While I’m planted in Williamsburg for work and don’t have much to update, on slow days like these I’m going to post various sources that inspired me to undertake this walk and how said sources influenced me.

Today’s source is the song World is Saved, produced by “a collaborative effort from IGN’s Podcast Beyond community”.

Not that I think I’m unique in this, but the song speaks to me on a very personal level. From my own sleepless nights gaming to my struggling to reconcile that I have to return to the real world, I’ve drawn an important lesson from it.
Setting aside the obvious “journey is more important than the destination” point, though that one is important in it’s own right, the draw of gaming is well conveyed. There is a slew of serious problems ahead, and only you can solve them. How often to we get to be the hero? How often is life so simple as, “that thing is gonna end the world, and here’s how you stop it?

Clearly things are not so easy in real life where you can do everything right and still fail. Having an outlet to fufill one’s desire for simplicity is enticing indeed. Games do this so effectively, that they were my sole outlet for satisfying that want for too long. Just like almost anything else, too much gaming can be very problematic even if games are good on their own.

The most important thing I get from the song is this: you know you’re making progress when things only get more difficult. You’re becoming more proficient in (skill required to win game), but your hurdles are growing as well. With enough drive and passion, there is nothing that can stop you.

This isn’t to say some “you can become anything you want as long as you put your heart in it” though, because that’s an outright lie. It may be true in games, where victory conditions have to be obtainable otherwise your game is severely lacking, but not so much in life. So in a universe that can easily deny you realities you wish to come true, it is just as important to be as realistic as you are passionate.

It would seem to me, however, that all that chaotic element changes is the additional victory condition of learning to appreciate your circumstances. Never stop trying, and don’t let defeat steal your

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