In the realm of video game related writing, I’m never quite sure if my heart is in the right place or not.


What occurs in my head every time I sit down to write

For anyone that follows Active Time Event on a regular basis, even those rare breeds that have been doing so since the legacy version of the site existed, in the form of ATE 1.0, I generally attempt to cover a wide range of topics within the video game industry, from previews, reviews, op-eds, industry breakdowns, philosophical deconstructionism, you name it. I think one of the aspects of gaming perhaps I push more than others is a focus on the cognitive relevancy of design and player agency, not to say others don’t do the same, but I’ve always been of the mind even in it’s dumbest moments, gaming is quite the thinkers nirvana.


It takes smart people to create stupidly enjoyable things

One of my regular features has become Words of Wisdom, and I’ve enjoyed the premise of injecting some more philosophical approaches to both gaming and everyday life, as it is a field of thought that is near and dear to me. Everything I write about, I always put a lot of consideration into, and I always make sure to practice what I preach, so if I’m putting forth the notion of “hitting the target” or “framework thinking”, it’s because I’ve tested living by that ethos myself, and found it to be genuinely helpful. I remember mentioning “showing up” in my write up about hedonism, which was not a words of wisdom, and looking back, I might have pissed away a decent idea that I haphazardly used as a throw away notion I wrapped up in a single paragraph. Putting aside the wasted opportunity at hand, in not building upon the idea of “showing up”, in relation to writing a words of wisdom article in relation to the premise, the advice remains relevant, and related to the intentionality I spoke of with “hitting the target”, as it is vital to keep good habits and put forth your best effort, even if your energy levels are totally depleted.


How I looked living that advice during my days in retail

To wit; I’m on a 30 day writing streak of posting everyday, and outside of a couple of missed days in June and July, I’ve pretty much done an article everyday, starting my streak back on ATE 1.0 (in mid-May), beginning with my “preview” of Doom: The Dark Ages. Fairly awesome, I would say, at least in terms of celebrating a small victory. I bring up the notion of the consistency, as it is sometimes damn difficult to get something out on a limited schedule. I also make the effort to not just regurgitate a headline, by copy and pasting just some press release about a recent happening. So, while I’m looking forward to Gamescom, which is basically the biggest gaming industry event happening in this next week, or how the head of the orgnization clarifies they were more of a compliment to E3, instead of a competitor, I’m certainly interested in those headlines, but I’m just not sure what kind of story I can get out of it, and to me it’s always about the story, the creative element to be mined when discussing games.

I’ve always been a critic of “checking boxes”, whether it be at any proper job, or maintaining a standard in the everyday. To me, while there is something zen about doing something for the sake of doing it, in terms of value and reward, one should not just do it with shallow intent: there should be a reason to do it, a saving grace that solidifies why one does the thing. To me, reason, the very act of thinking itself, is the greatest signifier of human endeavor, without it, we are no more than animals operating on primal urge or machines running on a program, and I’d like to think the idea behind humanity’s “being” is capable of more than just “being”, if you catch my meaning.


I’m guessing some of you did not catch my meaning there, and you know what? That’s okay…you’ll get there, no worries

This next bit is definitely going to make me sound like nothing less than one malevolently charged cynical fucking asshole of ill repute, one with a greasy, cold heart that powers a hate-fueled meat bag (so be it), but I’m also of the notion one should have something to say, and not just say something for the sake of saying it. There is a great quote from philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein that goes “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent”, which I think helps to distill the notion I tend to concur with, and it’s related to the notion of if you really have nothing to say, then shut the fuck up and go on your way. Of course, free will and personal autonomy and all that jazz, vs the Dunning-Kruger effect, vs what constitutes relative value, all of these are of pertinent relevance in this moment, and does continue to help solidify what I’m referencing, in that I don’t like to say thing simply to fill the empty air with nonsense….while simultaneously agreeing with Wonka’s citation: a little nonsense now and then, is treasured by the wisest men.


The old saying goes “can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs”. In the realm of both wise insight and candy manufacturing, Wonka is the master of omelette creation (breaking children)

A working idea I have in my head, and one that this article did fail to achieve in it’s “becoming” as it were, involves wanting to do a write up of Diddy Kong Racing, as I greatly enjoy the title, and I think it would make an ironic contribution to my Rare Replay series, as the title is by Rare, but not a part of the Replay compilation. When combined with my habit of wanting to write about a video game, and discussing it as such, but then failing to directly write about said video game in the process…perfectly ridiculous, I reckon, and something anyone should be happy with. However, I don’t want to be a dime a dozen gamerbrodude who gushes the same old, nostalgic wankfest about how “he got it for Christmas, and it was the best thing ever, and remembering Xmas morning and playing as my favorite character and the painless idealism involved with the immature, bubble-set privilege of egotistical naivete creating the PERFECT WORLD OF NON-REPLICATABLE INSPIRED INDIVIDUALITY (i.e. garden variety, mindless, hedonistic consumerism, etc)” Just, nonsense, and not the fun, child endangerment Willy Wonka kinds of nonsense I prefer, either. So I will continue to sit on the premise of that Diddy Kong article, and hopefully come up with a real banger at some point. Or I won’t and we can laugh about it.

Existence is spilled milk, after all…no need to get all weepy about it.

~Pashford