Syndicate of Acid Tears

Syndicate of Acid Tears

By: Cory L.W. Clark

A play on words this broken symphony

Thinking what once used to be

Keeps telling them all to forget me

Cause they’re all blind and never see

The torture, pain, and agony

That all mistake as a melody

A grand lie that I intend to keep

My mind this play pretends to reap

Crushed dreams and dead hopes begin to seep

Forcing this mind to sink ever so deep

Start to see shadows that endlessly creep

In my head the shades dance and leap

Up above there’s a glimpse of light

Not quite out of sight

But it taunts me in my blight

I can’t even gain the urge to fight

Just stare at the light up in height

Laughing at my lack of might

Despair has sapped me dry

No longer can I even try

But rather lie down and die

Dark light floods my eye

Jet-black darkness I live by

In a pool of dark blood I lie

The light never wanted to pull me out

Just tease and torment me with doubt

Kill this black mind with fears

Rain a syndicate of acid tears

Kill off the rest of this broken mind

Kill off the rest of this dead heart

Drain my blood and leave me dead

Cause only darkness is left in this head

The Soul Of A Gamer, Minds in Control With Hearts Holding The Controller

Alot has happened these past few days. I've lost myself and found it again. There was a path I was meant to follow. I had lost sight of that path for a while and I was lost completely. I had forgotten where my land was. Throughout the days a dear friend of mine has helped remind me of what I live and die for. I've forgotten what I had loved. My games, my cherished life. I forgot it.

Seeing where others failed, reminds me of where I had succeeded. My passion, desire, hopes, dreams, achievements; they all lie within that digital world made by the imaginations of those with vivid minds and the desire to create. You see, when I first started gaming, I believe myself to be enchanted by the spirit of gaming. I saw what it truly meant to play. My young mind was exposed to everything and every unreal thing. It helped me grow as a gamer. A true one at that.

These past few days I've forgotten those roots of mine. I had become a slave to the very thing I worshipped. That was my mistake.

A very good friend helped me see what I loved about gaming. Not directly though, but through my own eyes. I remember back when games used to be a portal to another world. A sight unseen but experienced like a dream. Back when I took the role given by the game and explored the lands set before me. I truly cherished my experiences in these "dreams". There were goals to meet, creatures to conquer, adventures to be had. It was a true experience and a beloved one that I left behind for the terrible reasons. I remember now what it means to game, as a real gamer. It matters not who you meet in these worlds, matters not whether you have fun or not, what truly matters is that you get all you can from this wonderful experience. That you experience the game as it was meant to be experienced. As another adventure to be had, another different perspective of life, and a meaning behind pushing those buttons.

And there's more to it. Playing a game on easy is fun and all, but it takes away the true experience of immersing yourself into the game. When you try your hardest to achieve that immersion the game becomes worth even more. You achieve more in the end for the harder you try. You get to play the game as it was meant to be played. People take the wrong paths, letting other's breeze them through the achievements that aren't really even achievements if they aren't made yourself. The memories, the game. It's all lost when you don't take the time to appreciate and put yourself into the game. Don't let an easier path choose where you want to go. That will ruin the experience you could be having if you take the longer route and enjoy what's true in the game. Competition and wrongful emotions have also clouded the minds of what could be fulfilled gamers. Jealousy, hate, desire, greed, anger...

They all come from that desire of superiority. That wrongful need to be better than everyone else. That isn't what the game is meant to be about, you don't HAVE to be better. That desire to be above everyone else takes you away from the enjoyment of the game and what really matters inside it. Alot of people have forgotten all this. I find it hard to relate to any gamer anymore. They're either too casual or too hardcore. They aren't playing the game as it should be played. What they should be focusing on is what lies within. The worlds, the quests, the people, the creatures. They're all part of something more. They belong to a world created for you to enter. And as of now, people are wandering around aimlessly inside or straying to the wrong paths. What you should be seeing, is the lines layed out for you to see clearly. The path that will bring the most out of the game. Your achievements are only significant if you worked hard WITH the GAME . Not with other people and not blindly skipping through the interest of what's imagined as a new life. In the real world, you see all that appears before you. You can't expect life to hand you everything that you need and want. You can't skip through conversations with the other characters in your real life. You EXPERIENCE what is meant to be experienced through the life your set to follow and see. That's what the game is meant to do. To bring you new viewpoints and sights for you to see, to live another life that's built for you.

And through these days I've also sinned another way towards gaming. Selectivity. It's good to call a game your sacred sanctuary, but there is in fact a whole world out there. Sure you can always return to your sanctuary, but remember here that there's more to be had here in gaming. I've stayed too long on my holy grounds and forgot what it means to explore and see all the different adventures out there still waiting to be seen. See the gaming world for what it is, not just what you see now, or you will be blind for a while to come. As a veteran and follower of the gaming world, I've seen the sights, been to places known and unknown and truly SEEN this majestic and wonderful universe. You see with what's in mind, not what appears on screen.

I may sound like a nerd, I am and I'm proud of it. Regardless of who I am, my voice is still here and my opinion is still made. I may be getting carried away with what some see as a simple past-time, but for me, gaming is a lifestyle, a philosophy, and a belief. There's much to be seen, heard, and done in these worlds, so why hold yourself back from that? I ask you now...all of you gamers who read this...

Casual gamers, step it up a notch and truly experience the game that's there to be played. Make your progress, make your life in this world, reach your true potential, and truly make something of what you should and CAN in the gaming universe

Hardcore gamers, step down from your "holy pedastals" and see what the games truly about. Superiority makes fools of those who let it fool them. Your so-called dedication is leading you away from the game. This world was not set here for you to conquer, but for you to live in.

This is my statement, my point. For I believe that I have been blessed by the spirit of gaming to see true these wonders of the imagination. You may say otherwise, you may call me a fool, you can look to me like I'm crazy, but I don't care. I belive in my lifestyle and what I hold dear and I hope that fellow gamers can see and understand what I put out for you all to see. For this is my life, a life in the gaming world...

Blood In The Machine

Blood in the Machine

By Cory L.W. Clark

Two sides but only one will win

Clash and clutter again and again

Machines fail and blood spills

The fog of war set’s straight the kills

Thrive off family or seek independence

Corrupted with light ever since

I sought these wings I hold dear

Now turn to steel to craft my fear

A mind corrupted with glyphs

Pistons urge and the brain shifts

Logic gives the machine life

But blood causes more strife

Bound to a fleshy shell

This machine sees as hell

It begs release from mortal chains

But empty dreams are all that remains

Love and care stop the gears cold

System failure is what I’m told

Seeing my brain stopped dead

By what that love said

Makes me wonder what path to take

Which ethics are mine and which are fake?

I question over and over

If there’s perhaps something more

Something I just don’t see

The one thing that might set me free

A machine with no power makes no effort

Let’s itself rust and fall apart

So what is it that might turn it on?

Awaken the senses to a new dawn

Revolution comes to those that seek

It’s needed most when times are bleak

But what changes and what stays the same?

What’s left to run wild and what is to tame?

What all will I learn

While I wait for the power to return

What all will I be able to find

While cold logic reboots the mind

I’ll set aside what’s bad and good

And just do what I think I should

To get this mind back on track

Before my mind suffers another attack

This machine will drift through space…for now…