I have been meaning to make more time to read, but sometimes I get discouraged from reading one bad book after the next which are supposedly bestsellers (keep in mind, it’s a matter of taste). Hence, it’s why the book department in my blog is rather bleak and lonely. I have only reviewed one book so far: Handmaid’s Tale and quite frankly, I didn’t enjoy it all that much. I am not completely ruling out books for this blog because I am the poetry huntress. My passion is very particular in that essence. But I struggle to find a good book to read or maybe it’s just that I struggle to find a genuine book to read. So, I’m in a bit of a dilemma.
I used to read a lot as a kid. I fell in love with books before I even started playing games. There’s something about the written word that makes it an intimate experience between the author and the reader. So, it’s hard not to fall in love with books. But games consume most of my time nowadays so I started wondering why I play more than I read, knowing that books are great ways to formulate new ideas and open more dialogues.
And so, I begin to ponder…
There are several films adaptation inspired by books. So, it’s not hard to pay tribute to books as the superior medium. And many video games are inspired by films. Did you notice a pattern here? The video game is a baby learning to walk on its legs, wanting to be recognized by its older siblings. Part of my maternal instinct is I want to see the baby grow. This brings me to conclude why I don’t read as much as I should nowadays: If people read purely for entertainment and the artistic aesthetic, then I want to argue that video games are just as good as books. And perhaps even better than some books in terms of delivering meaningful content that adds value to our lives. Partially this is why I still hunt down to play a good game and why I rather invest in playing games than reading. Out of love for the medium, I want to see it grow into something respectable in the creative community.
Every time, I think about why I created my original blog back in 2016, I kept circling to the same idea: I’m writing to advocate and educate the creative community. I write as a creative outlet because my soul depends on it and I want to share with the rest of the world what I enjoy. Video games can be great companions for those of us who are on the shy side. And on a personal level, video games gave me the inspiration to write most of my songs as mentioned in one of my posts. It’s like we are all connected. Books inspired films. Films inspired video games, and video games inspired me to write songs.
With this whole pandemic thing–isolation is not normal behavior even for an introvert myself. Some alone time is good, but too much is detrimental. I think video games have comforted some of us in some ways to help us cope with mental stress. So, let’s give some respect to video games because self-help books aren’t for everyone. Sometimes the bottled-up emotions just have to go somewhere and for me, it’s shooting virtual scary dogs. Well, I guess it’s time to go shoot some skags in Borderlands 3 now!
If you are just stopping by this blog and haven’t already, please check out some of my blog posts on games that I think are better than books in some ways. Until next time, see you later!
Fishing for Metaphors 
I agree! I see games being just as great a form of entertainment as books. And sometimes even more so. The players cooperation in acting out the story is what captured my mind as a young gamer. I’ll never forget my first playthrough of Metal Gear Solid. It was the first game to truly make me feel like I was living it! The story and cinematic were so deep that I knew I found my favorite form of entertainment. I still love my books though. But like you I have found it hard to find quality and worth while reads. Same with movies these days. So little quality in the quantity we have have to choose from.
Video games have gotten me through some very hard times in life. And must give a shout out to all who suffered and found a ray of hope in gaming. There is something for us all somewhere. We just have to find it so never give up!
Enjoy your beer and Skag hunting. 🙂 I will be sure to check out some of your other post. Thanks for the fun read Halsdoll!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment! 🙂 I enjoyed the Metal Gear Solid franchise as well. My first entry was MGS2 tho. I remember I thought it was one of the coolest games I have played. Stealth is fun. Don’t always want to kill if it’s not necessary. My favorite tactic was distracting the soldiers with the magazine of bikini girls. I learned so much about boys. Just kidding just kidding. 😜
LikeLiked by 2 people
Lol! You’re hilarious. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people