Infatuation, Intemperance, and a Virtual Adventure

For the last few weeks, I've been infatuated with the PC video game Fate. In this game, players test themselves in dungeon battles, collect gold and weapons which can be kept and sold, and buy things that change their abilities and appearance (and those of your pet).

My first thought about this infatuation was to quit playing, and that's how I've handled previous fits of intemperance. However, my wife (who brought the game into the house) recommended moderation instead. Taking a step back, I thought a bit about what was happening.

What I realized was that I'm attracted to the game. I also realized that intemperance is a reaction to attraction. In my past, I've had intemperate reactions to crushes, to novels, and to food. In reading novels, for example, I've thought that my voraciously reading for the end was motivated by fear of being manipulated or tricked by the author. In this latest reaction, I see that instead, intemperance is an attempt to eliminate desire by satiating it. What I fear is that the beauty will seduce me and I will lose myself.

But I have encountered something else for whose beauty conquers me, that is Jesus Christ. Defended and saved by this victorious desire, I can ask why I have this other desire, what is it given for?

It turns out that the game Fate is the latest expression of a desire that goes back to middle school, when I read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings - and to high school, when I played Dungeons and Dragons with friends and played Zork online on the school district's mainframe. I left Dungeons and Dragons behind when I saw that working on a role playing character takes as much energy and creativity as building a life in the world, and that being a dungeon master takes energy and creativity that could find a wider audience in writing fiction, for example. There is something in me that is attracted to the symbolically rich world of Fate, to the test of battle, and to rich virtual worlds. The desire is in me, and I suffer it with the certain hope that it is given to me for a greater purpose.

The other thing has been the way my wife and I and the younger kids have come together in playing this game. We all have an interest in it, and we work together and help each other play. As a father, I have to use everything that happens as an opportunity to help the kids learn about life. Even my intemperance, then, can become an opportunity for helping the kids learn how to face their own infatuations.

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In the above screenshot, you can see my character, Frederique the Glorious, now that I have retired him. To his right, you can see the pet (dog) Barquer changed into a unicorn. In his right hand, Phrederique holds his Elite Flaming Claymore sword. His left hand once held a black tower shield with resistance to fire, ice, and electrical damage. My 9-year-old son has taken over the descendent of this character and for his inheritence he chose the tower shield. After my last quest, I sold off everything except the equipment on his back - in a gesture reminiscent of Everyman (from the Medieval mystery play of the same name) saying farewell to strength, good health, and the other allies of life.

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A review of Fate that captures the charm of the game.