Self-Discovery Through Videogames
Every time my brother catches me playing videogames, he starts telling me how incomprehensible it is for him that someone who has studied philosophy could be spending — a.k.a. wasting —its time with such ludic activities. I guess he is stuck with the old stereotype of the philosopher as someone who spends his entire life solely in companion with books. Such an image has certianly been tailored by many modern prejudiced ideas. Suffice to say, ancient Greeks had quite a different picture of a philosopher. In any event, can someone with a philosophical interest obtain any value when playing videogames?
If you research on the internet — writing philosophy and videogame— you would be able to find many entries where this matter is conveniently addressed, so the fastest and simplest answer is Yes. One can certainly start all sort of exciting philosophical reflexions taking as a point of departure a videogame. Now, what about knowing ourselves through playing videogames? Is it possible to reach a better understanding of who we are through videogames?
As it is well known Know Thyself was one of the sage statements inscribed in the ancient temple of the Greek god Apollo at Delphi. Many important Greek philosophers, such as Socrates himself, make reference to this maxim as being a sort of invitation from the god in order to reflect philosophically about ourselves and,in this way, gain a better understanding of our own nature. That said, could we, then, when playing videogames, practice what this statement exhorts us to do?
In my personal experience, the answer is Yes. Through the engagement with the goals of a videogame, we can certainly gain interesting insights regarding both our general approach to life and about some persanolity traits. In my case, I discovered I tend to be way too much prudent when it comes to take a decision. And, although as Aristotle explains in the Nichomachean Ethics, prudence is a virtue, if we stick too hard to it, this can end up creating more harm than benefit.
How exactly did I come up with this self-discovery?
Since the pandemia started, I have tried to find new ways of engaging into some new leisure activities. This led me to rediscover one of my favorite videogames that I used to play when I was in high school: Starcraft.
For the ones who hear this name for the first time, this game is a strategic one. There are three races: Protoss, Zerg, Terran. Each race has battle units which can be for a fight either on land or in the air. In order to obtain these units, it is necessary to extract some resources, so the suitable constructions can be built in order to bring the units into existence. The player who wins is the one who is capable of destroying the other race(s). And, as you can imagine, a successful result requires a good amount of strategy and planning.
So how does my statement regarding prudence fits into this context?
When I started playing Starcraft again, after having made many attempts at defeating a computer, I realized I was not being successful due to the fact that I was being extremely prudent in my way of playing. To be more specific, since the goal of the game is to defeat your opponent, there are essentially two possibilities in order to reach that goal. Either you wait for your opponent to attack you or you take the initiative and start the attack on it. If we take the first option, it is necessary to defeat most of the opponent’s army when this latter attacks us, so afterwards we can pay a visit to its city, and since this would be without much defense, we would have much more chances of destroying it. On the other hand, if we take the second option, we take the risk of losing most of our army in the process of the attack, but if we are successful in the attempt, we get to destroy the opponent’s city. In other words, the success or failure in the game depends on whether we take the initiative of starting the attack or we just get prepared and wait for it. Based on this idea, it turns out that the most prudent way of playing would be that one in which we would basically wait for the attack of the opponent.
Why is the approach of waiting for the attack of the opponent the most prudent way of playing?
Well, since we would be waiting for the attack, we have the advatange of knowing the structures and resources that we count on in order to engage in battle. On the other hand, if we launch an attack, we are forced to move into unknown locations, since we cannot tell for sure what the opponent counts on. In this regard, at least at first glance, it seems that is safer to play in a more defensive way. It is, to put it in a nutshell, just much more comfortable. Upon adopting the defensive strategy, we dwell in our comforting zone; whereas, when adopting a more active strategy in terms of attack, we risk more, but also our chances of winning in the battle increase.
So going back to my personal experience in playing Starcraft, I realized that most of the times when I was defeated was mainly because I was adopting a quite prudent approach of playing. That is, I was using a defensive strategy in the game. The funny fact is that, upon reflecting on this experience with this game, I noticed that, in fact, I also tend to be quite prudent in my general approach to life. In other words, I love playing my cards in the most safest way. And certainly this is not a bad thing in itself, but when we stick so much to that approach, we also lose, in a way, more opportunities of achieving what we desire.
I never thought I could gain such insight about myself through playing a videogame. It has not been the first time that I am confronted with the idea that maybe, sometimes, I just play excessively prudent in life. However, I must admit, it is the first time I have seen this aspect so clear in me. And this would not have been possible if it were not because of my experience with the game.
Now I continue playing Starcraft, which is not only fun, but also quite enticing for someone who is interested in acquiring more philosophical insights about himself.
