Digital (Draft)

Rafael Magaña

Professor Amanda Reyes

English 100

23 January 2016

                                                               I: Loss

                      As a child, I was always fascinated with video games. I found comfort in knowing that I could come home and immerse myself in the worlds that were present in these games. At times, I often did it as an escape. When I was three years old, my father passed away and it visibly affected everybody in my family. For the next couple of years, my mother and sister were in a visible depression. I have no memory of my father. I can't even remember his voice, and I couldn't understand why he had been taken from me at such a young age. As a result, I often played games on the Super Nintendo that my father had bought for us before he passed away. I'd spend hours of my time playing Super Mario World with my sister and it definitely helped us through the time. Trust me, nothing was better than beating that game. I'll never forget beating it at 3AM with my sister. It's here where I believe my fascination with video games began. Around the age of 5, my mother bought me a Nintendo 64 for my birthday, and I couldn't have been happier.

                                                                  II: Courage

                      The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was one of the first games I got for the system. The game had a very creepy atmosphere, with the protagonist, Link, having three days to save the world before a moon crashes down and destroys the planet, killing everyone and destroying everything around him. He embarks on this journey unknowingly, with him searching for a friend that left him without warning. It was a pretty dark premise for a Nintendo game, and I was even scared to play it. Despite my fear, I forced myself to play it. No matter where you were in the game world, you'd constantly see the threat of the looming moon growing ever so closely, with it donning a disturbing face. Majora's Mask often dealt with the theme of death, with many of the characters you meet in the game often are seen coping with a loss, and are either in denial or depressed. Despite me being unsettled by the atmosphere of the game, especially since I also was still coping with a loss of my own, I felt connected to the protagonist, Link. He was ten years old, and was faced with impossible odds, yet is determined to save his own life and the lives of those around him. Unfortunately, though he ends up saving the planet, he still does not find his friend, leaving their fate ambiguous. Although I was well aware he was fictional, I admired Link. How could he continue on so courageously despite him failing in finding his friend? In a way, he represented the type of person that I wanted to become. Link's courage helped me get the courage continue on myself, despite the fact I’ll never see my father again. If I had not played Majora's Mask, I feel as if the grieving process would have been prolonged and would have been even harder than it was on me. It, quite literally, changed my life for the better.

                                                            III: Present Day

                      My experience with Majora's Mask , and video games in general, has always been good. I've always considered them an escape from reality, and they're pretty much always there when I need to unwind or just have fun. In recent years, it's become possible to even play and speak with friends online, whether it be down the street, or half-way across the world, even making them a good social platform, with it continually becoming more and more advanced by the day. Majora's Mask's themes of loss and death really resonated with me as a child, and now that I'm older I can truly see the significance of the themes that it presented. The impact that it had on me truly changed my life, and it influenced my views on life. That can be said for video games as a whole, with titles such as Bioshock, The Last of Us, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, among others, having some of the best stories I believe have ever been told. The medium is constantly evolving at a rapid rate, and I am excited to see where it'll be in a couple of years. Yet, I feel that no game will ever surpass Majora's Mask. It came along at a time in my life in which I felt sad, angry even, at the circumstances that I was presented with. It was a game that was hauntingly beautiful, and quite literally changed my life, and for that, I thank it.