Good old platforming games like Super Mario or Banjo-Kazooie focus much more on traps, puzzles, and secrets than on character development. Nevertheless, I’ve come to realize that when you play such a game, you are forced to assume a certain personality – headstrong, risk-taking, meddling, for better or for worse. Without pressing forward, nothing changes. In real-time strategy games, you can play defensively (“turtle”); in RPGs you can endlessly train to become stronger and thus minimize the risk of defeat. But in the platformer, you are left naked, with minimal verbal/written instruction and a usually comparatively small amount of “health.”
When I was younger, it was very easy to play these sorts of games. I would just keep going, and frequently, I would die in the process of figuring out what to do. But having recently picked up Banjo-Tooie (the sequel to Banjo-Kazooie), I’ve realized that I’m a lot more unwilling to just blindly charge forward as I was before. I am more drawn to the “hometown.” It takes a conscious effort to force myself into the crushing machine or to enter a new tunnel while still transformed into a “detonator” (which can only attack by self-destruction which is eventually fatal).</p>
<p>I think the more enmeshed I become in society, the more my aspirations become public, the less I am willing to invest myself in risky propositions. I turn more to the people I know best, rather than counting on strangers; I reveal personal secrets and thoughts to a smaller circle of people rather than using online forums. But in an age where progress in incremental, only people who hop on the risky limbs have a chance of making any sort of splash. Hopefully by continuing through this game, I can regain some of that adventurous spirit I used to have, rather than deferring to someone else to test the waters.</p>
