PREPARE TO DIE: FANGIRL EDITION

Human beings are quite perplexing. Some have enormous amounts of fear that dominate their daily lives. Some have an enormous amount of fear and use it to push themselves forward. Either way, most people have a huge fear of something.

Whether it makes them dominant in the workplace, or if it makes them try to escape reality, there is one thing that everyone can agree on. The release of that fear is one of life's little pleasures. Unfortunately, not everyone finds the opportunity. Some of us have that option available at all times.

There’s an automatic physical reaction that our bodies have a tendency to do when in stressful or painful situations. It’s called fight or flight. There are three stages of fight or flight: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. This response plays a major role in how we deal with stress and danger in the environment around us. This response can be triggered by both real and imaginary threats.

Normally, this would sound horrific, but being able to control yourself when you’re in such a fight or flight situation is ideal for any living creature. I am a person full of fear, stress, and anxiety. I hate not having complete control over my emotions and sometimes, because of my disabilities, my own body.

For the past nineteen years, I have attempted to hone the fight or flight response that I have. For this, I turned to video games. Now mind you, I was eight years old when I got my first game system. It was an Nintendo 64 with Super Mario Bros, Hey you! Pikachu, and Pokemon Stadium. This was a vital time for me, as we lived on a farm away from civilization. I started turning to these games to help me find a release from the stress of school bullies. Before I knew it, I was hooked.

Throughout my gaming history, I have had Atari, Sega, Nintendo, Xbox, Gamecube, Gameboy, and Playstation consoles. My absolute favorite gaming experience of all time is that which comes jam-packed into a game called Dark Souls: Prepare to Die. This game is an open world, cooperative, competitive, and time consuming masterpiece. I experience a fight or flight reaction every time I play it, and I’ve been playing it since 2012.

Every time you think you know this game, it finds new ways to challenge you. Startling you with enemies that you thought you didn’t “aggro” (cause to become aggressive) running through. Fighting harder than you ever have because you died once and have to make your way back to where you died in order to collect all of the currency items that drop upon your demise. The immense feeling of relief whenever you make it to a “safe spot” called a bonfire, or when you defeat the boss that’s been giving you trouble for the last three days.

This game has helped me control my emotions, my anxiety, and my own children more than any other game that I have played, and even more than 99% of therapists that I have talked to. It has taught me patience. It has taught me risk and reward. Most of all, It has taught me that even if you fall off of a cliff and lose everything, to get back up and keep pushing through. No matter what difficult level or boss that life throws at you, you can overcome it as long as you just keep trying.

People don’t make the games. The games make the people. Dark souls is about community, respect, honor, and jolly cooperation. There is kindness in difficulty. There is happiness in horror. There is light in darkness. You be careful out there, and don’t you dare go hollow.