What are you doing?

I want you to do something.

The next time you're playing a game, especially if you're playing online, i want you to ask yourself something.

What am I doing?

What's your answer?

No this is not meant to make you realize you should be doing something else besides playing video games, that would be a 'why' question.

Keep on playing.

But what are you doing?

I'm sure a good number of you might answer something like this:

"I'm getting XP." 


"I'm leveling up." 


"I'm pwning people." 


"I'm showing these people my sick skills." 


"I'm playing a game online. Duh." 

Not that there's anything wrong with those things, but what if there was a different way to answer that question?

When we play online we lose a lot of the immersion in the game world that we feel when we play single player, or campaign modes in games. When we're playing online it becomes less about what's happening in the game world, less about the characters (the players), and their potential motivations, and more about racking up high score, gathering as much XP and points as possible, and climbing the leaderboards.

Here's a better way to answer the question of "What am I doing?" while playing games:


"I'm engaged in combat against the Russian army fighting for my life and my country." 


"I'm a U.S. Marshall roaming the West looking for criminal scum to bring to justice." 


"I'm holding off zombies with my friends in a desperate attempt at survival."

Which type of answer sounds more exciting? More immersive?

The other day I joined a match of Undead Overrun in Red Dead Redemption. The character I was playing as was one of the U.S. Marshall characters. The other 3 players in the lobby were John Marston, Jack Marston, and a crusty miner, Seth.

I didn't start thinking about how much XP I was going to get, what level everyone was at, or if they were noobs or not, but rather I came up with a scenario for what was about to happen.


A U.S. Marshal teaming up with a renegade father and son duo and a dirty miner who has never cared about another person in his life must band together. This unlikely team must cooperate out of necessity in order to survive in the face of the zombie Apocalypse.

Does that sound more exciting, more fun, more immersive, that just looking at it in terms of XP, online play, and winning?


If not, then carry on as you were. You can stop reading now and go back to playing CoD or whatever.


If it sounds more fun than what you're used to  then you now have an exciting new way to get involved with your games and stimulate your imagination and creativity.


This is just what I do naturally when I get into a multiplayer game. I love to come up with tiny storylines to make sense of what's going on. I like to get into the character I'm controlling like I talked about in the post Every Game is an RPG.

You should be able to get as much excitement, fun, and happiness out of every day as you possibly can. Video games give you such great opportunities to get these things.

Don't miss out on the chances to enhance your play with your own imagination.

Enjoy your game.

Enjoy your life.

Don't get eaten.

Get lost in a Game

The joy of playing alone.

In my last post I spoke about the importance of sitting down with a friend and playing a game together. Today I'm going to write about why it can be a great experience just to sit down and play a game by yourself.

Before you accuse me of just promoting the opposite of what I talked about in my last post, let me clarify that this will be about single player games. Playing multiplayer games alone is never as fun or fulfilling than it is playing with someone you know.

Personally, I really enjoy a game that has a great single player experience; one that really pulls me into the world. My favorite games that do this include Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, and others.

Which games have you played that have really pulled you into the world?

I think that when you find a game that does this, it really changes the way you experience a game.

Reading is wonderful. A good book will pull you into it; keep you interested and intrigued.

A good game will do the same, but even more.

For if you were reading a book about someone experiencing an adventure, you're just a passive observer, watching the events unfold from beyond the page. 

A game can be so much more captivating because rather than observing the main character do amazing things, you ARE that character. You are the one making the decisions, moving the action forward. Once you let yourself become the character in the game, your experience will change. It will get even deeper. 

You need to go deeper. 

Play a game within a game within a game. Ha sorry, got distracted. 

Anyway, moving on...

It’s much more fun and rewarding to run across an alien planet or a fantasy world or  renaissance Italy than it is to sit on your couch and use your thumbs to control a fictional character into doing the same thing. 

 All of us need to find times when we can disconnect from the world and just relax and get taken away. Whether that means just napping, going for a walk, getting lost in a good book, or in this case, getting sucked into a good single player experience.

One way to help with this is to find a time where you likely won't be bothered by anyone. Turn off your phone or silence it if you need to. Also if you need to, disable any notifications that might distract you.

Now you can start your game and give it all of your focus.

If you can do this you will get the most out of the game.

Don't forget about reality though. Its nice. Set a timer, or give yourself a certain amount of time that you want to be disconnected. After that time is up, check for messages or anything important.

If you don't set a certain amount of time for yourself you could get sucked into the game forever! And then I would have to explain to your loved ones how I'm responsible for that... 

Reality can be wonderful, but sometimes we all just need to escape into a game and save the galaxy, dawn the robes of an assassin, or strap on our gunbelts.

Whatever it may be:

Enjoy your game.

Enjoy your life.