Preach on, brother man

This was sent to me recently.  Even though I don’t do cocaine, this article gives pretty accurate insight as to what it’s like to give in to video games, or perhaps anything that you could be utterly immersed in.  It’s somewhat long, but quite well-written:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/mar/21/tom-bissell-video-game-cocaine-addiction

I feel like there’s a way to be productive and still get an hour or two of video games in once and a while.  That is my quest.  I have too many positive memories playing video games to prevent me from being convinced that they’re a harmful recreational medium.  Like that time I mentioned earlier playing Delta Force at a LAN party, or Die By The Sword as I jumped off bridges swinging wildly my sword onto friends’ heads, or the first time I played Half-Life 2 or Bioshock or Mass Effect and revelled at their compelling and original story, of the mind-bending puzzles of Portal or Braid, or listening to Daft Punk’s Homework as I downloaded skins to use in upcoming Quake deathmatches, or going out into the living room to wait anxiously as my brother tried to beat the last team in Speedball 2 for the Amiga because if I watched over his shoulder he’d spazz at me, or even the subtle and touching story of my latest gem called Spider, played on the iPhone.  

If watching baseball was your recreation, if you did that eight hours a day, it would still be a “bad” thing.  Like Tom Bissell (the aforementioned article’s author) found, coke is no cakewalk either.  Some people I know drink booze a lot.  Some people I know spend a few hours after work just “casually drinking”, pumping dollar bills into jukeboxes, or seeing an endless stream of indie bands play songs that are all based off a few chords that U2 once played.  Is that any more productive?  I still read the odd book.  I still write.  I still hustle.  It’s not video games but moreso time management, because although you can manage your recreation, when it becomes the predominant force in your day it actually forces these productive elements to the wayside.  If you spent too much time training for a marathon, isn’t that bad too?  Unless you’re a professional runner?  Moderation, and in turn, reward.

Balance, harmony, Christmas.

Shit…y’all ever played Dragonstrike for PC?  I’m talking old school PC.  Like 286-style.  Like when you called PCs straight up “IBM.”  Damn.  Dragons, yo.

Y’all mutha fuckas ever played the Amiga?  I was the Amiga for a while.

Dang…

*pours out some of his 40*

(upside-down West SIIIIIIIIIIDE!!!!)