Vidja games and gaming in general

I was going to put this post in the technology post, but it ran much longer than I wanted to, and I still didn't get everything across that I want to.  So, I decided to put this relatively quick post in it's own post.  I think I'll say the word post just a few more times... post post post.

Your mother severely doesn't like video games, possibly hates them.  I'm fairly certain I drove her to the negative side of opinion on video games; I believe she was fine with them before, but I drove her to the loathing, so you can blame me.  That's not to say she hates all forms of entertainment that require interaction and a display; she loves some things like Rockband; at one point she said she even liked some of the Move Sports Champion games.  I believe her dislike comes from her perception that video games take away from other responsibilities.

First I want to tackle my disagreement that many people (including your mother) view video games as a generally negative thing.  I think it's pretty unanimous (as unanimous as a society can get) that reading is good and video games are bad (other than video games that are designed specifically to teach); it's always better to go read The Hunger Games than it is to go play Uncharted.  I believe it's even more acceptable to go watch a show on TV than it is to play video games, now that's a mindset I'll never get behind.  I honestly don't see why, and I know I'm not the only person, but I know this is a chasm between your mom and me.

Stop playing Brain Age and why don't you watch Jersey Shore or something?!?!

Books consist of a story, told to you by someone, in a static way, and you have no influence on the story.  But, you're engaged because it's a "theater of the mind" thing; your brain is creating the scenery based off suggestions by the author, you create the voices for the characters, etc.  Not only are you being transported to another place and/or time, but your brain is actively creating it; influenced by the writer, but ultimately it's your creation.  Television is much like a book, without all the personal creativity; there's a reason they call it the boob tube.  The creators of a show tell you a story, and they provide the set pieces, you know exactly how a character looks and sounds because... she's right there, and the story continues at its own pace without any interaction from you what-so-ever except to turn on the TV.  In a video game, you've got the basis of a story and you've even got the imagery fed to you much like a TV show or movie, but the twist is you influence the story itself.  You have to figure out what to do next, and you have to have the skill to actually do it; you might even be able to experience the story in different ways, or the story might end up differently due to your choices.

So a video game takes away the "theater of the mind" but gives you power over the story.  To me, playing video games is on par with reading a book.  Sure, there are games out there that are mind numbing, or games that don't really have a point, but there are plenty of books like that too.

I think I completely ruined games for your mom in two ways.  I arrived and married your mom around the time your siblings were young teenagers; I brought with me the newest fangled gadgetry in gaming.  I also as an adult was a regular gamer, something your mom hadn't really come across, at least in a day-to-day interactive way, before I believe.  So your siblings, Caleb more so than Promise and Promise more so than Charity, had access to better gaming and their tastes started growing beyond "casual" video gaming.  As a child, video games did provide a degree of a distraction for me; there were times I'd choose video games over doing something I should've been doing (chores, homework, etc.).  I might be thinking about how to beat a certain boss instead of focusing on the lesson the teacher was giving.  I could argue that my mind was wandering, it just happened to be about games; blaming video games would be a scapegoat because if I didn't have video games, I'd just be thinking of whatever it was I was interested in (sports, building stuff, etc.).  But I won't make that argument, I will freely admit it was video games that had me distracted.  As an adult, however, video games don't really distract me; if I'm playing a video game, it's because as far as I know, I've taken care of everything.  Now I probably have simply forgotten something (as forgetfulness is a character defining trait for me unfortunately if you haven't already picked up on that), but I definitely do not choose to play games when I know I could/should be doing something else; if I didn't have video games, I'd just be watching TV, or reading a book, or napping.  Blaming video games, for me as an adult now, is definitely a scapegoat tactic.

So, if there's one thing I can bank on, it that you're going to play video games (yes, I could end up being wrong and I'd be perfectly fine with that, but I would find it sad that here's one thing that we could've shared a passion for).  But, I will do my best to teach you to be a responsible gamer; to teach you to game in moderation.  Like anything, there's a time for gaming and there's a time for working.  I hope to teach you how very low of a priority gaming should be.  I hope that you'll enjoy all kinds of games, from shooters, to adventures, to story driven, to mindless gem matching.  I hope that you have such a broad horizon of video game enjoyment, it doesn't become an obsession.  I hope you'll rather go play kickball with your friends than to go play ANY video game; I hope playing video games is just one of a plethora of ways you get entertainment as well as interaction with other people.  I especially hope you're not just a video gamer, but a gamer in general.

I hope you love board games, card games, role playing games, role playing board games that have lots of cards.  Sure, you may end up being a sports jock for all I know, and I'll support you as best as I know how, but I'll tell it'll be hard for me because where as I enjoy sports, they're not that high on my list of things to enjoy.  I played baseball from 2nd grade through 9th grade; I LOVED playing volleyball every Sunday at Youth Group; I enjoyed playing football whenever the "group" would decide to.  But they were never really that much of a "focus" for me; although even sports are a type of game.

And most importantly I hope you learn how to play games (physical or video) for fun, not to win.  Winning is definitely fun, and you should always play to the best of your abilities, but focusing on winning can be detrimental to your overall enjoyment.  First off, if winning is your first goal then you'll also need to learn how to lose gracefully; if winning is your first goal, then the other people you're playing with might have less fun.  But if your first goal is to have fun, when you lose you can still get enjoyment from the experience, and you'll be sure to be a source of fun for the people you're playing with.