First off, I realise that asking for the opinions of others regarding my own life's purpose is probably running a little contrary to the whole spirit of deciding my purpose to begin with - but I feel that having a range of opinions could only provide more valuable information and viewpoints, so here goes.
I was thinking a lot about my purpose in life when I set up the
JAMMAForever project, since rescuing old arcade machines and indie game programming are subjects I'm passionate about. Still, it didn't feel like much of a "purpose," per se. The closest I've gotten to feeling justifiably good about it in a whole-person sense was when a kid asked me in a pub how to become a game programmer, and I told him to at least pay attention in math class.
Then, when Googling around for parts for a cabinet one day, I found
this site, which I blogged about
here. It got me thinking about the social and therapeutic aspects of gaming, and especially of arcade gaming, as they provide a way to play with real people in the real world, who you might not otherwise have met.
I have a strong suspicion that my purpose could be to build an arcade for disabled kids. I mean, three and a half mil stereo jacks, come on - it's pretty bloody simple. And with the right kit, you can still play pinball even if you're completely paralysed from the neck down. And if you
were completely paralysed from the neck down, wouldn't it be nice to go and play pinball with other people in the same boat?
Naturally I don't want to make an arcade that's
just for disabled kids - I doubt it'd last very long, and it'd do nothing towards spreading awareness.
I've talked to a few friends and family members about this, and they all seem to think it's a good idea. But I want some feedback from business owners (maybe even an arcade owner if there's one here) as to whether this is a viable thing that I'll be able to keep going.
I have no doubt in my mind that this is a good purpose. But that's "good" as in "Socially responsible", not "good" as in "will actually work." The real question is whether this'll be something that I could actually pull off and make work well enough to keep itself going.
Any thoughts?