What Disappointing Entertainment Says About Eternity

Friday is the big day. If you're an RPG video game fan, then by now you've seen the trailers and game play footage. You're probably even watering at the mouth as much as I am, while also making a point to not schedule social activities for at least the next 2-3 weeks.

I've been between games again for a little while now, play testing my card game and playing "filler video games" for the last couple of months. But as the anticipation builds I find that the filler games just aren't scratching that nerdy itch like they used to. And more and more I'm itching for the kinda stuff that only Skyrim is likely to provide anytime soon.

The last time I was this excited about a game was for the release of "Dragon Age 2". Of course, Bethesda won't disappoint me like Bioware did, will they? Please?

(Sigh) Let's face it. The more we nerds let things like this build in our minds, the more likely they are to disappoint. There's an elusive standard of bliss that we keep thinking that next game or movie will match, but it never really does, or at least not for long.

I think it's a reminder that we weren't built for temporary fulfillment. The intention all along has been for us to be completely fulfilled and for that experience to last forever. We were engineered to anticipate and think in terms of "forever".

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
(Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV)

So while the nerd in me is still aching for Bethesda's next (hopefully) triumph to be released on Friday, I'm also aiming to remember that there's an experience waiting for me that a million of the best game designers working for billions of years couldn't achieve. And it won't get boring or stale with time. It will only get better and better... and last forever.