We play games when we hang out with friends, we play them online with people from all over the world, and we play them while sitting on our couches. There is literally a game for any occasion on covering a wide range of themes. The reasons for playing are as wide as the assortment. I have mentioned before that I use games as a stress relief, which has been true since high school. I also play games, specifically video games, because I love the universes and stories they introduce. However, there is another side to these games that I haven’t put much thought into and I think it is about time that I do.
Games nowadays are extremely beautiful and have become an art form. Tabletop roleplaying systems like Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition has incredibly gorgeous artwork throughout the books. Not only does this artwork give you a better understanding of what a character or setting is supposed to look like, they also serve as an advertisement for themselves.
The very first thing my good friend brought up when he picked up the Player’s Handbook was how beautiful all the art is. If you have a chance to flip through D&D 5E, and you should, you will be amazed at how beautiful it all is. And this is not just limited to D&D 5E, Pathfinder also has incredible artwork, artwork that I think far exceeds that of D&D 3.5 which it is very closely related to in spirit. You can find amazing artwork in pretty much any tabletop RPG out there. This beauty is not just limited to roleplaying books, the current crop of video games also are quite beautiful.
This brings me to a reason people play games that I was completely ignorant of until a couple months ago. A WoW guild mate of mine got me into Elite:Dangerous, which I have blogged about before. Since I wrote that blog, I have been able to get a decent combat ship and greatly enjoy flying around, collecting bounties off of wanted ships. We were also able to get several other WoW guild mates to try out Elite, and it was something a couple of them said that really caught my attention.
They wanted to get enough money to buy a nice exploration ship and just fly around the galaxy exploring all that is available. All the while they were doing this, they kept saying how beautiful the game is, and it truly is. Because they thought the game was beautiful, they decided to explore. Exploration has been a part of Elite ever since it came out, but I never put much thought into it. I thought it would be boring as all you do is fly from one system to another scanning everything you can find. However, after hearing a couple of my guild mates talk about how beautiful the game was, I started paying closer attention. The images of Elite that I have included in this post were taken after I opened my eyes a bit and really started looking at the game.
So, it turns out, people also play video games to appreciate beauty. Now I know beauty is subjective, but the human race, in general, has been fascinated with space for centuries. We have constantly wondered, and still wonder, what is out there. Elite:Dangerous shows us an idea of what could be, and it is magnificent.
Have you ever checked out a game just because the artwork was appealing? If so, what game was it? Please leave a comment and/or share on Twitter.
The Social Benefits of Gaming 
Great post! I have to admit that almost all of my open-world (computer) games end with me exploring the continent to no end 🙂
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