I really don't even know how to begin describing what they mean to me. Gaming is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To someone bored at a subway station, a video game is probably just a time waster, something to occupy them while they wait, and something to give them an excuse to not talk to anyone around them. To many teenagers across the world, gaming is a social event, where people can get together and shoot each other in the virtual head. But to a hardcore gamer, to someone like me, video games are a form of storytelling. They are similar to a movie, possessing characters, a storyline, music, cinematography, and all that stuff, but they have one key thing that separates them. In a film, even the best of film, the viewer is merely that: a viewer. They watch a world of characters. They see how the characters struggle. They may sympathize with the characters, and understand what the characters are going through. But in a film, even the best of film, one is not truly a part of that world.
That is what video games offer above other forms of storytelling. A player doesn't just watch a world, they become a character and live in that world. When another character is hurt, that isn't just a character on a screen who is friend's with the main character - if the writing is good enough, it feels like your friend. The struggles aren't just faced by the characters on the screen, because they are struggles the player too must bare. When the Ethan in Heavy Rain has to decide whether or not to kill a man, who is the father of two little girls, in order to save his own son, that isn't just the character's decision. It's the decision of the player, and it isn't set in stone. Every player will have a different experience, and many will make a different choice from each other. When Joel in The Last of Us has to protect a teenager from a zombie apocalypse, it isn't just a man in a movie keeping someone safe. It's the player, protecting the life of someone they hardly know because they know its the right thing to do. When Shulk in Xenoblade decides to leave his home to extract revenge on the man who burnt his village, it isn't just the character, but they player who wants revenge for their home being destroyed, and their friends and family being hurt. I could go on and on about many other games. I think Ico is an absolutely beautiful story about friendship. I think Shadow of the Colossus is one of the deepest and best written love stories I've ever seen. I'd even go as far as to call that last one the single most emotionally moving piece of storytelling I've personally encountered. But I don't want to dwell. I just wish to make it clear that gaming is, always has been, and always will be one of the biggest parts of my life.
So, it should go without saying that when I was given the opportunity to be one of the first 500 people in the world to play the new game from The Legend of Zelda franchise, I took that opportunity in a heartbeat.
To wrap it up shortly, the Zelda series is one of the biggest game franchises there is. With many games that have sold millions each, a history of books and comics and a very poorly made animated series, board games, a breakfast cereal, a concert that has been on tour since 2011 (that I have seen twice myself), and far too much merchandise to keep track of, it's simply a massive IP. The series is a high fantasy action-adventure/puzzle mix aimed towards people of all ages (though it's often rated T, the gaming equivalent of PG-13). The most recent big release was in 2011, and since then, fans have been eagerly awaiting the next entry, which is due March of next year.
I walked into the Nintendo store in New York on the 11th of June, because I had some time to kill before my bus would arrive. I began to talk with one of the guys behind the counter, and explained how I was a student from the Philly area here to study communities in New York City. The guy seemed impressed with my studies, and asked me if I knew about the Zelda Experience event that was happening throughout the next week. The Experience involved 500 people being given a chance to sit down for an hour and play a demo of the new Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. I was informed that there were still two slots left open, and, just my luck, one of them was for the next Saturday, shortly after class would end. So, of course I had to take it.
Upon arriving at the store the next weekend, I decided to walk around a bit and take some more notes on the environment. One thing the media gets wrong often is the kind of people gamers are. Although often portrayed as overweight, unclean, male socially awkward weirdos, the average gamer is a pretty normal person. This was evident throughout the Nintendo World Store, which was pretty packed with many, many different people. Some were children, there with their parents. Some were adults, there alone. A pretty solid mix of male and female costumers were present. Some people were there with friends, some with significant others, people of all races, etc. Not even close to the very rigid stereotype the media thinks plays video games.
The other thing I noticed about the store was the severe lack of video games present.
Sure, there was plenty of gaming merchandise, but as for games themselves, they were regulated to a single wall on the second floor. There were T-shirts, wallets, shoes, plushies, action figures, board games, coffee mugs, and just about anything else you could think of, themed with the various logos and characters of franchises owned by Nintendo. The decals on the walls were silhouettes of different characters from the Super Mario Bros. games. Some larger-than-life statues of characters were placed in the corners of the room. The music that played over the speakers was always that of different Nintendo game soundtracks from the last 30 years (although it was exclusively Zelda music on the day of the event).
The second floor had a gallery of all the gaming hardware Nintendo released over the years. There was a Zelda trivia game going on along one table. Another featured a coloring book with some of the characters from the Kirby and Pokemon franchises. While I was waiting for my timeslot to play the new game, I had several different conversations with whoever I happened to be near. Sometimes it was about video games. Often, it was just about whatever topic happened to come up. I told several people about the class I was currently in. I spoke with one person on how horrible a job dishwashing is. This again reinforces the fact that media really doesn't understand what kind of people gamers are.
When it was finally my time to go up, I was able to play at a small kiosk. A representative from Nintendo was there to help me through the game, and to take notes on how I reacted to different puzzles and story elements in the short hour I played the game. A large screen on the far wall replayed the trailer and various clips from the upcoming game. When I was done, I got an exclusive T-shirt, and was questioned by a different rep about my thoughts on different parts of the game, and if I had encountered any glitches.
I thoughtfully enjoyed my time in the store, and made it a top priority to bring my girlfriend there the next time she came to New York with me. It's a place that really represented perfectly that gaming isn't a low-leveled waste of time, but rather, that it was a whole culture of its own. The characters are beloved by children in the same way that Disney's are. Heck, a study found that more children actually recognize who Mario is than Mickey Mouse! Gaming has always been a part of my life, and I owe who I am today to it.
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