RTOD 08JAN2010 – Art Vs. Video Games (And a few other things)
You know, it’s been a few … Hmm… Okay, months, since I’ve actually posted a Random Thought of the Day. I’ve been soooo busy with everything that I just let it go. I know, not cool. I’m sorry to you all. (The two of you who cared to read) It’s not that I stopped caring, but when you find yourself always busy, you wind up running out of things to write, or, just can’t seem to complete the thought. Or, you find new avenues of stealing what little time you have in your life. That includes World of WarCraft (which I’ll touch base on another time) and writing and drawing. That’s a lot to go over.
Speaking of writing, four of my five chapters have received either minor face-lifts or some wording changes. I have to thank a new make-shift editor, Jeremy, who will be known as TheRev, for helping me out in seeing a few things that really needed to be fixed. I had already received some assistance in that realm from friends and family, which is greatly appreciated. He just went above-and-beyond and did some editorial work for me, and I’ve made some corrections and adjustments based on what he saw. So, Thanks, Rev!
Now, on to the actual thought.
Like I said, I’ve found a few new games to mess with. Evony, World of WarCraft, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. How can I dedicate a few hours to being with my Kikat, drawing, writing, working, sleeping, doing chores, eating, etc, and fit it all into twenty-four hours in a day?! I can’t!
Which presents what my thought is…
I’ve found that I can write and draw more freely when I’m alone and in a relatively well-lit environment. That can be just about anywhere. And, for some reason, listening to Owl City helps. I dunno why, but it just does. But, this same kind of environment also is perfect for my games. And I tell myself, I will only play for a few minutes, I’ll just do as I need, and then, that’s it. And then it turns into a half-hour. Which then becomes an hour. Then two… I don’t think I need to elaborate further. So, I lose another several hours of perfectly good work/art/writing time to it.
Being a gamer as it is, I’m used to it. But, the other day, when I realized that I had done it yet again, I began to wonder just how many talented artists, musicians, writers, etc, lose their drive to do their work, or never develop the interest to grow their natural talents BECAUSE of video games.
Let’s be honest here, video games can easily absorb a person into them, especially these newer, more immersive games on the market. And with the games being given to children at younger ages, such as the V-Smile, which I bought for my daughter, and is aimed at kids ages 3 and up, and now there are game systems for even YOUNGER!, it’s not hard to believe that these children, which may or may not have ever been given a crayon or pencil to draw with at their ages, might never discover a serious interest in drawing. Or writing. I would lump music into that, but games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are slowly introducing people into those arts, whether or not they’re really that good. But practice can make people better there.
There will be those who discover that their talents are there eventually, but that could take years. And then, it’s even longer as they learn to develop that talent into a usable form. Sure, there are the prodigies, those who just seem to have that ability regardless, but they are few and far between.
Way back when, I drew my first drawings. Nothing great, I drew what amounts to a stick figure horse and its colt on a plains. But, I had a blast drawing it! It didn’t matter to me that it wasn’t some great work of art, but I managed to complete it. And it really wasn’t terrible considering I was about seven or eight, and drew it on the back of a large sheet of paper with crayon. But then I compared it to some works of people with years of training. I got discouraged, and went on to play, you guessed it, video games!
When I was in fourth grade, I wrote what amounts to the middle of a short story. It was a chapter, more or less. But, I got an A on it, and my teacher said that they really hoped that I would keep working on it. So, what did I do? I went home and started playing video games.
Fifth grade. I drew a three-dimensional space station, complete with the NCC-1701-D USS Enterprise docking. I got an A- on it. The teacher said I should do more of them. Well, that didn’t happen. I played more games.
Tenth through twelfth grade. No more art classes, but I started to do random geometric drawings and mazes, as well as the occasional doodle. Most of my work was seen and enjoyed by those who saw it. But, instead of looking into it, I played more video games.
Twenty years old. At work, I was relieving my stress by drawing mini-sketches in ink. I drew a few rather impressive ones. Most of them directly relating to telemarketing and the stresses we got from people we were calling. My co-workers thought that they were great. I showed them to my, at the time, girlfriend, who decided they were horrid. Might have been a symptom of a different issue, but I hid in the video games.
Now, I’ve been doing the Random Thought of the Day on and off for about 2 years now. I’ve been doing random writings and drawings during those few years, and even started a novel I plan to complete, and am almost willing to make a bet about it, but those games keep coming and being a distraction! Hell, as I write this, I’ve got one running!
Now, who wants to think that I’m an isolated incident? Any takers?
I didn’t think so.
It’s really a shame. How much raw talent is available to be used, and lost behind video games.
On the other hand, many of the talents that I fear are being lost to video games also take part in those same games. Artists, designers, writers, musicians, all of them. And, really, there are a lot of things that I can’t factor in, like personal situations, romantic distraction, self-doubt. Then, there’s the intimidation of looking at your work, then comparing it to the people who are already well-established, and, well…
Okay, so it’s not just the video games, but you have to wonder. How much of it is the games giving a separate outlet for entertainment, stress, and, in some cases, creativity? Why be creative for yourself, someone else already has, right?
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