When did I start trusting computer games? It was only recently. I still have to remind myself ever so often to go with the flow and trust the game is neither trying to to trip me over, nor break and leave me stuck at the worst possible time. I do not have to scour every single room early on for every last piece of ammunition and health, nor should I be saving before turning every single corner. On the whole, games are actually made to be played and enjoyed, rather than be sadistic sinks of time and joy.
On the other side of this distrust was a certain aspect of game breaking. If I collect more things, move more carefully and conserve the maximum amount of resources, will it make my path easier? Indeed, the final battle is made easier if you have a game's worth of power-ups to throw into it. On the other hand, moving through everything else at a snail's pace, trying to use nothing but the weak weapon with infinite ammunition whenever possible, might just make the journey both more boring, and also a lot longer.
Endings, by the way, are the worst part. I have to work really hard to not expect the rug to be completely pulled from underneath everything the game has taught me with some kind of difficult rule-changing (and possibly timed, I hate timers) challenge.
Kind of makes me wonder what kind of trauma caused me to go down this path? Was it simply the unforgiving nature of old games?
Whatever the causes, I did start to shake the distrust along the way. I think multiplayer games helped a bit, with their chaotic nature and short sessions there was no far-off goal to conserve for. Last night, I started on Bioshock (#lasttotheparty) and clearly noticed how little I worried about my resource gathering. I picked up what I saw, used my abilities and trusted more resources would come along. I also dared to keep moving, trusting the game to not punish me randomly, trusting its indications of what to do were actually … trustworthy.
Bioshock, wind and rain against the window, lights off, headphones on … Not a bad way to experience it.