With each additional year of life, the number of books read, movies & series watched, music albums listened to, and video games played grows. Sometimes I have the feeling that my internal brain memory can only store the new content by overwriting old and longer past media content. The brain may not work that way in theory, but in practice I still notice that many things are only available in fragments. Individual text passages, individual quotes, individual guitar riffs, individual images, individual sequences – I wouldn’t object to defragmentation.
I am envious of all those who have protected themselves against this “digital” dementia at an early stage and kept a record of the content they have consumed. Record all video games played in an Excel list and write down the game impression or special moments in key words or even add them via screenshot. Digitize special passages from books and save them in a comprehensive reading diary on the hard drive. Create neat and chronological Spotify lists with favorite tracks. Keeping a list of movies and series you’ve seen, while constantly rethinking and sorting your own top 10 ranking. The possibilities are numerous and, with a little creativity and diligence, really not witchcraft.
But if you don’t implement this plan consistently, this opportunity is lost at some point. I was always too lazy. And now I not only don’t have the time and inclination for it anymore, but I’ve already forgotten too much. I realized this once again while writing this article, which actually shouldn’t be about my “digital dementia”, but about the PlayStation 3 game Datura. I had somehow liked it quite a bit a few years ago, despite (rather) lousy reviews. Why? The atmosphere was, I think, very special. What was it about? You meet a pig, have a car accident and get pushed into a well. At least those are the fragments I can still scrape out of my brain memory. Maybe that’s about it. Maybe there’s no need to retain any more of this game at all. But because of the no longer existing context, it seems rather meager.
Even the search for the game’s title took time: My brother, with whom I played Datura together, ultimately found the game via my trophy list on the PlayStation. He also remembered that he had liked the game at the time. But he didn’t know why exactly. Instead, he remembered stone archways in a forest. He couldn’t remember a car accident, however.
Datura was right above Stranglehold in the chronological trophy game list. I unlocked just under 60% of the trophies in Stranglehold at the time. I had never heard of this game before.
I cannot provide background information on the game. Wikipedia can: Datura can be played with either PlayStation Move or the DualShock 3. The player begins as a patient in an ambulance, from which he mysteriously ends up in a forest. The gameplay is based on exploring the forest, where the player can interact with objects and other characters.
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