Playing the game, past the pain barrier

The Weekend Rant

It all started rather innocuously, two years ago. My roommate decided to switch jobs and cities, and as a result he was going to take his DVD player with him.

Being a movie buff, life without a DVD player would have been far less colourful. So I went to a department store to pick up a ‘reasonably priced’ player, not exceeding 3,000 bucks.

However, a couple of hours later, I had far exceeded my budget, and I wasn’t even unpacking a DVD player. It was something slimmer and shorter, with fancy wires and couple of really expensive discs (Rs2,500 each!). I had purchased a popular gaming console (it plays movie DVDs as well), without fully understanding the implications of my decision.

I was never a hardcore gamer up until then. Other than an occasional go at Super Mario Bros, I had hardly played a video game of any repute (unless one considers Solitaire a videogame). From the moment I connected those three wires to my TV, life hasn’t been the same.

The first bunch of game DVDs I bought consisted of Grand Theft Auto, World Rally Championship and Formula One. However, my early days of gaming were entirely spent playing FIFA. I used to literally freak out on football with my friends, seven days a week.

After a hectic day of working and travelling by local train, I was still fresh enough for an
AC Milan vs Real Madrid match.

My introduction to gaming couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. The gaming world was witnessing a revolution unlike any seen before. Spectacular, real-life graphics, powerful processors, next-generation gaming consoles, and a booming gaming industry meant that my obsession with gaming would only increase.

However, though I enjoyed the thrills and spills of scoring goals, getting involved in high-speed chases, shooting Nazis in Normandy, or battling demons on alien planets, a slow realisation dawned that my obsession was turning into an addiction.

I prided myself on not being a cigarette or an alcohol addict. However, gaming did what intoxicants couldn’t!

There was a time when I just had to play a game before calling it a day (I still get these gaming pangs). And the effects of my compulsive gaming disorder soon started manifesting themselves. My eyes were the worst-affected. After spending an entire day in front of the computer screen at work, it was brutal on my eyes to spend three hours watching the bright images on a bigger screen at home.

I often used to skip friends’ invitations to a get-together. “Coffee joint or GTA? GTA of course!” I have kind of sobered down over the past six months, though there are times when I succumb to the temptation of a marathon session at my console.

However, no matter what pain I have gone through, I am in no mood to rehabilitate. For gaming has allowed me to revisit my childhood…not in thought, but in action. The pleasure I get from completing a stage in a role-playing game, or by scoring a goal against a big club is unmatchable.

Surely I can’t miss out on these moments and thereby show my contempt for happiness, which, according to Bertrand Russell, “is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race”.
k_dhananjay@dnaindia.net