So, uh, where were we? What was this article about?

Oh, yes. I have trouble writing about games because I don’t know about them, etc.

I don’t play many games. I am not concerned about this, because recently, for the purposes of a collaborative article about Bubble Bobble I have been trying to write, I have been thinking back to my childhood – when I know for a fact I really, really loved games – and I didn’t play many games then, either. I didn’t have access to many. That’s why the ones I did play were so special. I only ever had old computers that wouldn’t run many things. I’ve been spoiled, since then. That might be another reason I care about games less.

The only time I ever owned and played a lot of games was in my early twenties, and for the first time in my life I could afford consoles and things. It was fun for a while, and very interesting, but eventually it led to the disillusionment that I guess this whole article is about. I had (and still have, in a box in my brother’s attic) a big pile of Gamecube games and a bigger pile of GBA games, and right now, I can remember about half of them. And of those, there are only a few I’m keen to play again someday.

I don’t regret playing them all, but understanding, now, how few of them turned out to be special and memorable, I am not willing to do the same thing again with the current lot of consoles – not when it’s all so expensive. Videogames can be wonderful, but other things can be just as wonderful, and are cheaper. I don’t need videogames in my life; my life will fill itself with experiences, no matter what. I’ll learn from them and hopefully become a better person, no matter what they are. Videogames are just a thing. There are many things.

Listen: You can’t play all the great games, right? There’s not enough time. Everyone’s written blog posts about this. You can only play a fraction of the games you’re interested in. So, why not limit that fraction to the games that are free or cheap, and run on your laptop? I’m not trying to convince you of anything, reader dearest – I’m just describing my reasoning. I thought you might be interested.

There will always be experiences that you miss out on. Actually, that’s not true; because you’ve missed out on them, they don’t exist as experiences. The point is, don’t worry about those fucking expensive games. Fuck ‘em. They’re probably shit, and even if they aren’t, fuck ‘em – spend that money on a trip overseas. If you can afford all the consoles and games and a trip overseas, well, good for you. I’m not going to tell you to donate to charities or anything.

(I’m not going to tell you not to.)

* * *

One more reason I’m not often motivated to write about videogames: I’d rather be making them. Or, I’d rather be writing about philosophy, or politics. (You can probably tell.) There was an ad on the TV just before saying, “If you feel that something’s not quite right – if you think someone is vaguely suspicious – call this number and protect Australia from terrorism.” You know – “If you’ve still got a little bit of bigotry in you, hang on to it, Aussie. Don’t let go.” And here I am writing about videogames. No, worse than that: I’m writing about writing about videogames.

There’s nothing wrong with writing about videogames. In fact, if you do it well, there’s everything right with it. But may God slap me in Heaven if this is what I’m remembered for.

If you have been somehow enriched by this article and take offense at that invocation, do please let me know.

(Could you also please tell me what it was about.)