Getting attached to a character you’ve created is nothing new, but I do admit that there have been a few that helped me get through real world struggles. A few months ago, unemployment and poverty were hitting me pretty hard. It seemed like no one was hiring, much less hiring me. The only thing I seemed to be succeeding at was video games. I believe, in a way, I created my own hero in a few of them. Someone that didn’t really resemble me at all, but that I learned a great deal from. The most significant out of all them was my Dragon Age: Origins character. I learned a lot of strength from him through those really tough times.
I chose the male, city elf, rogue, origin story. If you haven’t played that clunky old game yet, this origin story means that my character began his tale on his wedding day. In the city, elves are sequestered into Alienages, closed communities of elves within greater human cities. Thus, in this relatively small area, my character’s marriage was being celebrated as best as it could. During my endeavour to explore everything and get to know the people my character called family, a lordling by the name of Vaughan Kendells decided to bully some elves for fun. The sadistic bastard threatened my cousin and fiance with violence and imprisonment, until Shianni (the cousin) hit him over the head. Vaughan’s friends carried him off, threatening revenge the whole way. Though I’d only been playing my character for maybe twenty minutes, I did know a lot about being a minority. This clearly wasn’t new to the other elves either, so everyone did their best to continue to celebration regardless.
I was about to say “I do” when Vaughan and his friends came back with an armed force. As was law for city elves, we were all unarmed and defenceless against the lordling’s forces. Vaughan abducted all the women, including my cousin and bride, before my character had a chance to do anything. I was up in arms and ready to save my princess before my character’s father could stop talking and let me leave.
This incident, along with the majority of the game, made me feel that my character’s actions were very justified. By the time my character became a Grey Warden, I felt armed, dangerous, and extremely confident. I fought Darkspawn and came out alive, I could do anything – even tackle a dragon.
Oddly enough, this confidence began to bleed into the time I spent searching for jobs and attending interviews. Writing cover letters turned from gruelling exercises in what I believed to be half-truths, into a confident challenge of my writing prowess. Even my thought process started changing. Instead of “I’m so under-qualified please hire me anyway,” I started thinking “what would my Warden do?”. The answer was always something confident, something I could actively do instead of worrying about my state of unemployment.
For example, if I faced one of the most amazing opportunities ever (a writing position at BioWare would certainly be a dream) I would ask myself what my Warden would do: Be diplomatic, write my cover letter like I’m persuading Loghain himself to give up his evil doings. Know my skills and create a resume like I’m customizing my rogue skill tree. And finally, kick ass in the interview like I’m the only one anywhere near qualified to do the job. After all, no one but a Grey Warden can defeat the Archdemon.
I learned from my Warden’s strength in a way I couldn’t with anyone in real life. More importantly than learning to be more confident in myself, I learned that I could use video games to deal with life. Sure, adulting isn’t really about defeating the Darkspawn or saving the world. It’s about struggling through the depression that unemployment brings and the inadequacy you feel every time someone more successful than you gives you advice. But just as my Warden had to defeat the Archdemon, I had to defeat my willingness to give up. He was definitely by biggest hero at the time.