If you were born in the late 70′s – early 90′s of the last century, then you grew up such as children had never before. You have witnessed a war against controlled substances, systematic government cover-ups, and home-grown religious extremists with compounds whose sizes rivaled the Pentagon. More distinctly you grew up in the age of computer technology. You may recall the electric typewriter, whose newest feature in ’89 was a White-Out button. Or you may even recollect your parents taking Wednesday night classes simply to learn MS-DOS.
Oregon Trail, anyone?
Atari?
Mortal Kombat?
We are beyond “children of the microwave.” We can compute and reason faster than any generations before us, as the computer became our replacement tool of the flash-card. There is no denying the benefits that this technological age has provided us, but upon contemplation I realize that there may be some major drawbacks, particularly in regards to the video game realm.
*To clarify, my parents did not allow my sister nor I to have a video game beyond Tamaguchis and Connect-Four until we were in high school and so my view is slightly of a viewer’s perspective.*
1. The role of the player is always in the first person. The predilection for today’s gamers is to take an active role in which your hands and opponents are in plain view. Though YOU have designed YOUR player to emulate YOUR ideal of YOURSELF, YOU play the game literally in the eyes of that player rather than witnessing their movements as in third person. Unknowingly, the creators of the video game have given birth to an excellent guile that though children may be able to compute faster, their developing minds have not reached a level of discernment.
2. YOUR player, particularly in combative games, is always on the defensive and thus YOU must respond by shooting anything or everything that moves. YOUR player is likely to fail if YOUR reaction time is delayed in any way, shape or form. Combining this notion of defensive timing leads me to my final point…
3. This lassitude makes reality and virtuality inextricable. For those who have detached themselves completely from our culture, submersed themselves in the video game world, and unfortunately have found themselves in a violent outburst against their peers… the real world becomes a video game in which they must shoot to kill anything that moves in their periphery.
If these points are substantial, what is the future of gaming?
the future in educating developing minds?
the future of our society?
