Growing up I always wanted to be the hero, the one to save the day, the one who risked everything to make things better for everyone. The first time I remember longing for that feeling was watching Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and the Spider-Man cartoon from the 70s.
That desire to be the hero is why I dove head-first into tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, Star Frontiers, and Robotech. Wanting to be the hero led me to reading The Lord of the Rings and the Dragonlance Chronicles as a teenager. I wanted so bad to be Aragorn, Sturm Brightblade, Luke Skywalker, or Spider-Man.
Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to wait long to get my shot at being the hero.
The Legend of Zelda was the first video game that let me be the hero, let me explore a world that was mine to explore. I fell in love with The Legend of Zelda from day one, when I cracked the seal on the gold box and plugged the game cartridge into my Nintendo Entertainment System.
Not long after Zelda came Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior, Ultima Exodus, and the Phantasy Star series. I was hooked by open world games, and there was no turning back. Through the years I’ve played dozens of open world games, logged thousands of hours playing the role of hero (or heel), in RPGs or Action Games.
Open world games let me be the person I’m not able to be in real life – charismatic, good (or bad), strong, and able to make an impact on the world I’m exploring. For me, I’m all about the interactions with NPCs, slaying the monsters, and collecting that sweet, SWEET LOOT!
I can pursue the quests in any order I choose, meet out justice, or rise to tyranny as I wish, rule with compassion or an iron fist, and above all, be seen by the NPCs in the world, recognized for my achievements or my infamy.
Games like Skyrim, Fallout, and Starfield create the setting where my decisions matter, where I matter. Where my help is not only wanted, but needed. I can act on these worlds and in these stories in a way I am not able to behave in my real life.
I don’t care that I’m “playing pretend”, this is my therapy, my solace from a reality that doesn’t make sense. In these glorious, digital confines, evil meets justice, kindness matters, and love, even pretend love, can conquer the mightiest foe.
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