I grew up without playing video games. I never got the chance to mess around with my siblings’ play stations or beat my friends at Mario Kart. This also means that I was ignorant of the mythic game saga that is Metal Gear – which would completely infest my brain like an incurable parasite once I stumbled across it last summer. 

It was serendipitous. I saw some fan art of a franchise called Metal Gear on Pinterest one day and thought, ‘this seems interesting’ – completely unprepared for the full extent of insanity that I’d soon uncover. I was not ready. 

Months into my research, I have to report that I literally can’t get the story out of my head. The lore haunts my every waking moment. What do you mean Snake’s dad Big Boss had a private military company base where he hung out with his polycule of blond guys? Snake and Otacon live on a massive helicopter together with their daughter? How is there an AI impersonating Raiden’s superiors and warning him against misinformation and echo chambers on the internet, in a game released in 2001? Ocelot was so madly obsessed with Big Boss that he basically changed his entire aesthetic to join his polycule? Liquid Snake is shirtless in the Alaskan winter and apparently fine? Ghosts, mechas, psychics, flaming unicorns, and cyborg ninjas all exist together in this universe? You know, just classic Metal Gear stuff. Don’t even bring up Ocelot getting possessed by Liquid’s arm grafted to his body.

The story of Metal Gear is so entertaining and complex that I don’t think you even need to play the games to get a kick out of it. This brings us to my conclusion that you don’t need to be a gamer in the traditional sense to enjoy video games.

I can watch hours of Metal Gear footage and get the same thrill that a gamer would get from sitting in front of her television screen at midnight, watching a weird little guy pull off insane stunts and say silly dialogue.

As a non-gamer I treat video games more like CGI movies, and I believe it’s still a valid way to interact with this media. As long as you get the same enjoyment from a game as someone who actually sits down with their controller to play it, I think there’s nothing wrong with identifying as a fan of that game.

It’s the same for sports fans–they might not go out on the field and play the game, but they still enjoy visiting stadiums and cheering on their favorite team. This is for all my game — watching brethren who grew up without games like me — go forth and get fixated on that weird little character.

Don’t let anyone stop you from liking games as a non-gamer. Just don’t get too fixated, because I think Snake is permanently in my brain now like an extra emotion from “Inside Out,” and his advice of “sneaking around in air vents to hide from enemy opponents” isn’t really working for me.