If I told you I have flown on the back of a dragon, would you believe me? It’s possible, just not in the way you may think.
In the worlds of role-playing games, or RPGs, you can do just about anything, from vanquishing dragons to decorating a virtual island to sailing in a pirate ship. Players take on the role of a fictional character in a fictional world in this style of video game, notable examples of which include The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Animal Crossing, Red Dead Redemption and the recently released Baldur’s Gate III.
I love that RPGs allow me to live multiple lives and do fantastical things anytime. I can play as a pirate sailing my ship and looking for treasure, wrangle criminals as a cowboy bounty hunter, establish a village on a cute little island full of anthropomorphic animals or fly a spaceship across galaxies to explore alien planets. There is no limit besides your imagination.
Many people, billions in fact, find comfort in the escapism that video games provide, and 6% of these gamers are 65 and older. Video games came into existence in the late 1950s, and household consoles like Atari and Magnavox Odyssey were launched as early as the 1970s, according to the Smithsonian Institution. Today, video games are a booming, $245 billion industry worldwide, with more than 3 billion people calling themselves gamers, according to 2023 statistics from techreport.com.
I began my journey as a gamer in the early 2000s with Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64. Super Mario provided me with a world to escape to after school, on the weekends and on days I was sick — or pretending to be sick so I could stay home and play. I loved to venture around the castle grounds and jump into the mini worlds that existed within the paintings on the walls so I could advance toward rescuing Princess Peach from the evil King Bowser and his minions. Tragedy struck when the cables got destroyed by my hyperactive brother who had a penchant for chewing on things, and thus came the end of our N64.
Fortunately, my family had a home computer onto which I could download games until my attention shifted from the dinosaur of a desktop to the original Xbox from Microsoft. My father got this system from one of his co-workers, and it came with a hard drive containing what felt like hundreds, but was probably more like dozens, of games in multiple genres, from Tony Hawk Underground to Fable to Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, which I imagine would be my father’s personal favorite thanks to the voluptuous and beautiful female characters in bikinis.
Fable quickly became my go-to game, with a fantasy-themed world and a main character who got to learn how to use magic and melee combat. You can stick with the main quest that revolves around becoming a hero — or villain — and saving the character’s sister and mother from bandits who brought chaos to their tiny village. Or you can work on numerous side quests that take you all over the map of the fictional world of Albion and challenge your moral compass, as well as help you improve and strengthen your character’s attributes and abilities.
These days, I have been enjoying Baldur’s Gate III, which I like to describe as the video game version of the popular tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons. You get to create your character from dozens of fantasy races, hair colors and styles, skin tones, tattoos and more. Just like in Dungeons and Dragons, you can choose from classes such as cleric, ranger, barbarian and sorcerer, and these choices determine how you play the game. Some classes and races have magical abilities and skills unique to them and can be used to fight enemies melee style, long range or a mix of both.
You also can choose from a variety of nonplayable characters, or NPCs, who can join your party and fight with you, even forming relationships or friendships. Some people jokingly refer to Baldur’s Gate III as a Dungeons and Dragons dating simulator, which I must reluctantly admit is somewhat true.
No matter who you are or what you like to do, there is a game out there that could become your new favorite pastime. With the sheer number of games, consoles and genres, you can find something that is right for you and your life — or the life you want to live — within the numerous worlds available.
Nichols, a longtime gamer, enjoys video games and tabletop games alike, spending time outdoors and picking up all kinds of new hobbies. She was born and raised in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley and is now working for the Lewiston Tribune. She can be reached at mnichols@lmtribune.com.