Throughout the semester, there have been a few things that I have learned and grown from by playing games. The largest takeaway I have is that you should not judge a game by its cover. I used to always look at the covers of games and tell myself I would dislike it and it would not be something I would enjoy… Boy was I wrong! There were games we played such as Bioshock Infinite and What Remains of Edith Finch that I would have never played on my own, simply because it did not look interesting and was a genre I did not care for. These two games were the best ones in the class in my opinion and I want to play them over and over. Their worlds and plot lines were so immersive, I could not help but become completely entwined in the game.

Another aspect I was able to learn and take away from this semester is that video games are literature! Although this class was named “Video Games as Literature” I was not expecting to actually learn about how games were literature and in what ways, oops. I was more expecting to just play the games and write papers on our thoughts. This was so much more in-depth however, and I learned a lot more than I thought. I was able to see so many parallels between literature such as books and video games. Some of these parallels include strong plot,  real world connections, and a theme/lesson to take away. This has definitely changed the way that I play video games because I am now hyper aware of the plots and world in which they take place when I never was that concerned with it before. I feel like I am obsessed with lore, now more than ever. I just want to keep learning more about the games and see just how deep they can go.

Compared to the beginning of the semester, I would say my relationship with video games overall has not changed drastically. I would say that it has possibly grown a bit stronger and I feel like I am now interested in more than just one genre of video game (FPS was all I ever played, what does this mean?). Anyway, I can definitely say my love of video games will never waiver because they are always there for me in my times of need and wanting to rage.

I plan to continue onward with speaking about games as being literature. This topic is very intriguing to me because it was something I had never heard about until coming to this class. Playing the video games and seeing real examples of how this compares to literature made me realize that video games are freaking literature! They have all the elements that a storybook would, you just get to actually play through it and experience it in an even more immersive setting. I think this is a better way of storytelling because I for one despise reading books. They are boring and make me fall asleep, but video games however, I can stay awake and alert for hours on end with the help of an energy drink or two and a bag of Doritos.

The next game I am wanting to play through is the Dark Souls series and the new Bioshock that will be coming out. I have only played through Dark Souls 3 and it was more of a speed run than anything. I have heard that Dark Souls has a very great storyline and that the mechanics and world setting greatly affect the plot overall. I want to see how it plays out and see where the writers ended up taking the story before I played through Dark Souls 3. As for Bioshock, I am very interested to see where the story goes after playing Bioshock Infinite. So far I have heard that it will be taking place in the 1900s in Antarctica which has me curious. I mean what the hell is in Antarctica? Regardless I will be waiting to try it out and I am hoping it has the same mechanics and relatively strong storyline that Bioshock Infinite had because that was one of the best games I have ever played.