True Rigor
True Rigor is productive, being distinguished in this from another Rigor which is purely formal and tiresome, casting a shadow over the problems it touches.
- Émile Picard, 19th century mathematician.
Enter the first decade of the second millennium Anno Domini:
Another hindering gilded age of Human need, speed, and greed...
This next decline began when Microsoft invented the Xbox 360, along with in-game achievement incentives. Participants could now complete predefined lists of objectives for subsequent public display on the global computer network. Motivated by a newfound obsession with irrelevant tally marks, modern video game players soon devolved.
All media is constructed reality. To fully immerse the internal self within digitized fantastical worlds, external biases must be ignored. Because in those other planes of existence, there are always unique Challenges awaiting able-minded wanderers. Whilst alone there, define a genuine goal and consider not sharing the accomplishment with another soul.
The Lord of the Rigors concept is an altruistic pursuit of personal gratification through the lens of Difficult video games. Often, the only tangible reward of Hard Mode is satisfaction in endurance. Witness a rare opportunity, best epitomized by an optimistic hobbit:
... he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
- J. R. R. Tolkien. The Return of the King, 1955.
Lord Rigor wields the torch and knows the path.
Inherit the mantle of the pre-internet gaming forebears.
To, once again, journey these dark, demanding, ancient halls...
Embrace True Rigor.
Choose Hard Mode over easy mode.
Overstep instant gratification, and realize personal gratification.
- Lord Rigor
MMXVI
