Play video games and reject the end of the world

Close

During the winter break, I spent a significant part of my time in the same way as I can imagine, many of my fellow students: doomscrolling. After the presidential election, my social media feeds were flooded with frightened contributions about the future of American politics. The anxious feelings of transgender and migrant Americans joined the usual horror of climate change and war in overseas. It seemed to be a bleak moment for humanity, with omnipresent discord, violence and division, which I feel more hopeless than ever before – combined with an overwhelming feeling of fainting. All I could see were constant terrible news when I could do little about it.

However, I didn't have as much time to concentrate on it as before when I decided to take a remote class called Video Games and World Politics for Credit. Many of my tasks let me analyze a video game called Sid Meier's civilization VI, which commissioned the player to choose a historical leader and the development of their society from old history to the present. It almost plays like a board game in which the players changed to explore the map, build up their cities, to make scientific and cultural progress and to interact with other civilizations through peace and war.

If we look at the problems that have extended from the past to the present, it is easy to see history as the long history of people who try to kill each other based on differences, or because they deal with their own wealth and their own power more than with the well -being of society. Playing the game taught me that it is reductive to say that there is only one version of the story. The simplest view of the story deals only with massively effective wars against countries, groups of people or ideologies, while the more complete view of the game shows how far we are associated with culture and technology.

Due to the gameplay with a large scope, years and epochs pass in no time. The focus is removed from the daily political disputes and fears with which we are bombarded today and instead placed on human progress: construction workers to build cities for the benefit of the public, progress in science and technology, test new government systems. All of these are innovations that have been taking place since the days of the cave people and continue to take place in the future. This does not mean that the game was without moments of crises and panic, but the world was never back of those who used their ingenuity to make the world a better place.

And these innovations are not the responsibility of the leader – they are caused by the rest of the society. Artists do important works that inspire and combine people. Writers tell moving stories or challenge popular philosophical ideas. Scientists study the world so that we can all lead an easier life. Inventors switch on our potential with new technology. Civilization VI that uses history tells us that we are all important. Each of us contributes to the larger human project through the things we study as students or the jobs we accept in society. This is where our real power comes from society. Even if we do not like our political leadership or live in turbulence, we will always have the ability to think, work, dream and innovate in the name of a better morning. The political moment when we are in ourselves is terrifying, but its operators use fear in the hope that we forget our agency and bend their will. The uninterrupted march of history in the game showed me that the political order in the past did not let them stop them, and we shouldn't.

If we only look in the present, it seems inevitable to fall into the trap of hopelessness. The simplest reaction to all the pain, suffering and turbulence that we testify every day is to close our eyes and accept that the world comes to an end. I lived a large part of my life in this way, ignored my own agency and waited for the civil war or the hurricane of climate change to arrive at my door. But this game taught me to think differently. Each of us makes up the next chapter of the beautiful story of mankind, which began with the old tribal members that I saw on my computer screen when I started playing. Since then, countless visionaries have committed to make meaning in our lives and to shape the world for future generations. It is now up to us to continue their work and to manage today's challenges, like you and everyone who came after you have done.

I am more confident than ever that humanity rises from today's challenges. My gameplay corresponded to all incredible moments in our history – the parts in which we have accepted knowledge and enlightenment, pioneering and democratic government systems, healed countless illnesses and started space. Every day we come closer to the next big innovation, one that comes from the sum of our work today. So if you ever have the feeling that the world is apart, remember what those who have come before you seemed to remind you of the potential of our species, to remind every problem that comes in our way and to remember that we all have the power to build up the better future that we now dream of.

Video games can do a lot for us. Some use them as an escape into worlds of imagination, others treat them as activities to keep up with friends, and others analyze them as works of art to better understand the world around them. Civilization VI showed me something real: The history of our species. At the same time, it showed me the dream that we have the power to make the world in which we live better as if we actually push all buttons. This dream was shared with all dreamers of the past and all of you today. It is something I always believed in – I only needed a memory that it is possible.

So put your chin up. Think on, continue dreaming, continue the status quo. Maybe you play a few video games, you can do a lot more for you than you would think.

Kevin O'Connell is a newcomer with a focus on political science.

Views that were expressed in the opinion pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Redaktion Committee is the staff editorial.