I have never been a gamer myself; I much prefer watching other people play video games, either on person with them or watching others play online through YouTube. I worked as a Virtual Reality Research Assistant, but I tried never to touch the heavy duty equipment like the scary setup process of the Oculus Rift. I did became quite the expert of Google Cardboard and that, in combination with my mean blue shell-throwing in Mario Kart, shows my level of competence in this field. My lack of playing games comes mostly from lack of skill. That being said, I have always admired videos games for the work of art that they are. News about video games pique my interest and I find myself looking into the lore and backstories of a lot of video game characters. My main motivation for the course was to learn more about these endless worlds and what they have to offer. This was my chance to force myself to start playing games, as I think a lot of my hesitance is due to knowing that I am not a great gamer. I have always considered video games to be a form of literature, a truly magical way of storytelling, one that can fully immerse the player into what is happening far more than a movie or novel because they are part of the story. They are literally living that life. My older brother and I fight constantly about what is more important: storytelling or graphics or gameplay. For me, I enjoy watching a story-based game far more than I like watching a first-person shooter. Honestly, give me the animations that Blizzard releases on their Overwatch characters rather than a Let’s Play with those same characters. So I would rather take a game that does all three; give me that intricate story, those beautiful graphics, and let me have fun while living out that tale. As an English major and a creative writer, I know how important a story is to engage the audience. I think it is fascinating that they would make the game and only then bring a writer in. I cannot wrap my mind around how that would work and if it did, how much more challenging that would be. I am so glad that they figured out how pivotal stories are to the worlds they are designing.
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