So yesterday evening I was having dinner with some of the family, and I was telling a cousin of mine about the E3 news since she has an Xbox. And before I knew it the debate began again.
My grandfather brought up the "issue" of gamers spending so much time playing video games. I immediately flamed back that "people" blame video games for everything.
The point is, video games in their existence alone DO NOT cause issues for people. Think about it, if they are bad, why not ban porn magazines too? Aren't they about the same since, like video games, people under the age limit have been able to grab them. That's bad parenting, not the company's fault.
And even if this was not bad parenting, if you can't differentiate between games and real life then you have a problem. Steven Speilberg, as an example, is one of the greatest all time movie directors and an avid gamer. Does it look like intensive gaming is ruining his career or turning him into a nutjob? If you answered yes, then I pity you.
If people really need a positive reason to like video games, consider the social networking going into gaming now. Facebook, Live Netflix Parties, Staying Connected. And my personal favorite, the deep critical debate over the Zelda timeline of their games as explained by
James Rolfe. This shows critical, intelligent thinking doesn't go away with video games.
Anyway I really hope the opposition to video games stops, because hoping it doesn't exist does nothing. Trying to help people realize the difference from reality and a video game would help. Video Games helped me become less shy when talking to people and helped me understand people on their many different levels of life and attitude.
In other words, anyone claiming video games caused them to be violent or shoot people is a lie. Because you still have a part to play in how video games affect you, video games reveal your true nature in what games attract you. Let that be a lesson for how useful games could be to psychology of the human mind.
