Let's be honest, whatever the intention of dead day, studying is boring and even when we're studying, we're looking for a distraction. I am even now finding distractions from things I should be doing. Specifically, I'm not writing a paper for my Ancient Technology class. Throughout the second half of this semester, I've found one of the most effective means of distracting myself that has possibly ever existed (as if I actually needed help getting distracted). Skyrim.
Skyrim is a role-play game for the Xbox. Generally RPGs have a general story line and a few side quests that effectively distract you from the main quest (that way you can be distracted from your distraction). This particular game is INSANE!!! There are so many side quests and changeable features that you can play several different times with several different results. There's a huge map that is entirely explorable. You can just walk around the world of Syrim for hours even days and still discover things you've never seen. It makes it incredibly easy to get distracted over and over again.
I was first told about this game by my bestestest friend in the entire world, DJ. He first told me about it quite a while ago and then let me comendere his Xbox the weekend it came out and start my first character. Unfortunately for me, my roommate also has the game. I have made two more characters since that weekend. I love my first one to death. I would hate to meet my second one down a dark alley. I hate my third one.
For the next few paragraphs to make any sense, you're going to need some background on the story of the game. In order for the background of the story to make much sense, there are some things you need to know. There are several species of playable characters in the game. There are the cat-like Khajiit, the lizard-looking Argonians, Orcs, a few species of Elves, and several breeds of humans. The only playable race native to Skyrim are the Nords, a race of humans very similar to the Norse of our world.
Skyrim is a province of a continent called Tamriel. Tamriel is governed by an empire. Skyrim is ruled over by a high king who is generally allowed to rule by the Emperor. Sometime before the start of the game, a man called Ulfric killed the high king and instigated a civil war between his followers, known as Stormcloaks, and the Imperial Legion. The Stormcloaks' goal (ignoring the political issue of whether or not Ulfric wants to be high king) is to reclaim Skyrim for the Nords. They view all other races as inferior. At the start of the game, the player's character is about to be executed by the Empire when a dragon attacks (dragons were thought to be extinct). Through the course of the main quest, the player's character finds out that they are "Dragonborn," which means that they can use the power of dragons to convert their voice into various attacks and abilities and that it is their destiny to destroy the dragons.
FUS RO DAH is a shout the Dragonborn learns along the way. Each shout is made of three words and FUS is the first word the Dragonborn will generally learn. As you learn the other words it gets more powerful. FUS RO DAH has the effect of sending out a blast that staggers your enemy (and anyone else in your way). Here's a perfect example:
FUS RO DAH!!!So there's the main quest line to destroy the dragons, the civil war (in which you can join either side or simply let them fight for eternity), and any other quest lines you feel like getting involved with. That's about as summed up as I can make it. If you think that sounds nerdy and complicated, try actually playing the game. I really only got you up to the beginning of the game with that little summary.
The things I really want to talk about, though, are my characters.
My first character was a Khajiit. As I worked with him, I realized that I preferred using magic or summoning something else to fight for me. Because of this and the fact that I insisted on wearing the strongest armor I could find, DJ deemed him a "battle mage". That term just made me love him more. Naturally, with him, I joined the mage's college to improve my magic. However, despite being my first and most loved character, he is on DJ's console and I haven't gotten to play much with him.
My second character is the one I've played with the most. He's an Argonian and with him, I've travelled through time, been to the other side of death, become leader of a fighting group, joined up with an assassin's guild that tried to kill him three times, bought a house, gotten married, and saved the world. We've been busy. I have also gained an in-game (an often out-of-game) obsession through him with a race called the Daedra (demon-like creatures). This is mostly because they have really cool weapons and gear. Because of all that Daedric gear, he looks terrifying.
An interesting tidbit to remember about him: Despite being an Argonian, his tale is his only feature that would let you distinguish him from human. This is because he rarely if ever takes off a mask that he got from a Daedric prince. I'll circle back to this later.
My third character is an Orc. I dealt with him differently. With him, I tried to define a character and then work with what that left me. I have found that this severely limits my options with him. About the only interesting thing I've done with him is join the imperial legion.
