On Video Games
Had to burn two hours today and for whatever reason wrote an editorial on video games that is far too long and no one is going to read. Hate to just throw it away though.
For as far back as I can remember, the glow of the television screen with a video game controller in my hand was like human evolution reaching its pinnacle of technology and the decay of society. And that's what it is primarily; video games have no purpose other than entertainment, but Ive come to a sort of conclusion about how at the very least its crippling, sedating, anti-social promoting and beckoner of sedentary lifestyles, it is the lesser evil when it comes to either sports or television - that is video games at the very least hold contribution to the fondest memories of my life and have promoted skills by-proxy, in irony of social skills and, motor functioning, puzzle and problem solving and higher executive fore-thoughts the brain is designed to do naturally in the course of strategic resource development.
I love video games. Yes, they promote stupidity, but I cannot allow myself to also acknowledge what benefits have I come across in all my years of gaming that I could not have obtained through alternate means. In short, when you're playing a good game it is marked by the exercise of the mind and the ability to reason, plan, delegate priorioties, sharpen propioception and apply a broad range of skills that can help a human being in area's in which video games seem to have no impact from. I cannot deny the broad range of novelty I have come to know to sharpen my focus in playing SimCity, StarCraft, Metal Gear Solid, Portal 2, Bejeweled, Age of Empires 3 - all games that I believe have contributed positive re-enforcements of the brain that ultimately trump the negative of what their common detractors are.
Not all video games deserve acclamation. There are games where mindless fun is the priority, and there is no going around the fact that Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the greatest game series of all-time, is ultimately useless. There is not denying Mortal Kombat isnt redeemable for promoting any real world skills, but often enough I have found that these types of games have often taken the form of what people consider mindless and unfulfiling, while unfairly discrediting other games which can actually serve a real-life purpose through the ingenuity of how the brain relates to the mind.
So there needs to be a particular representation of what certain video games actually deserve credit for advancing the human character through its pixilated polygon worlds and credit is due to those which promote thinking and problem solving skills that can be translated into other real-life circumstances.
Any game worth starting a discussion about learning the benefits of strategic thinking is game called SimCity, and through its iterations it has become an experience of resource management that routinely delivers itself as a smart persons game. Any good simulation game needs to have a form of solving problems that can be done in multiple ways, each to its own desired effect to proceed in a manner thats beneficial from the novelty of the gamers thinking-cap. Yes, SimCity is a game that challenges your planning skills and demands fore-thought of what comes next, but the true beauty of such a system is that such a person can reach different goals through different stylations and have them both become equally as valid a good option in proceeding.
Civilization: particularly its 4th iteration, has become the crack-cocaine of video games. Never has a game enticed a players brain in war, resource management and deliberations of options to consider victory paths such as that of Civilization which is the dominant force of what makes turn-based strategy games worth its time. From the learning of historical technologies and civilizations at your disposal, one can turn what is a strategy game into a disguise as a historical learning tool. Through your progress in Civilization the multitude of objects and ideas and concepts about our histories progress can easily be accessed either through the Civopedia or simply reading up on Wikipedia what nation did what, when, where, how with what tools and with what technoligies and with what circumstances that led to their birth and downfall of their society. Civilization a remarkably novel educational tool, and any parent that would be buying a video game and would have the pre-emptive notions of steering their childrens mind into a learning experience, Civilization is god-send - albeit an addictive, time-consuming game - it certainly is not a waste in time from a learning persons perspectives. All you would need to do to understand civilizations progress through the years can be readily accessed a fun, demanding strategy element that superseeds any Duke Nukem or Golden Eye 007 in its worthiness of play.
Tomb Raider: There cannot be a discussion about my video game history that does not include Tomb Raider, and for all the frustrations of Lara Croft dying into pit of spikes or being eaten by a T-Rex, Tomb Raider upon its initial release in 1997 - perhaps one of the greatest year of my childhood - came across as a surprisingly smart game that rewarded in player in solving spatial relationship problems, cause and effects, and determining the path to progress one must figure out. A remarkable achievement for its open-world 3-D free-roaming premise, Lara Croft is thrust upon adventures of archealogical artifacts containing mystical powers that she must discover and explore the deepest caverns and solve riddles as to the where-abouts of her shiny idols. And when you play Tomb Raider, the immensely satisfying triumphs come in th form of thinking yourself in or out of a particular situation, and that 'Aha!' feeling has become so integral and ahead of its time for making you feel like the smartest person in the world because you have managed to reconcile different objects in different tombs in order to get that Scion in the Tomb of Tichocan that you cleverly managed its course. Tomb Raider has been the shining example of why smart, novel play is existent in todays modern games - being way ahead of its time, it continues to challenge the mind in its exploratory wonder while being enraptured by the historical significance of the pyramids, Greek coliseums, Roman cysterns and Peruvian temples.
