Once again it’s time to piss off some uber-nerds in their parents basements…
Let me start by saying that I play both semi frequently, and that the XBOX in my household is our primary entertainment machine. Might I also add, hahahaha PSN, I hope you enjoy better graphics while you’re playing alone; meanwhile my 360 connects me to the world. I have no doubt that when PSN is finally allowed to come back online it will do exactly what Microsoft did, free basic membership, but real access costs real coin…
With that out of the way let’s begin.
Video games are bad for kids. There, I said it. And I don’t mean it in the same way that all these parents of violent idiots mean it. Video games didn’t make your kid shoot up the school, bad parenting mixed with lack of attention at home and by school staff are responsible for that. For me, video games are bad for kids for other reasons:
1. Video games turn the underdeveloped into mindless braindead zombie drones.
Think about how often you almost run some kid down with your cart at the store because Jr. is an imbecile who’s nose is stuck in this months Game Boy upgrade playing Angry Birds Versus PokeMon in Space. That’s part of what makes me mad, kids are spoiled to the point now where they no longer have to entertain themselves. When I went to the store with my parents I had to follow along, help grab shit, and stay quiet and polite, all the while in my head think I was Batman infiltrating an enemy hideout, taking evidence back to the Batmobile.
This brings me to my next point
2. More Video Games = More recorded instances of [my favorite neglectful parent excuse] ADD = lack of development in the imaginative centers of the brain.
Growing up, my brother and I didn’t own a video game until the Nintendo 64 had already been out two years, we got the one with the special see threw purple controller. My parents let us play games at other peoples houses, or if we were good we would rent the Sega for a long weekend from Blockbuster, but overall, my parents wanted us to play our own games and play with toys and be creative, not zone out blankly at the TV while pressing A and B. I believe that this development is what gives me my love of writing out of the norm stories/films/comics. When I was a kid, Batman and the Ghostbusters teamed up against Nazi soldiers, or my Hotwheels were doing the stunts from Fast Five long before there was ever the remake of the first one. By not setting me down in front of a TV when I was young using a “set it and forget it” method of parenting, my parents let me learn that not only I was a very creative person, but I could easily entertain myself in most situations to this day.
Counterpoint:
My wife’s family played video games together as their family activity, and that’s also great, if you make it a family thing and not just a virtual babysitter.
I’ve noticed with some of my friends, the ones who grew up getting every console and every game to play are often my same friends that can’t think outside the box, while friends who started late or not at all in the video game world, are more creative and tech savvy people today. Just something I’ve noticed in my day-to-day. I’ve known a few people who got into video game colleges, and it’s awesome, but one friend was telling me about this awesome game he was designing for his 1st year final, and although he was super stoked and I wanted to be supportive, the game he described to me was Final Fantasy. Let me be clear, he didn’t ever work on an FF project, but his brain was so inundated with 18 years of Sci-fi Fantasy anime non-sense, that he thought he was coming up with the next big idea… but that idea has already been done… 14 times… to death. But I didn’t have the heart to say anything at the time, and later he changed courses of study completely. I just think about that from time to time.
I spent my early years drawing everything, reading drawing books, or just reading regular books. I played with my toys and created stories that would never be possible in the cinema, but when you’re a kid and you’re running around the room tying shoelaces off your bunkbed so Batman can zipline down to the Ghostbusters firehouse and punch out Cobra Commander, anything is in your realm of possibility. I just think that kids are getting dumber, not because of video games, but because of parents depending on video games distracting their kids so they don’t have to talk to them. If you don’t want kids just wrap it up. Problem solved, otherwise we just get this instead of creative fun things like this…
Just something to thin about… if this made you mad you’re the problem not the solution.
-zach
