing felt fun anymore and everything felt like a checklist of chores. I'm a huge Zelda fan so I finally decided if I was going to exit my lifelong passion, I'd wait for the new BotW game. I played it and fell in love with it...but quickly began to fall back out.It was the weapons systems. Every weapon kept breaking, every treasure was useless breakable weapons. I wanted to love the game but I kept blaming the designs for this and that. Then I went to Eventide island where the game stripped away all my items and forced me to engage with the mechanics it was always trying to steer towards: experimentation, resource management, ingenuity, observation.When I got back to the mainland, I remember having a bit of an epiphany. I threw out every single weapon I had into the ocean. And suddenly, the game opened up beautifully. It felt like the beginning...but everywhere. All of Hyrule was the great plateau. The magic was back. And so I made it my new way of playing; every time I loaded the game up, I'd empty my inventory out; start fresh. Ended up being the best gaming experience of my life and taught me to love games again. I work in the industry now.But what it taught me was to stop appreciating things that last over things that don't. And also not to over-optimize everything; just enjoy the experience for what you want it to be. I was a huge hoarder and completionist in games, and it made every game a list of chores and optimized all the fun out. I realized I wasn't enjoying the game, I was trying to outsmart the game. Once I let all that go, all of gaming became so much more enjoyable to me. Now I use up items when I want, I throw away shit I don't need, I don't examine every nook and cranny or talk to every NPC unless I find it interesting to. And the game ends when I put the controller down, not when I hit the end credits, or some arbitrary completion rate tells me. I don't have to FULLY complete the game to objectively appreciate it; I can appreciate it subjectively every step of the way.And I translated that to my life. My perfectionism and hoarding tendencies (and saving the best stuff for when I REALLY need it) was crippling so much of my happiness, I realized. Now I just take things as they go, appreciate things BECAUSE they don't last. I let go of things a lot more, whether it's bad memories or bad relationships. I don't hoard and stock and pile up my life, I feel like I kind of just sail through it now; the less weight I carry with me, the faster I go. I don't place value on things, I place value on my experience with things, and I let those experiences go so I can have new experiences.I know this isn't exactly the answer you're looking for but it's always my go-to answer for these kinds of questions. It goes a lot deeper too (beginning to realize that there is no inherent value in anything but what value we put in...so it doesn't matter if your passion is gaming or traveling or meeting people or collecting stamps or washing spoons; it's not the act but the passion that makes life-fulfilling)......but I digress :)
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I can't agree with you more. I recently realized this while replaying The Witcher 3. Once you're loaded down with gold and food and all that, the game world itself becomes trivial. Everything is a Point A to a Point B.So I turned the HUD off, rode Roach at a slow trot, walked instead of ran, started eating food regularly, spent my money as soon as I got it, and sold or broke down equipment I wasn't currently using.It made everything matter more. Suddenly going to an inn or market to stock up on food became a necessity. Job boards became a source of much needed income instead of a checklist to be often ignored.Witchers are portrayed as broke travelling tradespeople, so I made myself one.Best gaming decision I ever made
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Breath of the Wild taught me to appreciate impermanence.I was beginning to lose gas on gaming; nothing felt fun anymore and everything felt like a checklist of chores. I'm a huge Zelda fan so I finally decided if I was going to exit my lifelong passion, I'd wait for the new BotW game. I played it and fell in love with it...but quickly began to fall back out.It was the weapons systems. Every weapon kept breaking, every treasure was useless breakable weapons. I wanted to love the game but I kept blaming the designs for this and that. Then I went to Eventide island where the game stripped away all my items and forced me to engage with the mechanics it was always trying to steer towards: experimentation, resource management, ingenuity, observation.When I got back to the mainland, I remember having a bit of an epiphany. I threw out every single weapon I had into the ocean. And suddenly, the game opened up beautifully. It felt like the beginning...but everywhere. All of Hyrule was the great plateau. The magic was back. And so I made it my new way of playing; every time I loaded the game up, I'd empty my inventory out; start fresh. Ended up being the best gaming experience of my life and taught me to love games again. I work in the industry now.But what it taught me was to stop appreciating things that last over things that don't. And also not to over-optimize everything; just enjoy the experience for what you want it to be. I was a huge hoarder and completionist in games, and it made every game a list of chores and optimized all the fun out. I realized I wasn't enjoying the game, I was trying to outsmart the game. Once I let all that go, all of gaming became so much more enjoyable to me. Now I use up items when I want, I throw away shit I don't need, I don't examine every nook and cranny or talk to every NPC unless I find it interesting to. And the game ends when I put the controller down, not when I hit the end credits, or some arbitrary completion rate tells me. I don't have to FULLY complete the game to objectively appreciate it; I can appreciate it subjectively every step of the way.And I translated that to my life. My perfectionism and hoarding tendencies (and saving the best stuff for when I REALLY need it) was crippling so much of my happiness, I realized. Now I just take things as they go, appreciate things BECAUSE they don't last. I let go of things a lot more, whether it's bad memories or bad relationships. I don't hoard and stock and pile up my life, I feel like I kind of just sail through it now; the less weight I carry with me, the faster I go. I don't place value on things, I place value on my experience with things, and I let those experiences go so I can have new experiences.I know this isn't exactly the answer you're looking for but it's always my go-to answer for these kinds of questions. It goes a lot deeper too (beginning to realize that there is no inherent value in anything but what value we put in...so it doesn't matter if your passion is gaming or traveling or meeting people or collecting stamps or washing spoons; it's not the act but the passion that makes life-fulfilling)......but I digress :)
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I can't agree with you more. I recently realized this while replaying The Witcher 3. Once you're loaded down with gold and food and all that, the game world itself becomes trivial. Everything is a Point A to a Point B.So I turned the HUD off, rode Roach at a slow trot, walked instead of ran, started eating food regularly, spent my money as soon as I got it, and sold or broke down equipment I wasn't currently using.It made everything matter more. Suddenly going to an inn or market to stock up on food became a necessity. Job boards became a source of much needed income instead of a checklist to be often ignored.Witchers are portrayed as broke travelling tradespeople, so I made myself one.Best gaming decision I ever made
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