Autonomy In Gaming

Out of every form of entertainment, only one requires actual input beyond physically turning pages or briefly using a remote.  Only one requires more than a basic understanding of a language in order to maximize enjoyment.  Moreover, anyone who has played a video game with core mechanics built around puzzles, exploration, and careful observation has directly experienced how video games are a way to express intellectual autonomy of sorts.  After all, an independent player generally solves puzzles, locates collectibles, and navigates new environments alone.

Some puzzles, collectibles, or environmental features are associated with clues so vague that either a walkthrough or an accidental discovery is usually necessary to decipher/find them, but this is not the case with many puzzles and collectibles.  Numerous video games offer contextual hints that a careful observer can use to discover a secret or solve a minor or major puzzle.  In this regard, playing a video game by only looking to a rational analysis of the information provided onscreen is an exercise in autonomy not unlike looking to reason rather than others to navigate both philosophy and everyday life.

Playing exploration or puzzle-based video games that offer some degree of challenge is an easy way to either develop or enjoy the ability to adapt to new information on one's own, the ability to reason out sound probabilistic judgments, and the ability to make autonomous choices.  Moreso than other forms of media like books or films, video games encourage the utilization of independent thinking.  Reading a book or following a cinematic story does require at least some minimal grasp of reason, but video games require a more active intellectual input, one that more directly allows for expressions of intellectual independence.

Solving virtual puzzles on one's own certainly does not possess quite the same importance as the ability to prove various logical/philosophical truths to oneself without any input from others or privately analyzing claims put forth by others, but it can be a fulfilling manifestation of autonomous thought all the same.  Despite this, gaming is often considered a lazy pastime that cannot be used to express any significant level of philosophical skill, yet it does not match this description.  Many aspects of human life offer chances to exercise autonomous thinking even though they are not necessarily known first and foremost for granting these opportunities.