While it’s never particularly bothered me I’ve always wondered why I have no interest in video games and frankly very little in any visual media (movies, television and the like). Over the years, I’ve chalked it up to attention deficit disorder, too many books in grad school, too many recreational drugs, too this or too that. I tried again recently – we bought a Wii, which I can tell is really cool – but I realized as I played that I’m unable to suspend disbelief beyond where I feel like I’m just manipulating pixels a little bit. I don’t feel like I’m actually bowling, playing tennis, or whatever else it conjures for me. Sometimes I also feel like the field of vision is too narrow – I’m constantly aware of my peripheral vision and therefore distracted from the game or whatever else the screen features.
It’s not a bad thing, necessarily, not everyone will be turned on and tuned in to the same things. Pity, however, I’ve not taken all that extra time and done anything productive with it – written that novel, learned to really play the guitar or piano, remodeled the attic. Putzing around the house, listening to music, the occasional magazine or book read, doing laundry is about all I have to show for all that extra time. It’s a wash.
Luke Soiseth 