I like video games. That isn’t surprising; most people in my age demographic and younger love video games. I personally love them because of the ways this medium can allow me to explore worlds and settings in a way no other medium could.

Single-player games like Bioshock, Undertale, Disco Elysium, Superhot and Thief have all been influential in my own writings and artistic expression. I loved exploring the philosophical underpinnings of Bioshock’s critique of Objectivism and Ayn Rand.

Undertale challenges the notion that video games require some element of violence to be successful. Disco Elysium tackles the political compass in all its messy glory.  Spec Ops: The Line’s harrowing satirical critique of Call of Duty will never leave me, even though I barely played any Call of Duty.

Much like every other cultural medium, video games are a powerful means of expression and commentary within the culture at large. It seems that we will finally be getting that acceptance now that the rejection of games as art seems to recede from the discourse.

While this is all well and good, multiplayer games and games as a service models aren’t exactly what you would call high art on the level of Bioshock or Thief.

Games like Genshin Impact, Destiny 2 and DOTA 2 can be fun, but they want to get your money first. Their cultural impact is somewhat muted in the grand scheme of things.

The Division 1 and 2 also suffer from this, compared to World of Warcraft, which was a cultural landmark in its time. It lacks the sense of community that WOW had. Perhaps this is the nostalgic part of our memory? We have fonder memories of playing such games because we remember it as such. We had fewer responsibilities, more time to devote to gaming, and we were more optimistic about the world.

I suspect that might be the case. I play DOTA 2 and Guild Wars 2, but I wouldn’t say I had the same sense of community I had when I was a kid.

But now, as things have changed, as we have gotten older, relationships have shifted. Time is more limited. The single-player games I used to play for hours became reduced to a single hour. Online gaming is often lonelier, playing with randoms because of that time unavailability. You have more responsibilities now; you are getting older, and time, well, time fades away.

Maybe that is why gaming loses some of its lustre as you get older. The wonder of exploring Rapture, the fun memories of getting a rampage in Dota 2 (something I have never done). Maybe it’s spending hours in whatever Mario game you were lucky enough to own. Either way, it’s not there anymore

You also became smarter; you became aware of the meaning behind Bioshock, the class satire in Thief, the fear of manmade gods in System Shock. Like it or not, as a child or as someone younger, you didn’t need to think about such things. The simplicity got eroded by education and wisdom brought on by age.

I love the magic of video games and other art mediums. I don’t think that the magic has gone for me. Just reduced, withered a bit. I love the moments when I do get to play DOTA 2 with my friends; their rarity makes the moments all the sweeter. My knowledge of culture and literature allowed me to love the games I mentioned even more.

You can never go back to childhood, but you can learn to enjoy the benefit of knowledge that comes with leaving childhood.