More than simple escapism
Consider the lives so many of us lead:
People wake up earlier than desired.
Hurry out the door.
Battle traffic to get across town.
Sit in a stuffy office, doing work that doesn’t matter in service of an organisation that’s not important.
Battle traffic in the opposite direction.
Then either fall into an exhausted stupor, mindlessly watching TV or scrolling social media… or doing something distracting and not all that great for you.
(You can think of examples of what I mean by that.)
Rinse and repeat forever.
There’s a lot of work, toil, stress and activity, but the choices and efforts don’t really matter.
Of course, not everyone fits that pattern. Many people don’t commute now, for example. And some folks work for organisations that really do important work, whether their contributions to it matter.
It’s rare for someone to have the freedom to work on their own terms, while doing critical work for an important cause.
You’re unusual - and lucky - if you know even a few folks like that.
That doesn’t seem like a high bar - live your life and do good work. But it is.
No wonder so many of us feel unfulfilled.
That’s why escapism is so popular - a distraction from an undesirable life. Some escapes have been with us for thousands of years, like certain mind-altering substances. Others are new, like certain mind-altering technologies. They’re ways to get people out of an unsatisfying existence.
The problem with escaping reality is that it doesn’t change it. You might feel better in the moment, but you can’t escape it forever. When you return, it’s worse than when you left it.
People often accuse games of being escapist fantasies.
That’s because they are.
At the same time, they’re so much more.
Games - especially tabletop roleplaying games - give you a taste of a fulfilling life. Whether you’re hunting liches, hacking megacorps, thwarting cultists or blowing up deathbots, your character’s efforts matter. The choices they make shape the fate of the game’s world.
Of course, it’s “just” a game.
But if the game is immersive enough, your character’s victories are yours too.
That’s why I’m so passionate about this stuff. Someone who never feels fulfilment might be feeling flat but not know why. Someone who feels it sometimes will notice when it’s missing.
The world is full of bad institutions. They only survive because people go along with them.
If more people woke up and realised how empty that all made them feel, those organisations would crumble. Only the ones that offer meaning would survive that.
Games aren’t the only way to offer folks fulfilment but, hey, there’s no denying three things:
It’s simple, it works and it’s fun.
You know what else is fulfilling?
Writing awesome stories.
Like games, fiction can connect people with experiences they’ve rarely had in reality.
Whether you craft stories via roleplaying games, movies, novels, TV shows or any other creative pursuit, you’ll probably find Call of the Gods intriguing and useful.
It teaches you how to get out of your human head and write truly exotic characters.
Use it well and you’ll elevate your work above the vast majority of uninspired, derivative and all-too-familiar works we’ve all experienced.
Find it here: