A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed.
Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a game series where the person behind the main character is just as important in the protagonists’ success as anyone, the “Uncharted” franchise.
Everyone Needs a Mentor
“Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – George Santayana
More than likely you’ve heard, read or even stated the famous quote above without the thought of how it applies to the person making the statement. Used as a way to remind the speaker regarding past personal and impersonal transgressions & mistakes of how to improve their lives and maybe even the lives of others, this quote has turned into a way to both scold & educate those who don’t know what happened before their time. With this usage of a Mr. Santayana’s phrase comes the truth that one cannot learn all that is necessary alone – everyone needs that knowledgeable individual (or even a team) to bestow all the wisdom necessary for a future generation to thrive no matter the occupation or benefit to society. It doesn’t matter if someone intends to be a scientist, carpenter, or world-traveling thief, everyone…. Wait a minute – “world-traveling thief?”
Yep, even thieves have to start somewhere with a grizzled veteran of the game ready to take the bright-eyed hopeful under their tobacco smoke-smelling wing – no better example of this comes courtesy of the “Uncharted” franchise. The orphan known as “Nathan Drake” is discovered for being an adolescent street crook looking to rob a heavily-guarded museum by the freelancin’, whiskey drinkin’, cigar choppin’ Victor “Sully” Sullivan – a man with the talents of wielding a shotgun as well as wooing the ladies. For the next decade after saving Nathan from a life of imprisonment, Sully teaches the young Drake what to look for when scavenging for treasure, how to defend himself in combat, and what it’s like to rock a Hawaiian t-shirt without being a big, fat party animal (though it seems Nathan never quite understood the power of style like Victor).
But the main reason Sully is a great mentor is because he saved the life of someone going down the path of destruction even if the racket he brought him into made his protégé a killer of hundreds of nameless goons. For the generation of old it’s easy to condemn what is to come. But unless the predecessors step up, the generation that follows has no choice but to fail.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing “Uncharted” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.