Fairy Tales

Fairy tales, or the fantasy genre of novels and movies (and other media) are the kinds of things that I enjoy a lot. For example, games like King's Quest or Dragon Age have some sort of believable quality in them, I think. Even though you're aware that they take place in a world much different than our own, one that has magic and dragons and all other manner of creatures, there's definitely something about them that causes you to believe they exist. Not just in the sense that, yes you are playing a video game and the world is real in the fact that it exists in the video game, but there's some quality about it that makes you believe that something like this could exist in "reality".

People don't go around waving staffs around and using magic or going on quests to defeat dragons; not literally anyway. People in "reality" deal with their own "dragons" (problems/trials) and use their own "magic" (skills/talents). I think that perhaps fantasy/fairy tale games (and other media) are sort of taking elements of "reality" and altering them, making them a sort of "alternate universe" or "alternate reality" if you will. They take the same sort of problems or trials we face on a daily basis and tweak them just a little bit and put them in a different "reality". Some of the media/books that fall into the Fairy Tale or Fantasy category do just aim to be fun, just something for people to enjoy, and some aim to teach some sort of moral or lesson. King's Quest could be arguably either side of that coin, but I think there's a definite argument for the side that it is teaching you something.

King's Quest is all about King Graham telling the story of how he became King of Daventry to his granddaughter. In this image Graham is going to be facing a dragon. A little later on, he is trying to escape the cave and the dragon's clutches. The dragon is almost upon him and Graham (and the player) is given a choice; he whips out his bow and can shoot at three different things. The bell - to make the dragon think there's food, the dragon's eye - to kill him, or at least render him unable to see (as there's an arrow in his other eye as well), or the lever - to unwind the chain around the dragon's neck and set him free. Graham himself let's the player know that all three choices create different consequences later on in the game, "In that split second, I had three choices in front of me. Any would clear my path to safety and all would have rippling consequences." 

The game gives you choices of how to approach the problems you're faced with, some help you get further along, other's end with disastrous results (sometimes ending in Graham's death, but since it's Graham telling his story, we know he's not actually dead). There are also problems along the way that require you to do some quick thinking about how to get Graham out of some sticky situations. This is like "reality" or rather like life. We're always presented with problems and choices on how to fix or get through the problem. Each choice always has consequences, whether they be good ones or bad ones. There are also times where we have to make quick decisions and don't have enough time to take a couple of days to think about how to approach the situation. I think there's a lot to be learned from Fairy Tales or Fantasy books/video games, even though some people might write them off as nothing more than entertainment.