I am used to reaching “The End” in most of my video games… after adventuring through the entire narrative and accomplishing all of the missions I was tasked with, that is the expected outcome. What I am NOT accustomed to is my games “ending”… not just my personal play-through, but the ENTIRE GAME itself ceasing to exist. As a by-product of our increasingly digital future, even console-based video games are increasingly existing in a primarily digital state… some require a persistent online connection to play even if we are playing in single-player, others are a purely online experience, and many titles do not even receive a release in a physical disc/cartridge format. While this focus on existing as a digital product does come with some convenient benefits (no more discs getting cracks, no more cartridges getting lost, post-launch updates to fix bugs in the game, and being able to shop for games in my pajamas from my couch), there are also several VERY large downsides. In some cases like the drama surrounding the game “MultiVersus”, games can simply be “pulled” from access, leaving invested gamers high-and-dry until it returns or they get refunds. In other instances like “The Day Before”, games that exist in an exclusively online format can simply be erased from history as if they never existed (although to be fair, in this case that was kind of a good thing because that game was awful.) And in the most recent news that’s sure to get all gamers with a physical format preference upset, a Ubisoft executive shared the divisive insight that “gamers need to get comfortable with not owning their games”… a concept that sounds completely reprehensible to a long-time gamer like myself.

Purchasing video games over the years has represented more than merely a shopping experience for me… it was the highlight of a trip to the store or the mall I was at from my youth all the way through this present time. The act of selecting a game from the shelf, opening the cellophane wrapper, cracking open the case, and admiring the game before I even got home to play it was all part of the journey… buying a game wasn’t merely an acquisition, it was an experience to be savored from beginning to end. But as the world of gaming at large has slowly drifted from an art form to a commodity, concepts like a “subscription model” are becoming an ever-increasing part of the equation. As a life-long gamer, I have some decisions to make… I suppose I can “rage against the machine” in frustration and boycott this change (many gamers are already espousing piracy as a solution, although that only hurts the truly creative people at the heart of developing our favorite pastime).  I could also decide to “go retro”, exclusively seeking out and playing only the older games that still physically exist… but while that would allow me to continue to engage in my hobby, it means that I would miss out on all of the cool new stuff that is on the horizon. Over the years, I have watched as my means of consuming video games has transitioned from large cartridges to small cartridges, from discs to digital… and through each format change I have accepted aspects of these advancements that I didn’t enjoy just so I could continue to participate in the growth of my specific fandoms. But is this change the one that asks too much of us? Is this subscription concept and the lack of true ownership a bridge too far for me to personally cross? 

In my spiritual life, a similar conundrum exists… while I am always grateful for the way that the Lord continues to provide me with new ways to grow and expand in my faith on a daily basis, I rarely appreciate the means by which these changes come. When I ask the Lord to help me grow in an area like patience, this tends to show up in the form of challenges that will force me to exercise and develop patience… it doesn’t simply fall out of the sky and show up as a character trait in my skillset. When I pray for Him to use me in a manner that grows His kingdom, it is with the hope that He will present me with a platform to reach souls for Him… instead, it typically unlocks a whole new set of obstacles that I must navigate before that opportunity opens up. As everyone who has ever followed in the Lord’s footsteps has found, this walk only becomes more challenging and requires more from us as we draw closer to Him… the same pattern that Christ Himself experienced. As Christ’s ministry drew closer and closer to the cross He would eventually carry, His path only became more dangerous, His message more challenging to deliver, and His true followers smaller in number…

John 6:60-69 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

I have also found this to be true when examining those who followed Christ the closest in this life… as we venture farther down the narrow way, the restrictive nature of the path doesn’t just act as a deterrent to those who are not truly committed to following it, it forces those who have chosen to follow it to shed layer after layer of their own personal desires, ambitions, and assumptions to continue.

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

As the Apostle Paul demonstrated in His own pursuit of Christ, His continued persistence in following the Lord came at a high personal cost… not because the Lord was requiring it as a price of admission, but because like all of us Paul had an ever-present adversary on a mission to deter any potential followers from seeking God and finding Him.

2 Corinthians 11:23-28 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 

Sometimes it feels like my continued participation in my video game hobby and my pursuit of the Lord in my personal life have one very surprising thing in common… they both continue to require more from me if I intend to follow them. Over the years, I have grown from giving my saved-up quarters to my local arcades, my birthday card money to Nintendo, part of my paychecks to Sony, and now my debit card information to Microsoft. The cost of following my hobby has required more than simply my one-time investment into a PlayStation system… I have continued to acquire new consoles, proprietary controllers, and headsets to participate. I have had to adapt from my game saves being stored on a cartridge, to a memory card, to a hard drive, and now on a cloud server.  Each time they ask a little more from me, and I have to decide if I am willing to both pay the price as well as sacrifice the independence I previously possessed to continue to “play the game”. But I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised, since from day one of entering an arcade the screens on every cabinet were all asking me to “insert coins to continue”… and they are still asking me for that today, just in a different form.

This may be one of the more unintentionally divisive gaming takes I have ever presented, but hear me out. I am far from excited about the commodification of gaming into a “games as service” model… if it was up to me, I would be able to purchase the next adventure of Master Chief on an 8-bit NES cartridge. But the world that I live in now has changed in MANY ways since I purchased my first copy of Mike Tyson’s Punch Out… and just as newspapers, books, magazines, music, movies, and more have completely changed in their distribution models in my lifetime, video games are slowly but surely coming along for the ride. Do I have to love it? No… I don’t even have to continue down the path if I choose not to. But the future of gaming is simply not going to exist in the places where I used to enjoy them… all of those arcades have closed down, most of the retailers who sold me physical games have disappeared from the marketplace, and while all of my old games still work they can’t take me to the places that gaming is going next. I am at the valley of decision, and while the path forward is getting increasingly more uncomfortable and narrow, the cost to participate is not up to me… only my choice of whether or not to pay it is.

In our continuing walk with Christ, His death on the cross paid the full price of admission for our access to the very throne room of the Father (Galatians 3:13)… but we still have our own cross to bear if we are going to follow Him (Matthew 16:24-25). And as we consider the unwelcome idea of not owning our games in the future, an inconvenient truth is emerging about a reality we each must accept if we are going to walk in the footsteps of Christ… our acceptance of His purchase of our souls did not mean we are now set free and belong entirely to ourselves. We have simply transitioned our ownership to the Father (1 Corinthians 6:20)… we do NOT own ourselves, we were BOUGHT. And while our merciful and kind Father will lead us into green pastures that we could never have found on our own (Psalm 23:2-3), we will also find that parts of that journey will involve walking through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4). 

Playing video games will look dramatically different for my children and grand-children than it did for me… just playing newly created games in the next five years may not resemble the hobby I have spent most of my life following. I won’t get to determine how that future unfolds, just my level of participation in them. I would PREFER to own all my games physically, but if that option is eventually removed from the equation, then I will need to decide if I am willing to pay the price of the increasing restrictions that are being asked of me to “play the game”… a game I will not own, I will simply get to enjoy. In my very first job, I delivered newspapers on a bicycle… now I don’t even know the last time I held a physical newspaper in my hands. In my previous retail careers I have managed businesses that sold all manner of dead formats of media… I ran a photo lab (before we all started taking digital pictures on our phones). I sold CD’s, DVD’s, video games, magazines, and physical strategy guides… all before these became almost entirely digital mediums. I still appreciate every aspect of those experiences… they contain many of my fondest memories. But while I love going to a retro game store as much as anyone, the comfortable nostalgia I feel in these places will never bring me to the places where gaming is going in the FUTURE… a future that will require significant discomfort (and a deeper additional investment) to follow.

Similarly, if I want to continue in my journey with the Lord, I have to get comfortable with the idea of not owning MYSELF or the decisions that will populate my future… I belong to Him, as does the path I am called to walk on. This narrow way will take me to mountaintops beyond my wildest dreams as well as down through uncomfortable and undesired valleys that force me to change and adapt to the requirements of this walk… each step of the way causing me to make another determined decision to remain fully committed to Him no matter how challenging I find the next leap of faith to be. I don’t understand MANY of the paths that the Lord guides me on, and in my limited knowledge and understanding I rarely agree with them, either. But my choice to accept His payment for me means that I gave up my rights to myself… I have accepted His ownership and I am fully subscribed to His model of discipleship, even as that decision takes me to places I would have never gone on my own (John 21:18-19). And it will continue to ask more from me, until I have given all I have to give… and received more than I could ever comprehend in return in this life AND in the life to come (Mark 10:26-30).

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