How Gaming Saved My Life

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 gamified 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 socialise
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 extra-curricular 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 realise
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