Video Games Were My Creative Hobby
Down + B. Pressing these buttons when throwing a Poké Ball increased its capture rate—supposedly. Come to think of it, it might just have been a myth. But I still did it anyway. Every single time. Like many other 90s kids, video games played a big part in my childhood. But for me, it was not only playing games. It was also making them.
On what I like to think of as The Afternoon That Changed My Life, my cousins introduced me to RPG Maker. As the name suggests, that piece of software allowed you to create role-playing games.
I love stories and RPGs have always been my favorite genre. For me, playing Final Fantasy was like watching a movie. Except the story took 60 hours to unfold. And I was the hero. That was a highly engaging experience as a kid. It took me months to finish one of those games!
So when given the opportunity to create what I liked most, I couldn’t resist. RPG Maker changed my very relation to video games. Suddenly, it was not only about playing games, it was also creating them. Video games became my creative hobby.
Now, creating games is very time-consuming. So as an amateur, you’re essentially a one-person studio. It takes a lot of different crafts to make even a basic video game. So by middle school, I was spending my days writing stories, creating all sorts of graphics, and even trying to make music.
That’s actually how I started spending so much time on computers in the first place. This video game-making hobby would eventually lead me to learn programming. Hadn't I did that, I don't think I would be a software engineer today. Talk about a life-changing afternoon.
In my 30s, I’m once again experiencing the life-changing power of following my curiosity.
I often come across people thinking that they haven't found “their thing.” Sometimes they even feel bad for not having “a passion.” But I believe passion is not something we choose. It is something we discover through experience.
I think it starts with something we like. Art, games, sports, whatever makes us happy. But, instead of only consuming it, let's put in efforts to create something (or practice it, if it's physical.) Going from consumption to action is the first step.
You might like it. And who knows where that might take you?
