Who would have thought that the revolutionary movement of the late eighties would have sparked such a talented and in-tune generation? I'm talking about, of course, the video game movement. Sure, you can geek out on me and give me the real history of video games and how they had their genesis [no pun intended] in the mid-nineteen hundreds, but I'm talking about my generation. I'm talking about the people who grew up with the technology; The people who were around when video games trained basic motor skills, reflexes, and logistics in physics with basic two-dimensional graphics and very limited audio [three tracks dedicated to music, one track dedicated to sound effects [or something like that]].
I'm not talking about those people who were in their formative years when Pong came around. Nor am I talking about those people who came around when companies like Sony and Microsoft were churning out epic titles with stellar voice acting and sweeping scores performed by real orchestras. I am talking about those people who didn't have memory cards; who spent hours to make it to that one level only to fail because they didn't calculate their jump JUST right [World 8-1 in Mario Bros (NES)]; Those people play RPGs where you had to READ what the characters were saying, and try to figure out how those characters' names were pronounced [and imagine what their voices would sound like].
These people, because of those things just mentioned, developed much more skill than their peers simply because they played video games.
This post is inspired by a facebook status update that I did yesterday:
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| Facebook Status Update early morning of December 1, 2010 |
And how true is this? Think about it. If you're a gamer who grew up with the NES, SNES, Genesis, and other video gaming consoles of that era, did you not learn a lot of things? I know I did.
Sim City Series
The Sim City series has always been a great outlet tool for my creative side. After all, what else could feed my imagination's appetite better than being allowed to design my own city with it's own houses, stores, streets, freeways and airports? Only thing is, it has to make sense. In Sim City, you're not allowed to just jump in and start building things. You come from humble beginnings and have a budget to keep. You learn to start small, manage your money and buy nice things after creating a surplus in your accounts which is fueled by happy citizens and booming commerce.
This series is good for anybody who has a bank account and an imagination.
Super Mario Brothers Series
PHYSICS not to be confused with psychics [which I typed in all caps a second ago]. The Mario Brothers series will teach you how to calculate how you handle real life situations when it comes to jumping across large holes, or sliding down snowy hills. But seriously, side scrolling 2d games have trained many children's and adolescent's motor and reaction skills.
Video games and other technologies which utilize motor skills and physics like the Mario Bros. 2d side scrollers and other 3d platformers have been given as a form of training to [get this] surgeons! Are you still rolling your eyes at the ideas presented by this blogpost?
Final Fantasy Series
Amongst my favorite RPG series sits the Final Fantasy games. The stories are always so complex, deep, and dramatic. We're given character development, a wide range of emotion, plot twists, and every thing else that you would need to enjoy a good novel or movie. So why not just read a novel or watch a movie you ask? Once again, in this video game series, you are required to think. Managing your characters' skills and knowing how to defeat your opponents based on their attributes is key to being successful in any of the Final Fantasy games. Prior to the release of the Sony Playstation 2, fans of the series were required to read what the characters were saying [there were no voice actors].
Positive side effects of playing this game include larger vocabulary, extensive knowledge of mythology, and knowing how to 'use what you got.'
Real Time Strategy (RTS) i.e. Age of Empires Series
The Age of Empire Series is all about you and your nation, and how you will conquer your opponents via your surrounding resources and technologies. In this game [and many other real time strategy games] the player is expected to figure out how to utilize surrounding trees, minerals, and food sources to build an empire's finances, armies, and culture. There are tons of possibilities and different ways to win the game. When it comes to building finances one has to focus what he or she is willing to sacrifice in order to continue working in that direction. When it comes to war with other forces in the game, one must have an army prepared to take on the opposition. Not only must the player win in numbers, but tactics. For instance, if you're going to war against the Romans and they have a large force coming toward your home city, which is surrounded by cliffs and plateaus, then why not use a slew of archers and catapults to stop them? Then sneak around from behind and finish them off with a pincer ambush. Ah, tactics...
This sort of training is good for anybody who wants to go into management. Being in an environment where you will have to manage people and resources is not unlike playing a real time strategy game. Whether you're trying to make the best use of your burger flippers and cashiers, or leading an army of men into modern warfare [again, no pun intended], RTS's may be one of the best forms of training for leaders today.
With all of that having been said, how could you not think that video games are not/have not been beneficial to the people who play/ have played them? It is so sad that the only time that the media focuses on video games is when the rare case of a disturbed kid who wasn't loved and nurtured by his/her irresponsible parents shoots up his school [because everyone knows that Grand Theft Auto is the reason why kids do those things].
