The Great Escape

Escapism has been described as an avoidance of reality, and when you put it that way it can seem a little depressing. Avoiding something that’s bringing you down or, worse, destroying who you are as a person, could be seen as running away from problems and hiding your head in the proverbial sand.

But as someone who’s dealt with more than their fair share of therapy, I know it’s often encouraged to escape the banal and mundane moments in life and offer yourself a distraction. As long as this is approached with a healthy attitude, it can benefit someone suffering with problems by allowing their mind to concentrate on something else, freeing up some of that precious grey matter to then, later, concentrate on those intricate issues.

Many forms of entertainment are seen as relaxing and distracting, but gaming seems to be a true escape. This topic is one I’ve personally explored before on this very site, but after listening to lots of feedback from people who took part and colleagues who have given their own opinions, it seems that videogames perhaps offer more of an escape than any other form of media. Of course, movies and books can go some way to distracting you from life’s quandaries, but they seem just that: they’re a distraction, not an escape.

With gaming at its roots being a medium that requires interactivity, it’s probably safe to say you can give more of yourself over to ‘the game’ than a novel or work of cinema. But not everything can allow that freedom, that ability to “log out” of life for a while and just enjoy the moment. During times of grief, solitude or sadness, we all need time to clear our minds; to walk away from a problem and arrive later with fresh eyes or a new perspective. This is exactly what we do when we escape into a world of pixels and achievements.

A few of mine and Resolution’s close friends were eager to tell their stories of a time that they needed those brief moments of escape, something that allowed them to turn away from the issues surrounding them and become themselves again. I asked each of them to tell us specifically about a time in their life when they needed that moment – not only about the time itself, but which game provided that solace.

MY NAME IS CHRISTOS
When I asked ex-IGN, now-sensible-finance-journalist Christos Reid to tell me about moments  when he felt free of the shackles of life, he expressed how much sandbox games allowed him to enjoy a different kind of freedom – and perhaps learn how to be more confident too.

“You know, it’s an odd sensation, sinking into a game to the point where nothing else exists. I spoke recently on my blog about how I used World of Warcraft to deal with the death of my much-beloved grandfather and my isolation on campus whilst in my freshman year of university, and it worked to a certain extent – I made friends, I experienced live-action role-playing (great stress relief and a load of bruises), and I became a far more efficient in-game multi-tasker. But ultimately, I ended up more depressed, and, in January ‘07, left Azeroth and Outland for good.

Before the eternal grind-addiction of the MMORPG, however, there existed another type of gaming escapism that became exclusive to those seeking more than the simple blow-by-blow gameplay of an FPS or platformer. That game was the sandbox game, and if you owned a GameCube, it was largely inaccessible, save for two titles that single-handedly reinvented my love for videogames and their use in dealing with my fluctuating mood patterns.

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