The longer that I play Destiny, the closer I become to those that came before me: the ones who played World of Warcraft, or Quake, or even Halo – in other words, hopelessly addicted to a game world.
At first, there were many reasons that this idea was alarming to me. I really didn’t want to become that guy from the South Park episode on the World of Warcraft. I didn’t want to be somebody who only lived in the game and nowhere else. Then again, I have lived much of my adult life as a hermit, anyway, and didn’t even have a game world to live in. I had kind of moved away from gaming in general for a very long time.
Between the promise of the PlayStation 4 and Destiny’s albeit repetitive, but engaging, world, I have come full circle back to gaming full time.
I was discussing with one of my closest friends, who also plays Destiny, that our friendship has gotten stronger because of the game. Frankly, the time that we were spending away from each other play video games has now become the time we played video games together. Another very close friend of mine made mention that my treatment of my three Destiny characters ( lovingly refered to as Alice, Banshee, and Misty) is the way that you would expect an adult to play with action figures. In other words:
I am having fun again.
The transformation doesn’t stop there. I have made more friends from playing Destiny that I have with any other game. It is also made me branch out into other games. When I have briefly been bored with the idea of playing Destiny, I have some other games that I would never have played 2-3 years ago.
The entire first month of Destiny’s release, I didn’t drink a single drop of alcohol. Since its release, the odds of me drinking more than once a week have gone down considerably, and, when I do, it’s less. What is the reason? I want to be able to focus when I do play the game at any given moment. I realize that that seems very pretentious, but I don’t care. If the game is giving me a reason not to drink, then I will take it. Granted, I am NOT a very heavy drinker or alcoholic to begin with. I did drink more than I probably should, and the game is filling a lot of that time.
If the announcement of the PlayStation 4 rekindled my love of video gaming, destiny has singlehandedly solidified it as a staple in my life for years to come. And to those of you who do not like the game, I am sure that there is a game that you love that has done the same thing for you. Please feel free to share those games in a comment below, or in a YouTube video. Tell the world why and how gaming – interactive entertainment – is changing.
Keep on Grinding.