There are countless reasons as to why we play video games. For some of us, video games are a means to connect with others–a way through which we can participate in a community, or carve out time specifically reserved for nurturing our friendships. Some use games as means of escaping reality, while others appreciate the hobby’s competitive, skill-based nature. However, far too few of us are using games for one of their most compelling purposes: to experience suffering.<\/p>\n
Much like Black Tabby Games co-founder Tony Arias-Howard, whom I interviewed about this very topic, “I’m only half-kidding” when I say this. I recognize that, for many of us, times are hard and the very notion of playing something to suffer sounds unappealing, to say the least. And yet, as I recollect on all my favorite games and stories, it’s the ones that challenged me emotionally–that led me through hell and towards catharsis–that occupy the largest recesses of my mind.<\/p>\n
Through games, film, and various other forms of art, we are offered a relatively risk-free space to suffer–to delve deep in our feelings and reflect on loss, trauma, and perhaps even the parts of ourselves we’d rather turn away from. So why do we–and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are countless reasons as to why we play video games. For some of us, video games are a means to connect with others–a way through which we can participate in a community, or carve out time specifically reserved for nurturing our friendships. Some use games as means of escaping reality, while others appreciate the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":76956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-external","brand-gamespot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76957,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76954\/revisions\/76957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}