Lost in an RPG

It is possible to say that I am part of the first generation of video gamers. When I was in the second grade of elementary school, Japan experienced the arcade game boom. We spent almost $1 just to play one video game. Young people might laugh about that, but at the time, we spent so much money.

Arcade games transformed PC games and home game consoles. When I was in my twenties, I stayed up all night for a few days in a row to play PC games. Young people might also laugh about that. I was almost addicted to video games.

Now I believe that I and video games have built a good relationship. I am not crazy about video games. On the contrary, I have discontinued many games. I can’t finish many role-playing games (RPGs). For several reasons, I quit many games for a few months or years.

Sometimes I thought, “I want to clear a certain video game and watch the ending scene because I spent money on that game.” Then I continued an RPG, but I couldn’t remember who I was and where I was. An NPC speak to me in a friendly manner, but I couldn’t remember who they were. Did I have any special abilities? Then I just walked around, but I walked in circles. When I wanted to recover, I couldn’t return to the recovery spot. Then I would die. I couldn’t remember anything. It is possible to think that Alzheimer’s disease might be like this.

I also replayed a major game company’s game. It always let me know the story so far when I played the game. When I had played the game every day, I thought it was annoying, but whenever I resumed playing after a long break, this helped me a lot.

When we talk to an Alzheimer’s disease patient, we should talk about the story so far again and again with patience.

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Picture by Mogutani