I’ve worked on this video on and off for the better part of a halfyear and I can say that I’m proud of how it turned out.
Hours of crying over a PC that just plain refuses to work properly (I know it’s 10 yars old but I’m even older – sheesh) , frustration over the simplest difficulties turned into nonchalant mehs when facing the most dire of problems.
This video means a lot to me so I really really REALLY hope that you can find something enjoyable in it as well.
To me it was a journey, to you I hope it will be a fun, informative way to pass some time.
Anyway, this being a video essay (video being the key) I shouldn’t publish an entire book over it but instead let it speak for itself.
Almost every time I play a videogame there’s something I specifically seek to feel like I’m really there in the world.
It’s something that people talk about often enough and refer to it in many different names.
Mini-games, activities, immersion, breaks, pauses, non combat gameplay, etc.
Me, I call these Immersive Pauses.
An Immersive Pause is any videogame feature, element or system outside the main story that reinforces the illusion of the reality of the game world.
Usually they are optional – but not always.
They can be one and done or activated on demand.
Passive or active, immersive pauses are what makes us forget that what we are experiencing is a lie, a simulation.
After all who in the world wouldn’t pet a cat when found on the street, right?
The inability to do so is the fastest way to expose that we live in the Matrix.
So every time you see a cat in the street from now on check to see if you can’t pet it because if you can’t, I’m sorry to say that you are mere moments away before some maniac maims and the entire city only to quickload and do it all over again.
The life of an NPC sure is hard.
The Ethereal Orpheus
