» Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:13 pm Well, we gamers love being immersed in fictional worlds, experiencing sights and sounds that we never imagined, new cultures, and so on, but what about being present in the real world? Enough of Tamriel or Middle Earth or the Delta Quadrant, where have you been that really left its mark on you, that was more fantastic than a fantasy world? What were you doing there?
In short, what's the coolest place you've been in real life? What are some of the coolest things you've done in real life?
A few years back, a friend and I took a swing up to Montana for a few weeks, to visit his mother at her house about an hour or so west of Kalispell. It was astounding. I remember, East Coast boy that I am, going out for a smoke at around 1am, looking up, and seeing what seemed to be the entire galaxy spread out in front of me. The air was so clear, so free of air and light pollution that you could see for hundreds of miles along the horizon. We woke up one night to the craziest lightning storm I've ever seen, brighter and clearer than any sheet lightning I'd ever seen, and it was over Idaho.
The weather aside, the whole place was really inspiring. That part of Montana is one of the poorest parts of the country, and it shows, both from the general shabbiness and lack of people and the presence of casinos in nearly every establishment. We saw so many "... and Casino!"s that I thought the hospital may have converted the psych ward to blackjack tables. Yet, everyone there was kind, open, and relentlessly optimistic. Sure, the mine had run out and the creek's lower than ever and jobs are at an all time low, but they couldn't help but act like they were the lucky ones. The lady we were staying with had advanced MS, with no way of getting the proper treatment, but she couldn't think of leaving. It was her home, and it was one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Sure, the winters were rough, but when the Spring comes and those snows melt, it makes it all worth it.
Where I come from, it's difficult to get away from everything. A lot of the things I've always enjoyed doing, like camping, hiking, and fishing have fallen by the wayside in recent years because of the spread of the suburbs throughout the central portion of the state, making it quite difficult and expensive to get out to a quiet, unspoiled place. There, all we had to do was step out the back door. The property was huge, stretching all the way back to the creek, at least two hundred yards from the door. We took go-karts to get down there. We grabbed a pan from the kitchen and spent hours a day in the creek looking for gold. We only came up with about $40 worth, but the experience paid off just for having done it. Sitting out on the porch with a smoke and a beer shooting the bottles you've already killed with a rifle? None of this can be done in Maryland, it's either illegal (shooting outside of a range) or unrealistic (panning for gold).
And to top it all off, Glacier National Park is one of the closest places to heaven on this Earth.
I just got back from a fishing trip out in West Virginia, and the area got me thinking about it. I often have this prejudice that many gamers just use the hobby as a substitute for the real world. Cure me of that prejudice if you will. The real world provides better opportunities for adventure and richness of life than any game world I've ever seen. What have you done in it?
It is a beautiful and lonely place. The sky at night is fantastic, too.