Portal 2: Modern video game releases that challenge the mind in its particular puzzle-based way has unfortunately been few-and-far between for me. I have often become discouraged upon why video games developers have opted for more "dummy games" - your Call of Dutie's, Borderlands 2, Trials HD, any EA sports franchise games and the countless Need for Speed's and Tekkens - all great games, and perhaps self-rewarding in some rights of human demands of functioning, but often lack novelty for which other few games have wisely captured. Such as a game called Portal 2. When considering a games purpose, Portal 2 is simply a god-send of what modern video gaming should be. You, your portal gun and the test chambers ahead, you are required to effectively understand your propioception as it relates to what you're doing, how you're doing it and where you want to go. The mark of a video game done right has been always pretty clear to me, that in difficulty and in times of struggles, there is either a welcoming of brain-busting problem solving or there is the frustration factor of the game not ideally matching up to any congruent logic. With Portal 2, not only do you want to proceed to the next chamber in victory, but you also want to get stuck by some perplexing spatial mechanic or another. There has never been any one time in playing Portal 2 that I felt a task was unfair, or unduly thought out, but rather the seemless flow of problem-solving becomes the lucidity pleasure response that I can easily relate to a rat finding its way to his cheese or cocaine in a harrowing maze designed to stump the subject. And it works beautifully - not so much for the destination, but its journey. Too match with its pretty graphics, Portal 2 is also outstandingly witty as two main characters play roles in an omnipresent commentary as you navigate yourself from chamber to chamber, the humor only adds to the charm and even succeeds as especially crafted character development between your two entities, both vying for the power that corrupts scenery, its message resonates an understand that all power ultimately corrupts and the personalities behind its force are mere pawns to its ultimate malignant ideals.
StarCraft 2: Some games are good, some games are great, and some games transforms the landscape of what it means to play video games with others and how much value one can pour into the massive amount of practice and skill required to be a proficient gamer. No game resonates the quality of time spent into developing a master-craft than StarCraft, the most successful real-time strategy game ever. There is no discussion about RTS games without StarCraft, what with its initial release in the early 90's its proven itself to be the most comprehensive gaming experience one would like. Between controlling your army, managing your resources, planning a strategy or developing your game mechanic skill, the learning curve for StarCraft is about as endless as you would like it to be. Thrust into a game you will play as one of three races: the terrestrial brother of Terran, highly adaptable and resourceful in its war crimes; Zerg, a lovely bug-like reptilan race that focuses on harassment and counter-attack instead of brute force and Protoss in whom are highly adept in technology and seek their advantage through maximizing their unit power in the intellect of their design. StarCraft by no means is a casual game for those in whom wish to get better, and often has become among the most frustrating a game that one can imagine. Imagine yourself as commander of the Terran race that has developed a well-thought strategy and build order ready to commence an attack, only to be foiled by a Dark Templar sneaking into your base and sniping your SCV's, crippling your economy and sending your strategy into a downward spiral of frustration. And who are we to blame but ourselves for being so butthurt upon losing a game? What StarCraft does best by any other game ever, it makes you understand that you are responsible for your win or loss entirely because of your decisions and how you sought to implement them. The cruel blow of your army dying in one swift attack or the triumph of eliminating your opponents expansion that wins you the game is entirely up to you and it presents itself as bluntly as it can: No remorse for any mistake. And in doing so, in your weakest moments becomes your highest glory - that you, yes you, have learned from a previous experience and conquered its importance in battle. Sweet satisfaction comes into waves of your tactile pursuits; bore witness to your ingenuity and your creativity of play, your reward is that not so much of a win or loss on your ladder record, but for the fact that you are making progress. Combine strategy with fundamental mechanics, macro and micro management and resource distribution, the level of your skill must encompass a variety of different area's of your brain that need to work together to eliminate your opponent. The exercise of the mind itself is a reward whether or not you win or lose, thus the replayability of StarCraft is providence to stature as one of the best video games of all time.
