Your Favorite Game Matters

Why this exists and what to expect

1.

Do we really need another place to read about video games? Aren’t there enough people out there waxing poetic about their backlog? Least of all — another white, male Nintendo-loving 90s kid who still unironically loves Pokémon? Isn’t that just what pops up when you google ‘YouTuber?’

First off, rude.

Second, fair.

I’ve been sitting on this idea for quite some time. I’m of two minds when it comes to content creation. On one hand, there is no denying that there is simply too much Internet. On the other hand, we’re in a drought of creative inspiration; addicted to doomscrolling and consumption. Am I adding to the problem, or am I solving my own?

These are two sides of the same vicious coin. By creating, I am finding space beyond my own doomscroll. But also, I am potentially adding to another’s scroll. How do we justify this cycle?

For this reason, this space is specifically mine.

It isn’t often I get to selfishly echo the words of a toddler, but that is what I am doing here. I’m sure I will care whether anyone reads this or not — that’s just human nature. But I am not going to strive to create for anyone else here. Like the vicious coin above, this too is a sort of paradox; I am striving for ego-death by, well, assuaging my ego.

This is not to say that this space is not welcoming to others, but just that the work I plan to create here is an outpouring of a very self-centered expression of art and exploration. You may find yourself relating to the work I make — and I love that — but the goal is to put pen to page, or e-ink to e-paper.

But enough about the why, let’s talk more about the what.

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2.

The results of this space are very simple, yet expansive.

I believe that video games are art.
And I believe that art matters.
And I believe that that makes gamers consumers of art.
And I believe that means that gamers need a space that affirms that their art matters; that they matter.

With that line of thought, I want to talk about how a game matters. Sometimes, that will need to be more like a game review. Other times it might be a kind of poem. Still others might be a screenshot, a doodle, or an inspired fan art.

The rules don’t matter here, the art does.

Indelibly connected to that sentiment is another that I bring to this space: because video games matter, so do you.

I can imagine you’d expect it to be the other way around: Because people matter, video games matter. Not untrue, but distinctly not what I’m arguing.

Art is the thing that evokes. It is the catalyst of catharsis. It is the verb of matter-ing.

We matter because of the way that art moves in our souls and our deeper beings. Art is an echo of the imbued trait of humanity that is creation. It speaks to a deeper part of our Self.

Because of the way that video games have mattered to you, that is a sort of proof that you, too, matter.

While to some this may read as a journey through semantics, I feel it to the core of my very being… art is that which reminds me of my own alive-ness. And video games are art. And that reminds me that I am here.

Ha — isn’t it funny that this was supposed to be the what of this thing?

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3.

So, then, what ought you expect from this place? Will all of these posts be long and rambling thinkpieces with heavy weight?

Well, some will be long.
Some will be rambling.
Some will be thinkpieces.
Some will be heavy.

Yet again — the rules don’t matter here. Video games do. And thus, you do. And I do. We’re here to explore art. And be as pretentious and cringy as we’d like to be along the way.

I mean, couldn’t we use a bit more cringe in our lives? Art is meant to embarrass. And challenge. And convict. And disturb. But it is also meant to delight. And affirm. And lift up. And comfort.

So, shouldn’t we at least try? Isn’t it worth attempting to find some truth in the art that we consume? Even if we fall on our faces, is it not better to have lost ourselves in the busy waters of good art?

If I may be so bold, I am less interested in your expectations for this space and more in what you expect of yourself in it.

Will you be open to the art that I share with you?
Will you explore video games that you play on your own time with art in mind?
Will you let yourself be challenged and delighted?
Will you engage in the comments or lurk in the shadows?
Will you share our discussions with others, or keep them to yourself?

I encourage you to set some expectations for yourself. Instead of mindlessly consuming, will you engage—on purpose—with the art before your eyes?

I wonder if you’re willing to give it a try.

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4.

That’s more than enough for today, I think.

I don’t believe I’ve solved the problem of the Internet in our short time together. I’m still the same rubber-stamped content creator that has cornered the Internet since 2006. I’m still wrestling with whether or not this thing needs to exist or not, whether it needs to be another thing to be consumed or not, whether it needs to be expressed from my brain or not.

But I’m here nonetheless.
And so are you.
Isn’t that a beautiful thing?

Whether we meet again in the next post or if this is our one and only time together, I hope that you’ll hear these words and believe them to be true until the next time we’re together:

Video games matter.
And so do you.