On Games, Escapism

By Jordan Kronick

There’s a lot of talk about escapism bandied about in these times. The commercials we see on television, the movies we go to see and the books we read are all a part of this. Escapism is a reflex developed by humans as soon as we had leisure time. It traces it’s roots back to the storyteller. This is also the root of the game. From the first story that was told, there has always been a need to tell a better story. Friendly competition in an exercise which has no fundamental value. Telling stories is very good for one’s mental health, but it has little value aside from that. Those first hunter-gatherers did not consider isolation and mental health when they decided to talk about the things they saw in the stars at night. It was a natural reflex to improve the quality of life.

Games developed along the same path as the stories. As soon as people realized they enjoyed being better at something than someone else, they came up with new trials to determine who was best at what. The rewards were purely respect at first. However, things such as names and material prizes were soon to follow. Physical contests were undoubtedly the first such trials. Once they had been proven to be fun and worthwhile activities, the concept of the game traveled to other pursuits. People created the predecessors to games like horseshoes. They eventually would remove all physical challenge from it and make games of chance, intuitive skill and intellect. Once they began using their intellect to test one another, the first steps had been taken to evolution into a grand species of gamers.

Once again the concept of mental health needs to be taken into account here. Fun is fun, as they say. People have always had free time. Even when one lives only to survive, there are times when you have all you need. When it’s time to sit around the campfire and enjoy the spoils. So once you’ve been sated, what is left? Enjoyment. Why is that, though? If you’ve caught all the food you need for the day, why not go out early and catch the food of tomorrow? Simply put because it is a dull existence. This is where escapism comes in. Surely to most people of today, the idea of spending every day hunting for food, cooking it, and then sleeping seems very repetitious and dull. Well it was so, even for those who lived it. You dream of a life where the food comes to you. You dream of what lay beyond the stars. You muse about such things and are contented. It is self-indulgence and it is the origin of fun and games. We all live such a life today. The hunting has been replaced by work. No matter the job you do, you like to get off of work and take a break. Perhaps you sit and watch TV. Maybe you read a book. I play games. We dream and we escape. When you are indulging in such a way, you are not forced to think about the repetition of every day life. You escape. You think about those amusing people in the coffee shop on TV. Or you think about the adventures of your favorite hero. Or you think about far away places which you may never get to visit, but which are bright in your mind. Or you challenge yourself to solve problems with your mind. All these things are beneficial to your mental health, and all of them are forms of escapism. Self-indulgence for the sake of one’s psyche. We need this, as a species.

In cannot be overstated that the desire to win is a great piece to this puzzle. It is an enjoyable thing to work on a crossword puzzle. It is even better to finish it. This is the icing on the cake, so to speak. Winning makes us happy, and rightly so. I think at this point I should draw the very important line between games which you can win, and those you cannot. There is a very different set of rewards for each, mentally. Games you can win, such as football, chess or Monopoly instill within us a drive to win. When you are playing chess, winning is the ultimate goal. Much strategy and forward thinking is required to do so, and it is the culmination of these efforts to declare checkmate. Every time you move a piece, you do so in an effort to win. This thought remains in your mind, consciously or otherwise, throughout the game. This means two things. Firstly, when you win, you are very happy. You think about all the things that caused you to win and you are pleased that you were able to rise to the challenge of doing so. Secondly, when you lose, you are not happy. You think about having spent every move of the game in an attempt to do something which you failed at. This can be very disheartening, and it can become extremely distressing if it is a continuing trend. Games which you can win are very much a two bladed sword. The benefit of winning, that grand feeling of having completed something, is very good for you. It is the ultimate escape. Dreams come true, you might say. You escaped during the game and thought about winning. You thought about what it would look like to tip over the opposing king and how good that would feel. Then you are rewarded for your work, and your dreams are manifest. It’s the best feeling there is. However if you lose, you think about your escape. You think about the dream you had during the game. You think about how great it would feel to win, and you are denied that feeling. Your dream comes crashing down, to some extent. Your subconscious asks “perhaps the dream was flawed”?. This invites a self-examination process, tainted by the feeling of loss. This can be devastating if it continues. To a certain degree I’ll say that the handshake after any good game is one of the most important aspects of the game. It is a reminder to the loser that the game was well played. It says without saying that your dream was not flawed. You did not lose because you cannot win, you simply lost. The safety net of any good game. This is great struggle of games you can win.

