Learning the Value of Balance

Ever since I was a kid, I had a lot of love for games, but I didn’t have any device to play them on. The first time I played a game was when I was six years old, on my father’s laptop. It was an online game, and honestly, it wasn’t that great — but that was the moment when my craze for games began.

Controller —Image credit: Dallas College blog, “Video Games: A Hobby and a Career.”

A year later, during our summer holidays, we went to Pakistan. One day, my cousin showed me a game on his computer called Assassin’s Creed. I instantly loved it. It was open world, and I could do whatever I wanted.

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I asked my mamu (my mother’s brother) about the game, and the next day he brought me two CDs.

• One was the original Assassin’s Creed
• The other was Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.

I was very happy that day. I still have those CDs in my drawer.

Which was your very first favorite video game?

Images of game I played—Image credit: Screenshots sourced from PlayStation (Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag game page) and IMDb media viewer.

When I returned home, I installed the first game and spent hours playing it. After that, I tried to install the next game, but my father’s laptop couldn’t handle it. Still, because I was so crazy about the game, I searched for other parts of the series and found four games that could run on that laptop. Since their stories were connected, it felt like watching a movie. I wanted to continue, but my laptop didn’t support the newer games.

My father’s old laptop — Image credit: Jarir Bookstore product page for Toshiba C850-B992 laptop.

For the next six to seven years, I couldn’t play any more games from the series. I was a topper in my class (not flexing, but I sill am), and my parents didn’t buy me a PC, Xbox, or PlayStation. Even though I cried for it, the rule was the rule. My father always said, “No Xbox in this house.”

My gaming laptop— Image credit: Popular Mechanics, “Best Gaming Laptop” article.

After getting good marks in my Class 10 board exams, I finally got my first gaming laptop. It felt like a dream come true. I unboxed it and downloaded the heaviest game I could find, Red Dead Redemption 2. The graphics were beautiful and realistic.

Very popular game— Image credit: Epic Games Store product page for Red Dead Redemption 2.

After that, I downloaded the latest Assassin’s Creed game, and as expected, it was amazing.

Then something strange happened

After finishing it, I downloaded the next one. Even though the map was the largest I had ever seen, I soon lost interest. I downloaded other famous AAA games as well, but none of them gave me the same excitement I once had.

AAA games— Image credit: XTechZPlus blog, “Ubisoft reveals new price for all upcoming AAA games.”

Right now, I have more than ten popular games on my laptop, but I don’t feel like playing them anymore.
This made me realize something important. When something becomes too easily available, it slowly loses its charm. That’s how I concluded that excess of everything is bad — even the things you love the most.

Graph showing excess is bad— Image credit: Pinterest (original source not specified).

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