Fantasy Escapes Essay, Research Paper

Fantasy Escapes

What does it mean to escape? Why do people need to escape? Both questions deal with how people cope with their everyday lives. The first one is easy; to escape means to leave your cares and worries behind for just a little while out of each day. The second one is also similar; if people did not take breaks from life they would wear themselves down too fast. This is where taking a trip to a fantasy land can help. The whole fantasy genre can be seen, as a way to escape the reality of life, be it through books, role-playing, or computer games.

One of the many ways people can relax and escape the world is through reading for pleasure. One category that has become popular is the fantasy genre. This category includes a wide selection of titles that are appealing to many age groups. One of the many things that are appealing about the fantasy genre is how the authors bring you into the world that they create. Each author creates his or her own world and fills it with people and creatures from their imaginations. It is with these characters that the plot starts off and draws the reader into the world. Once in this imaginary world the readers start to see the pictures that the authors are trying to paint for them, lands full of beauty and mystery, comedy and drama. It is these elements that really make the readers appreciate the author’s hard work as they slip out of the real world and into the one that the author has painted for them. This is why readers will pay for series of books: to follow the path of their favorite hero, or re-visit the land they once loved, because as they read on their imagination is put to work playing out the scenes that they are reading. That is one of the best parts about books, knowing that you can always pick up where you left off.

One of the more interesting ways of escaping reality is through the practice of fantasy role-playing. Role playing is a is a fun way of creating and living a life that can not happen due to the real world limitations. It is this freedom that is so attractive to many people as it allows them to do anything they can imagine. Role-playing has many different styles, ranging from old pencil and paper, to live action, and even chat room based ones. Role-playing has been around for quite a while, but has gained most of its popularity with the official creation of the Dungeons & Dragons? series. With D&D everything is based off of some funny looking dice, a game master who is responsible for the plot, and the different player characters. Another more recent addition to role-playing is live action. Live action is very similar to a play. The characters are in costume and act everything out. Unlike a play there is no script and everything is created from imagination. With the age of computers and the Internet in effect, role-playing has started to branch out into the chat room communities. Chat room based RP’s are very similar to pencil and paper ones, but are not as dependant upon rules and dice rolls. They are more like a story in which all players contribute to the plot. With these examples it can be seen that role-playing games are similar to fantasy based books. Based on the way you imagine what the world around you is like. Role-playing is also different due to the fact that with a book the author is painting the picture, and with role-playing the players are in control. It is the ability to control a player that makes role-playing such an enjoyable hobby.

A more modern and visually stimulating escape can be accomplished by the use of computer games. With the evolution of the computer, many games started with text based programs that would display crude graphics to complement a story. As time wove on computers became more complex and so did the programs that ran on them. Now many programs use advanced graphic interfaces to move the user through, this is no exception for games. Now games are highly graphic based and are able to give the user a better picture of what is happening. This has been very helpful for the fantasy-based games, as it gives the user a better representation of how the plot has progressed. The new style of fantasy games allow users explore the game world more and be excited when they see the results of their actions take place on the screen. Some of these titles are also considered to be role-playing games and while they are limited by technology still they are ever advancing. Now there is a new aspect that has been added to these games, that is the multiplayer aspect. With this new addition people are able to interact with one another from within the game world. While most games only allow 4 to 16 people to be in one game world at a time there are several games on the market that have thousands of players in the same world simultaneously. One of the most notable of these games (and a personal favorite) is Everquest. Everquest is an online role-playing game with a large community of players and a wide range of ages. This game is interesting in the way that a person can develop strong friendships with fellow players, but this is also how the game can become addicting, by finding friends and working together just get a little further in the game. With all of these games out there it should be very easy to find one and lose yourself inside the game world.

With all of the different ways to get away from life, going the route of a fantasy voyage can seem a little different. These different but uplifting ways can make your life a little easier to live. If they do not suit you there are many other paths that lead to relaxation and happiness.