The Video Game and the Essence of Modern Entertainment

The video game, in its modern conception, is an immensely useful tool for understanding the evolution of the methods of entertainment adopted by people, which in the last thirty or forty years have undergone a transformation so rapid that it has not even been recorded (or almost) by those who were experiencing it firsthand. Two or three generations before ours, entertainment was limited to a few, very few forms, well known to all and widely spread among the population: the cinema, reading, going for walks, going out socially. Individuals seemed to entertain themselves with what society had scrupulously prepared for them, in the predetermined times and spaces, without any kind of exaggeration.

In order to enjoy oneself, one almost always clung to an external cause, as if the very essence of enjoyment could in no way be separated from the external agents that produced it (actors in a theater, a book, a film on television or at the cinema, the landscapes and clubs of the big world). It was mostly a passive form of entertainment, in which people willingly threw themselves into the arms of the dispensers of entertainment and relaxed, enjoying what they were doing without thinking about anything at all, and focusing solely on the present moment.

The Digital Revolution

The advent of modernity and digitalization has changed everything, bringing with it a wave of renewal that has profoundly changed the tastes and customs to which we had been accustomed for decades, perhaps even centuries. The video game, more than any other kind of entertainment, has caused a rapid evolution of the concept of fun, transforming it into an active and above all participatory experience, in which the person assumes a crucial importance, even decisive. We are no longer passive and relaxed spectators of our amusements: we ourselves are personally involved in the vortex of our amusements, and we contribute in a decisive way to the development and consolidation of the sensations linked to their enjoyment, of this pleasure that we are no longer able to give up, not even for all the gold in the world. If we are not involved, the fun does not seem complete, but only partial, as if we were passively watching a movie without feeling anything at all.

Fun, also thanks to video games, has become a totally immersive experience that has brought back to the center the role of the individual, raising his personality and increasing in him the desire to be the absolute protagonist (if not the real creator) of his own fun, in every phase. In this sense, we can say that the video game has certainly contributed greatly to the understanding of the true nature of entertainment, or at least to its redefinition in a modern key, highlighting very clearly the specific weight of the individual in the enjoyment of this entertainment. We have come closer, so to speak, to grasping the essence of absolute enjoyment, that which can have no limits, and which in all likelihood has already been partially intuited, if not actually glimpsed or experienced firsthand. It is the pure form of fun, in which the human being has a key role, essential, becoming almost the generating principle.

The centrality of the human being

The will of the human being to be the active protagonist of the events in which he is engaged, on the other hand, is a characteristic of our times, it is a product of modernity, and specifically of that technological advancement that led to the birth and development of social media, of sharing, of viral content, through which the consciences of individuals have changed forever. This can be seen in the attachment, in some cases morbid, shown by some people towards certain social issues, primarily towards sustainability, which can be fully appreciated only if we, in our own small way, contribute personally to save the planet and protect its natural ecosystems. Knowing that our actions could contribute to saving the world, in this sense, has given everyone one more reason to engage socially, to work, if not even to live.

The value of immersive and all-encompassing experiences is also well-known to platforms specializing in sports betting, like ArabianBetting, where each user can find the best and safest solution to place their bets in total serenity. The sites where you can bet, from the first to the last, have been chosen according to specifically human needs: not only the security and reliability of the platform, but also a certain kind of attitude of the staff dedicated to customer care, which must always be kind and full of consideration towards the player. Again, thanks to the extreme attention paid to details, the player feels perfectly in control of his destiny, his fate and, ultimately, his entertainment.

What will be the future of entertainment? Maybe it’s still too early to answer this question, but we can surely venture that in the long run, in a not too distant future, the most authentic forms of entertainment will be those that are able to involve people more and more, exciting them in different and exciting ways.

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