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Throughout the past year or two when I express how I would love to go into the video game field as a career, I met the occasional person who had the idea that video-games-are-for-stupid-fat-kids-who-can’t-get-a-girlfriend-and-have-no-life. These ideas, needless to say, annoy me. They do not annoy me as much as the video-games-are-making-our-children-violent-and-wanting-to-kill-everything-that-moves crowd, do they even understand that there is no evidence to even suggest their claim? I’ve met encountered these ideas at UCI, in Ecuador, at airports, and even at a video game tournament. Well I thought that maybe I could outline why I enjoy playing video games and would love to have a career in them.

I really enjoy playing video games b/c it is an activity that allows me to do something I could not otherwise do. In reality I can’t become a genetically enhanced soldier housed in MJOLNIR battle armour. In reality I can’t partake in a close knit group surviving through the zombie apocalypse, at least not yet anyway…In reality you can’t race through cartoonish coloured environments racing friends and throwing turtle shells at them. However, you can in a video game. They don’t simulate what you can do, because you can’t simulate what doesn’t exist.

I really enjoy playing video games b/c it offers the on thing books can’t, interactive stories. Books are static stories. Event A happens, then event B happens, followed by event C of course, but not before event D. In a virtual world, you can choose where you, what you do, and why you do it; dynamic stories. Given: video games do contain some sort of static storyline b/c there is an overarching story, between events A and E you can choose events b,c, or d. In the book story of Cory and I playing Halo 3 online, we would march over the hill, kill the opposing team, and take their flag. In the actual story of Cory and I playing Halo 3 online, we might grab a warthog and set a trap for the other team, we might just guard our flag, or we might not even play as we are supposed to and fight each other b/c I just told him that he is the president of gayland. Interactivity offers you a choices in the storyline, which is one more step towards reality.
**I am not saying I don’t like books, b/c I love reading good books. I am merely pointing out that different mediums deliver different things.

I really enjoy playing video games b/c it is a fun filled social environment I can set up to hang out with people. Expanding on my first point a little bit, I can do these crazy and exciting things with my friends! Cory, Dave, and Chris can come over and we can have a galactic battle against each other. Or Jillian, Sarah, and Dan can come over and we can all walk around a board trying to get the most stars, while interfering with each other’s attempts. Even better, sometimes, then having people come over is the ability to play online with old friends. Liam is in the land of the dirt people, Sarah’s brother lives in Missouri, and Cory is back in Downey but we can all join in one virtual room to hang out and verbally and virtually/physically abuse each other. In this area I think the Wii struck gold. Now a group of friends that comprise of hardcore gamers, lesser gamers, and no gamers can pop in wii sports and play tennis with little to no learning curve. The Wii makes it so much easier to play with your younger sister or even your older grandma.

A very interesting recent study showed how kids who play video games are actually more socially adept at doing all sorts of things. Check out a quick summary of their findings.

Article is here.
**This study isn’t saying video game causes these things, it is merely researching what kinds of kids play video games.

I guess the biggest reason is why I would love to go into video game development is that I could help out all of the reasons above. Knowing that I could contribute to more kids’ experiences with video games to be even better then what I’ve had would be awesome. At the same time, I’d be working with something that I’ve loved my whole life! Of course, I wouldn’t be stopping playing them any time soon. I plan on playing as long as good games come out, and my arthritis doesn’t kick in.

The Bottom Line: I just can’t understand the phobia/hostility some people have towards video games, it’s unmerited illogical and stupid.

Anybody want to play tonight?