Then there are games you cannot win. These are much rarer. These include games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Tetris or simply playing catch. In many ways, these are the best games. There is no grand feeling of triumph at the end because although the game may come to a close, it is not truly over. However it is a test of skill which can be measured very simply in all cases. In D&D you have your character level. You can see how far you have come, and what you have done on the way. In Tetris you have a score. You can see how well you did, that time. In catch you can count how many times you caught the ball, and how many missed. These type of games provide the ups and downs of a game you can win, but they are constant. They don’t simply happen when the winner is decided. This constant feeling is muted however. Each triumph is not as grand as it would be to win a game of chess, perhaps. However it is healthy nonetheless. In games you cannot win, the dream is different. While you are playing you think not of being triumphant over another player. You think of how well you can do. In many ways it is the measurability of games you cannot win that is it’s best feature. When the game is finished, you can look at your dream. You can decide how well you did compared to that dream. And if you have exceeded the dream, then that feeling is superior even to winning a game. Think about it. If you win a game of chess, then that is what you set out to do. You have matched your goal to the letter. It is a great feeling. If you are playing Tetris and are shooting for 100,000 points, and you score 150,000, then you have exceeded your goal. Doing something right and doing something better. That of course is the basis for all games. To do something better. That is skill.

Now that we’ve divided games, and we have looked into the history of them, let us see what games are doing for us today. As I mentioned at the first, escapism is very abundant and important today. We live in uncertain times. For we Americans, the threat of war hangs over us daily. We must worry about terrorism, the economy, world politics, our loved ones, self-improvement and of course work. This is a great burden for anyone. All people seek escape from this reality and it is vitally important that we do so. This is why we have computer solitaire. This is why you can change the channel from CNN to the Cartoon Network. This is why we have round-the-clock sports coverage. To a great degree we Americans define our lives with worry. Our forms of escape most often take the form of shifting that worry. When you are playing computer solitaire you are not worrying about work, you are worrying about what’s under that spade. When you are watching cartoons, you are not worrying about international terrorism, you are worrying about whether Dexter is going to get out of this sticky situation that DeeDee has caused. We forget about the threats to our happiness and we worry about someone else. When you are playing a game, that is what you are worried about. The outcome of the game is paramount. This is a beautiful thing and it is the essence of escapism.

There is, of course, a dark side to this. For many people, worrying about the game has become their sole worry. Compulsive gamblers worry about whether the next throw of the dice is going to ruin them or fulfill all their monetary dreams. When the games reach this point it is very difficult to escape from the escape. I’m sure many gamblers wish that they could worry about world politics, but unfortunately they have no time to do so. Every moment must be given over to the game, for their own survival is at stake. Who is to blame for this sad state of affairs? There are many opportunists out there selling games. There are many people who recognize this human addiction. They seek to get everything they can out of a player. This terrible practice is most prevalent in gambling situations, but it certainly does not stop there. Online gaming can be very expensive and addicting. It can make you lose sight of all else in your life just to focus on the game. Sports can be this way as well. It’s often occurred to me that basketball is this way. Basketball is sold to the youth of America, most specifically the African-American youth, as the ultimate pursuit. I’m sure everyone remembers someone in high school who gave everything into sports. This person probably did badly at school but was very good at their chosen sport. They have sacrificed the most important thing of all, their future. Kids give up on school in the hopes of one day being a professional athlete. This is probably not going to happen. It may take their whole lives before they realize that this pursuit of excellence in a game cost them excellence in any other field. This is worse than casinos taking your money, in my opinion.

So what can be done about this? Well from where I’m standing there’s not a whole lot to do. It’s beyond anyone’s power to convince all of the compulsive gamblers, online game addicts or sports frenzied youth of America that “it’s just a game”. Indeed, this very paper will do just the opposite I fear. All the talk of games and escapism being important. All of the talk of the joy of winning and competing. This is only going to make people fall further down the hole, I fear. You cannot turn the tide, but you can help yourself and others stand strong against it. We must each remember that it is just a game. That you cannot escape forever. More to the point, you should not escape forever. We are sold as much entertainment as we want. There is no limit to the amount of escape that the world can give you, so you must be your own spotter. Only you can tell yourself that you’ve had too much fun.