(adj.); opposed to mirth, festivity, or fun
“For many of us, these systems provided a foundation for our childhood and opened the door to vast electronic worlds to explore, hack, experiment, and fail within. They taught us how to learn, compete, strategize, think critically, and, through multiplayer games, even socialize. They also taught us another, far more dangerous lesson through the form of an innocuous little button: reset.”
—Shane Saunderson, from “Everything I Know, I Learned From My Nintendo”
Humans are pleasure-seeking creatures, working hard in order to play harder. Even those of us who don’t take time to play in the present are usually so driven to work in pursuit of a future in which either they or their progeny don’t have to work. And for good reason: a little leisure time has been proven beneficial to creativity and problem-solving. But are there repercussions that come with so much play? In his essay for MISC, Shane Saunderson explores both the positive and negative effects of growing up with entertainment systems, and the danger of a generation raised on “reset.”
