Games are a unique medium of entertainment. They allow players to not just enjoy the experience crafted for them, but to create their own individual experiences along the way. Games can be played exactly the way the designers thought it would, exactly the opposite way to that or anywhere on the infinite spectrum in between. That spectrum is what fundamentally sets games apart from any other media.
Think of a book. The writer creates a story in their own mind, crafts it in such a way as to lead their readers on a specific journey and send sit on its way. There's always room for interpretation and speculation, but the story is what it is. A second read through may change a reader's thoughts or perspective on the story but the events and words on the page remain the same.
A similar concept applies for films, though they tend to be even more directed. Instead of people imagining how events unfold and what they look like, films lay bare the entire experience in front of you exactly the way the creators want it to be. Again, interpretation, guesswork and perspective add some interactivity but what happens in that film will always remain the same no matter how many times it's watched.
When it comes to games though, every single time a game is played it will be slightly different. Maybe it's as small as someone waiting half a second before moving right when they play a platformer while someone else tries moving left. Maybe it's giving your first Pokémon a funny nickname while a friend doesn't name them at all. Maybe it's deciding to betray and kill your friend and mentor for the promise of more power whilst another player will stand by them and fight in an RPG. However large or small the scale, each game is played differently every single time in imperceptible ways.
It's this infinite variety that gives video games both their longevity and their immersive qualities. Players have agency. A book can describe the end of the world but a game can let you cause and experience it, or even prevent it. A film can show a hero saving the world but a game allows you to be that hero, or be the villain trying to destroy that world, or be a bystander trying to protect their small home from the carnage.
The glories, the heartbreaks, the shocks, the horrors, the victories, the rewards and the challenges; a book reader or film watcher will share in these experiences with the characters but to a video game player, they belong to that player as much as they do to the character. A character may implement a solution to a puzzle but they don't do the thinking that solves it. In this way, players are challenged, made to have an active part in the events on screen rather than being a passive observer to those events.
This isn't to say that books or films are inferior in any way at all; the great masterpieces of literature and film are incredibly powerful and entertaining. This post is not trying to deter anyone from reading or watching anything or trying to 'convert' anyone. It is trying to show that games fulfil a different and unique purpose in the entertainment world that no other art form can replicate, that being the idea of player agency (being able to change and interact with the game world).
This has been rather flowery but the basic message is this: games are amazing because you can play them, meaning you can change them every time you start them up.
There will be occasional discussion and rambles like this on this blog, there will be plenty of reviews and maybe other things I've not thought of yet. This first post was to get a feel for it and dive into why I feel games are the greatest form of entertainment in modern society. I could have gone on but I think that's enough ramble to be getting on with for now.
With all that said, welcome to MisterDiggsGaming! The site is going to focus mostly on RPG's above all else but it will venture outside that realm from time to time. Feedback would be massively appreciated as this is not just a blog for me to ramble (though it's definitely that too), it's to entertain what will hopefully become a regular readership. Until next time!