Introduction to Ludic Dream

ludic

adjective | lu·dic | \ ˈlü-dik \

of, relating to, or characterized by play; playful

Hi! I’m Phil, better known as Filippus. Let me set the scene for a moment here.

For the past few years I’ve had the longing to write about video games. To turn these scrambling, unfinished thoughts in my brain into a narrative and to just open up in a way social media never really allowed me to.
Never taking the initiative, I’ve dreamed of ideas and written a few drafts, without ever really forming anything tangible under the fear of my own mediocrity.
However, as time passed by, I grew increasingly jaded at the current state of games media: a lot of major YouTube channels, news sites and Twitter pundits have, in my mind, formed a climate that highlights too much negativity, one that breeds this unpleasant attitude towards failure while glorifying success stories to a skewed, almost irrational degree. I started to slowly reflect on this mentality when I saw people pointing and laughing at a flopped game and their laid-off developers, as if justice had been served. It didn’t feel right, and it really wasn’t either.

This climate is a sum of many parts which I’m not going to delve into.
No doubt the gaming industry has issues worth addressing and examining, and there’s nothing wrong having a heartful laugh at a buggy game; it’s when people get overly fixated on whatever Crowbcat or Jim Sterling has to say and coming to the conclusion that the current state of gaming is awful except for the few unsung heroes.
I admit, I‘ve also had a part in fostering this climate. My YouTube channel, for instance, has a nine-minute video detailing all the frustrating, bad parts I had while playing Alien: Isolation. Just the bad parts.
But times have changed, 2018 has arrived, and to be honest, I don’t want to contribute to this sour atmosphere any more.

Which is why I started Ludic Dream.

Let’s get off the rails for a second. When you really think about it, video games are a little bit like our dreamscapes: sometimes abstractive, sometimes imitating reality, but always following this internal logic that always separates it from the living world. Vivid, fever dream-ish uphill battles and serene, hazy worlds that are a human product, but processed by something that is hard to understand. This medium and the people who work to fulfill these ludic dreams have given me so many great memories, small moments of joy, big engaging worlds, and most importantly, a sense of community and belonging.
And now it’s time to return that favor.

Which is why we’re here.

Ludic Dream is a personal journey to explore myself and my thoughts through writing, to improve my writing skills, and to share the things about games that don’t get the attention they deserve. Above all, I want to offer a generally more optimistic, even prospective alternative to many of the current outlets that pander to a lot of our fears and prejudices, while also maintaining a sense of sincerity.

Ludic Dream is basically a blog, but not quite like one.
The writing here dances between the spectrum of an ordinary online journal and a feature article: sometimes either of those, always somewhere between the lines. One day you might see a case study, but next month it could very well be just an opinion piece. No hard limits are set.

Ludic Dream runs at its own pace.
What this means is that I’m not following any schedules, only my own volition. It might be because I have perfectionist tendencies and I like to fine-tune my writing to a T. It might be the lack of ideas down the line that might delay a new post. Whatever it is, I’m not going to force myself to write here just because I have to. This publication is a personal project, not a job.
New posts will arrive regardless of what the trending game is currently on everyone’s tongues, since there are already hundreds of others that will do the job for me.

To briefly conclude, on February 15, 2018, I’m finally taking the leap out of my comfort zone by announcing this project and deciding to publish my writing to the world-at-large.
It’s going to be a shot in the dark, yes, but you miss all the shots you don’t take.

You can follow this publication on Twitter to get updates on new posts.
The author can also be contacted through his personal Twitter or the email available below.