Final Fantasy 7: Between all the FPS's, between the gore and violence of Mortal Kombat, between the senseless carnage of Rampage or Grand Theft Auto, one can very easily surmount the idea that a video games value as far as a psychological perspective is concerned is virtually worthless. And hey, most games they are. When I picked up Final Fantasy 7 as a teenager I didnt know what to expect. I had my Playstation for about a year and havent played any RPG's so when I dug my claws into Final Fantasy 7, it became the single-handilly most profound game playing that I have come to know. With a rich storyline as Final Fantasy 7, it became my addiction in my teenagehood. I'd come home from school and instantly fire up what my next adventure would be, and while most other games were mindless button smashing affairs, Final Fantasy 7 was a smart, all encompassing game that told a story like a novel - a novel that has stuck with me for years. Whether it was dealing with the issues of modern society in decay from a corrupt government, the industrialization of our species and how we consume our planets resources, and what it means to be good or evil, what it means to have an identity and understanding what love and sacrifice humans are capable of, Final Fantasy 7 is my equivalent of a priests bible. And I hold Final Fantasy 7 as a sort of sanctity it has provided as the depth of story has been unmatched and unrivaled by any other game - its brilliance in story telling becomes of biblical proportions that herald several themes that make you think about life, love, the world and what it means to have a purpose.
Those were the days. When you think back to your childhood, when you popped in Excite Bike for Nintendo, Sonic the Hedgehog on your Sega Genesis or Zelda: Link to the Past on your SNES, will their be any denial of how good some of your childhood moments were in relation to the video game screen? And yes, while pinnacle of our most beloved and cherished games that we played for hours for Mario to save the Princess, who was always in a different castle, or Chronotrigger when we needed to warp from era to era in order to prevent a mass slaying of people or Mike Tysons Punch Out where Soda Pop became your bane of existence, what can we say about these games that also did not include the people we played them with.
For all my ranting about the wonders of video games and how they positively impacted my life I have to admit, yes, it is in fact not the most conductive way to spend your time. I can be in school learning about anthropology and where the human species originated. I could be out volunteering at a pet shelter or I could be out trying to find a cure for cancer or developing robotics parts to launch satellites into orbit and the nether regions of our world, exploring the vast richness of our universe, but for the time being: We were kids. And we played video games; and while they were important in our lives it wasnt so much for the games themselves, but rather that we played with the people we wanted to play with, went over to so-and-so's house to play Mortal Kombat and bonded with my brother over Street Fighter Championship edition. Its not so much the games I can recall in high regards, but the fact that it brought kids together for a common purpose to play, have fun, talk and to be a kid with little responsibility beyond cleaning your room or vacuuming. Rightly so, outdoor activities are a much better use of time. Fresh air, exercise, and a genuinely more interactive greetings from kids in your same block should be the first priority in a developing boy or girls life. Other kids, however, have not have had the luxury of being so extroverted and kind to their fellow peer's, and lets face it, kids can be downright cruel. Whether it be bullying or intimidation or not liking someone because they made fun of kissing your dad on the cheek before you went into school, there are often many reasons why a child can close in on themselves and introvert into a sort of hermit that does cannot cope or socialize as well as others. The next option for these kids has always been video games; for better or worse, video games have become the crutch to which other activities may fall out of favor for whatever reason. Other activities that are healthier, more productive. So when I look back upon my time as a child I can rightfully reminisce that my parents were right: I played video games far too much. While I love video games then and now, I cannot deny its tendency to stunt a childs growth or to not progress humanities evolution as it should be. I cannot deny, however, that playing video games were part of the most extraordinary moments of my childhood. Playing with friends, going over to their houses and sharing games, laughing and conversing to each-other while slaying dragons in Final Fantasy or destroying each-others death machines in Twisted Metal, no one can ever take away from me the fact that video games have ultimately brought me closer to other people when I would other-wise not care very much for their company. And even today, as an adult while I hop on the Team Fortress 2 servers or play a co-op campaign in Left for Dead 2, I make friends while playing. I always make friends, no matter what, what genre or what skill level we may be at, I cannot think of a better way to make a casual aquaintance and socialize in gaiety for an ultimately positive experience.
So whats all the fuss? Why does Pacman matter? Why does swimming with Ecco the Dolphin hold such significance? For nostalgia's stake? Everything. Video games are simply inseparable from my childhood. They are a force that television cannot compete due to its interactivity on-screen and off-screen with others, video games are important simply because we were children and we knew how to have a good time.