These characters have led me to some interesting discoveries that have less to do with Skyrim and more to do with you and me. Brace yourselves.
FUS
I started thinking about why I like my first two characters so much and hate my third one. By all rights, I should like the third one better. After all, he's the one I deliberately had the most control over as I played because I wasn't as swept up in the story line.
Did you catch the end of that paragraph? I wasn't swept up in the story line.
With my first two characters, I simply played the game and let my experiences therein define the character. With my third one, I worked very hard to impose this character upon the world rather than let the world make the character. As you go through quests and help (or hurt) people, you are given skills and weapons and apparel that help to make your character who they are. By trying to impose my character upon this world, I found so much of the things that happened to simply be a waste.
Now let's flip it around. Have you ever tried to force yourself into being someone? How'd it work out for you?
Very rarely have I ever met someone who entered the world knowing who they were going to be. Besides that, even when those people did know, they generally found themselves changing along the way and becoming something different. If you try to force this character you've created upon the world, you may find many of your experiences to be wasted and a frustrating waste of time. Instead if you let yourself get swept up in the story that is your life and allow all of your experiences to become a part of who you are, you'll find yourself to be a much richer character and you may enjoy your life more.
If you thought that was good, I'm just getting started.
RO
As I mentioned earlier, my second character is a bit of a Daedric enthusiast and as part of one of those quests, he received a mask. Before I got the mask, I was fine with the way my character looked. I could rock a helmet pretty well, but that mask changed everything. Since then, he has worn some kind of mask at all times (unless the game forced me to do otherwise).
This led me to an interesting revelation about the character: He hates the fact that he's an Argonian.
I've realized that this character has worked very hard to cover up every sign he can that he's an Argonian. Up until I realized this, I hadn't touched the civil war. My character went ahead and saved the world after leading what most people in this world would consider a full life, but the war raged on. With the revelation of this twinge of self-loathing (which I have since decided my character doesn't even realize about himself), I decided that he should join with the Stormcloaks (who also have a hatred for all non-Nords), because he would identify with them.
Now, some of you are saying that I did with this character exactly what I said I hated about my first character. Wrong! The truth is that this situation is very different. You see, I didn't try to force characteristics upon my character, but identified characteristics the story had forced upon him and acted on them. Balance.
You see, acting on your characteristics is not a bad thing. I know that I'm a sucker for characters and stories, so I read and watch movies and write and play ridiculous video games like Skyrim. I never sat down and said, "I'm going to like stories." No, I realized that for some reason, I like them, so I act on that.
This is where you meet the world. Up to a point, the world is going to define you. There's nothing wrong with letting it do so. Despite what many people are saying these days, It's completely natural to allow the world to define you. However, you must have some balance. It's important to realize what the world has made you into so that you can either choose to act on or avoid certain characteristics. If the world has turned you into a dark and hateful person, that's no excuse. You have a responsibility to discover what the world has done to you and see yourself for who you are. If you don't like what you see, you have a right to change things.
To review, we've seen two ends of the scale: trying to force yourself upon the world and letting the world rule you. Balance between the two is the key.
So what's the trick to balance?
In Bible studies with Preach'rman, he often talks about the characters involved in the stories. We have spent large amounts of time trying to find those characters in us. He refers to this as letting the Bible interpret us, or "meeting ourselves". It's a very interesting concept, because I think so very few people have met themselves. Very few people have identified who they are. If you don't identify who you are, you're no better than those people that try to force themselves to be something they're not.
The trick to balance with my Argonian was identifying his self-hatred. Had I not come to that realization, I probably wouldn't have taken a side in the civil war at all and missed out on a very interesting quest line.
The trick to balance in your life is living in between the ever-changing character the world has made you into and the ever-changing character you hope to become.
DAH
Today, I'm hoping to push you into living in that gray area. Somewhere between who you planned to be and who you plan to be lies who you are. So ask yourself this:
Where are you on the scale? Is the world ruling you? Are you trying to force yourself into being a character you're not?Who are you?
