Gametime

A recent pondering of mine on the train was on money and time. While the world system places a high value on money, the real commodity is time. Behind money are long hours spent in earning it. No one just throws money up in the air, but we are plenty eager to throw our time into endeavors from menial to marvelous.

For me personally I've been here and there all over the gaming world, playing genres from the infamous time-sinking MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role -Playing Game), the FPS (First-Person Shooter), the RTS (Real-Time Strategy), the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), the usual single player games, and even Flash based or browser based games. I'm not entirely proud of the hours I've lost.. but many of my friends are in the same boat.

And in all these I've mostly been drawn in by the hook of 'FREE'. Free in the current world of gaming goes along with the illegal downloading generation of the 00s. The question is: why should I spend money on something I can get for free from the Internet. Free means more than just investment of money. Free deceptively hides the investment of Time beneath it. If something is monetarily free you feel less bad about it because there is less riding on it if it turns out a lemon.

All of these games, even the infamous WoW end up taking more than just your money, they take hours of your life away. I've quit playing games so many times in my life that I can't count. It's because I would snap out of an immersive game at 2AM and wonder where my day went. It's because playing the game meant more to me than eating one meal or even using the bathroom. It's because at the end of the day, Jesus is not glorified by your +1up or your 6 hours of grinding or your 5 win streak.

I am winning pixels on a screen. I am winning colorful levelups and new equipments instead of hearts for Christ. And what was the price to pay?! A life wasted extravagantly on pursuit of the highest beauty- God- is infinitely more worth it than anything that palms itself off as Free. Grace is the only true free gift out there. Word.