Coming from my previous posts concerning Excrucio Eternum, let me shift gears a bit.
Mortis, in Excrucio Eternum.
Words have power. So do images.
We play games, sometimes because we want to ‘escape’ from our normal lives, but also for other reasons: because it’s enjoyable, because it’s social, because it’s meaningful to us somehow. Because perhaps, we can project our worries and fears onto something external, and feel like we’re able to conquer them: when what’s troubling you takes the shape of a shambling zombie or a Titan (such as in Attack on Titan), then perhaps you can find the strength to defeat it, avoid it, get past it. Even the game Zombies, Run uses this power: in creating a ‘game’ narrative of running around for supplies, finding survivors, and so on, running – and fitness – might become fun. That the struggle might become meaningful.
It’s the power of story, really. We’ve had it for ages. Bards were people of power; so were griots and shamans, so were monks and poets. Harnessing imagination can help us remember the past, and help us craft our present. “Reframing one’s narrative” is now a tool in the therapist’s toolbox.
Don’t overlook story. If anything, story is what keeps us and our varied cultures, traditions, and lives alive.