Gamers Without Borders

(album: Generation Gaming XXII: She Wants The D-Pad - 2021)

Video games helped me survive through the hardest times
Gaming kept me alive through the darkest nights
Gaming let me live a little life in my mind
That I could quit if I didn't like it but wouldn't have known it
If I didn't try, think of it as a different type of literature, cinema
The vision of a different eye, my daily life changed
Since I've game-ified it, made it mine
It wouldn't be the same if I'd stayed inside my ailing mind
I've been failing life, unable to find a way to hide it
This pain inside gets greater yet I'm taking pride in it
My brain is trying, playing mind games so I'm playing my games
To stabilise and save my life, games let me keep score
When otherwise I wouldn't be able to summarise
The basic reason why I'm even here for
See a door and open it, see a portal, go for it
See, although you're motionless
You know to click and open up that coconut
We speak for those that haven't spoken up
There's loads of us, we were asleep but now we've woken up

Games helped me survive through the hardest times
Gaming kept me alive through the darkest nights

Although on the surface it seemed I was sitting isolated
My purpose really was to socialize outside my cage
You see, this virtual world was the environment
I'd find my mates in and be part of something larger
Than the size of my location
I came to judge others on character traits and not their nation
Learnt team work, communication and co-operation
I played Civilization with other civilizations
Traded shots, gifts and information
Give and take, my Game Boy's old and grey
But it's the same Game Boy that I hold today
How could I have sold it?
Faced the pain of seeing it thrown away?
So now, it sits by my Switch, another generation
Gaming gave me a rich extracurricular education
I went to places and ages school never bothered teaching
The USSR to Egypt and even more farther reaching
I've been part of the crowds in revolutionary France
Fleetingly felt what it felt to give a brand new future a chance
I empathised with other points of view, living in a bubble
What else was a country boy to do?
In fact, I took my surroundings for granted 'til my eyes
Fell upon an Oblivion sunset, nearly cried
Waited for the dawn to come, morning sun
Feel it rise, now I appreciate experiencing the real skies
I come outside, summer rain splashes on the paving
And I'm like, "These graphics are amazing!"
How many polygons are in a single drop of liquid?
The figure's probably bigger than even your God predicted
The laws of physics are a code by which we're not restricted
'Cause we've been modding it since the first bit of rock was lifted
Real life and VR life are going to be like Spot the Difference
It's not really a surprise, we realize we got addicted
Logging in can steal time until we've lost the big picture
Popular opinions we see online are often twisted
But despite the cost of this, I'm highly optimistic
To leaf the drop and reach the top
We've got to risk it, we've got to paint on the wall of the cave
Unless we want to keep replaying the oldest of saves
You're not just holding the fort, mate
You're holding your fate
That's why I'll take my control to the grave
So until the day my face is like my Game Boy
Old and grey, I will remember that I'm never too old to play

Games helped us survive through the hardest times
Gaming kept us alive through the darkest nights
We speak for those that haven't spoken up
There's loads of us, we were asleep
But now, we've woken up
Games helped us survive through the hardest times
Gaming kept us alive through the darkest nights
We speak for those that haven't spoken up
There's loads of us, we were asleep
But now, we've woken up

Games helped us survive through the hardest times
Gaming kept us alive through the darkest nights
Games helped us survive through the hardest times
Gaming kept us alive through the darkest nights
Games helped us survive through the hardest times
Gaming kept us alive through the darkest nights