In the Dark, I Find a Light

As what is left of a tropical storm passes by, the power in my home goes out. In dealing with it, many of the situations make me think of video games. It is a strange case of games seeping back into the real world, though in far less accusatory ways than usual.

This could be what started it out: upon waking, I hear the sound of my ceiling fan starting up, then shutting back down, fluctuating with the start and stop of the power until it stops altogether. Oddly enough, this sound is strikingly similar to the sounds the electrical boxes make in Limbo. Maybe if my fan naturally had that “wet” aesthetic that is so popular in indie music right now, that Limbo liberally uses, it would sound the same.

It is something like 3 A.M., it is dark and I would like some light. I Pick Up Flashlight. Use Flashlight with Room. But of course that flashlight doesn’t work. Then I, in a slight showing of over reliance on an electronic device, Pick Up Cell Phone and Use Cell Phone with Room. As I walk downstairs, I realize the phone gives off that eerie glow that Far Cry 2 does to the character in the dark. Now, I realize they were just using the screen of their cell phone too.

After finding no batteries (the most direct thought never works), I pick up a working flashlight from the drawer. The immediate reaction after turning it on was, “This is way brighter than video games.” Games so often have such a hard edged darkness, I forgot just how soft real lighting actually is—the light reflects far more. Though it is possible if my home was a darkly colored corridor, it would be darker. After that, I got duct tape and modded my flashlight to be attached to my gun so that I don’t have to switch between them to shoot the monsters—wait, no, that isn’t right.

While none of these real world-video game cross overs match up to the desire of wanting to roll things up in a giant ball and send them into outer-space, it is surprising how pervasive video games can be. Maybe this whole simulated space thing has surprising, unrealized facsimiles of real life thought. Maybe that could be put to use to make us really engage in—hey, the power is back on!