Video Games. Building Better Lives.

Many people view video games as a good waste of time and a place to have fun. Others take video games very professionally and see it as a place to challenge themselves and earn some extra money. Then there are the Chinese gold farmers on WoW, SRO, and Guild Wars who play 12 hours everyday constant grinding just to earn a living by selling virtual money for real money. The fact is video gaming has evolved from a past time to an American Tradition. Every one of my family members has played and enjoyed at least on video game. My mom like Super Mario Bros for the Super Nintendo (Yes it is as old as I am.), my sister like Mario too but also enjoys Runescape (An MMORPG from Jagex), my dad plays DoD on his PC with the 28th Infantry Division and Realism Unit, and I play CS:S with my CAL and TWL Teams and Halo 2 with my friends. (Now a lot of this makes no sense to you because you don’t know what a CAL is or what DoD is. The bottom of this article will have a reference.) No matter what game you play or how you play it, to have fun or to be competitive, you have to respect the communities that these games create. Brotherhoods are created over a forum and a Teamspeak or Ventrilo server. Individuals build self-esteem by completing quests and leveling up faster than their friends. Entire clans engage in friendly warfare over a PS3 or Xbox 360 controller for domination of a tournament or pride in a victory. NASA did a study that said that up to 90% of stress can be relieved by playing a single video games successfully. Not only are video games a good way to build friendships and relieve stress, they teach life lessons and improve reflexes. A child who played video games as a hobby and kept physically active would have a greater advantage against a mugger or rapist than a child who worked out for the same amount of time and instead of video games watched Spongebob or MTV for hours on end. Quests teach players to follow through in everything a player does in order to become a better player or person. Japan has been onto this hype but used a different outlet, anime. Anime characters teach the children to be better people and to stand up for what is right even if it costs them their lives or friends. Video games take that same outlet to an interactive level that is being shunned as a way to promote violence and apathy. Parents blame their children’s failures on the video games they allowed them to play, instead of taking responsibility for being bad parent and not setting good examples for their children. Save this cultural phenomenon from extinction by promoting video games good qualities and before you criticize pick up a controller or grab a headset and mouse and go tear it up on the virtual worlds within video games.


Definitions

WoW- World of Warcraft
SRO- Silkroad Online
MMORPG- Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game
Jagex- A programming company developing flash based games
DoD- Day of Defeat
Realism Unit- A modified game clan that supports realistic games play
CS:S- Counter Strike Source
CAL- Cyber Athletic League
TWL- Team Warfare League
Teamspeak/Ventrilo- programs that allow you to talk to other people over the internet