September 28, 2014 · 11:30 pm

Why You Should Play Video Games

Check your silly assumptions at the door. I’ve got five reasons why you should play video games now. Your old excuses just won’t cut it anymore. Your silly stereotypes will fall apart as your read this list.

Your stubborn resolve not to play will crumble like a cookie before this mighty list. You’ll be playing video games before you finish this post. Do you dare read to my list? Continue in 3, 2, 1…

5 Reasons Why You Should Play Video Games

1. Meet some new people

Not all gamers are pasty nerds who live in windowless bunkers. Gamers have lives. We’re normal people. So come join us for a game or two and toss away those silly stereotypes.

2. Blow off some steam

We’ve all had rough days at school or work. Those rough days make you want to explode with anger sometimes. Here’s a better idea: play a video game before the steam comes out of your ears.

3. Find out what all the fuss is about.

Video game companies rake in millions of dollars. Some video games have shattered entertainment sales records.

Have you ever wondered what makes these games so appealing? There’s only one way to find out.

4. You have heroic tendencies

The other day you thought about bashing down a house’s door to save a cat from a raging inferno that threatened to consume everything in its path. But then you chickened out.

Don’t bother looking for cats to save from burning houses. Instead, you can play as a plumber who saves princesses from castles and shoots fireballs from his hands.

5. Interactive storytelling and fun

Everyone loves a good story. You write, read and watch them on the big screen.

You can also play through a story in a video game. However, let’s be honest, great storytelling in video games is still rare. Right now, that storytelling is like an infant taking her first steps in the world. Sometimes that kid will fall and other times she’ll sail along.

You know what else? Many games have boring stories, but many are still fun to play.

 

How would you persuade someone to play video games for the first time?

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September 21, 2014 · 11:59 pm

Hey, You! Play Nice

Gamers need to get along with each other and everyone else. I know I seem idealistic—heck, the phrase “video game idealist” led one person to my blog—but it’s necessary.

We can start by being polite to non gamers who show an interest in playing video games. Now, I don’t want to trample on people’s freedom of speech; it can be fun to joke around when you’re playing. However, we need to treat new gamers with basic decency so they can play in a positive environment.

This positive environment will do wonders for both new and non gamers. It might encourage them to feel like they belong among a gaming community. The cynical non gamers might start treating this past time with respect.

And we should encourage non gamers and new gamers to play video games. If we don’t share this pastime with them, video games might die out or only use the same ideas from the past. Worse, only a privileged few might indulge in video games. That’s tragic. It would be like not sharing your gifts with as many people as possible.

How does this generation of gamers want others to remember them? We need to be more inclusive and tolerant towards everyone interested in this hobby. That includes women who, according to the Entertainment Software Association, make up to 47% of gamers. A new generation of gamers, of all genders, races and so on will see games differently than those who played in the past. We have to respect their new opinions and play style.

You hear people talk about serious issues like the national debt and climate change and the next generation’s burdens. Those are important topics that we need resolve. But I wonder if all gamers can spare a minute to consider their own behaviour and their legacy.

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September 14, 2014 · 10:31 pm

5 Bad Reasons not to Play Video Games

Lots of folks might like or even love video games. However, they won’t admit it. They will always make up excuses not to play video games.

1. “They’re really for kids.”

Stats prove you wrong. Did you know the average video game player is 30 years old?

Let’s also look at stories in games. The complex story of a game like, say, Mass Effect 2 might be lost on a child. Some themes in games might be too mature for kids as well.

2. “They’re only for geeks.”

Don’t worry about what other people say about your hobbies. Be authentic. People will appreciate and maybe even love you for that.

Don’t let other people label you into a corner because you have a hobby they don’t understand. You’re a complex human being with diverse interests and never just a “geek”.

3. “They’re all about the graphics now. Also, I miss old school games.”

You’re wrong. Games like Dwarf Fortress 2 and Minecraft are popular and have minimalistic “graphics.” Or try an old school text-based game and fill in the graphics with your imagination.

Of course, if you miss older games, you can always download them, play remakes or try games inspired by the classics.

4. “They’re too expensive.”

Some people argue video games are cheaper than ever. Did you know that?

5. “I don’t have the time to play them.”

I can relate to this comment. I have precious little time to play video games, so I make time for them. I make time because video games are one of the most relaxing hobbies I have. If I didn’t have hobbies that helped me relax, I would go crazy.

You may not have much time to pursue hobbies, and I get that,  but I’m sure you need time to unwind. Video games could also help you relax. So I humbly suggest you try playing them.

Stop making up excuses and give video games a try. Believe me, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, and you will find gamers are just like you!

You’ll also like my post 3 Bad Reasons not to Play Video Games.

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September 7, 2014 · 10:10 pm

I Can Walk on The Moon (and You Can Too)

moonThere I was taking giant leaps for mankind and almost tripping over moon rocks in the process. My jumps were just too impressive to ignore. Sometimes I chained multiple sets of jumps together to reach the top of a space mountain.

The other astronauts wanted to know where and how I learned to time my jumps. I started telling them about my friend, a mustachioed Italian plumber who taught me.

Wham!

I hit the lip of a cliff, tumbled down and landed in a bad place.

I almost drowned in the sea of tranquility. A landslide of rock and dust slapped me in the face, and I sank to the bottom. But I woke up and dragged myself out of the rusty rubble.

When I got up and dusted the space dirt of my lily-white space suit shoulder, I recognized life. Not just my life returning. No. It was more than that. It was a large blue bauble teeming with life not to far away.

I thought about all those stick figures back home. They sat with their eyes glued to screens. They took everything for granted.

Meanwhile, I was drilling holes on another planetary body for the good of us all. I also took samples so they could sit in a museum and collect dust. They weren’t doing that.

Then Mr. Houston interrupted my space train of thought. “Jim, you there?” he said.

“Roger, roger HQ,” I said as my drill slid through the rocks like a knife through warm butter. “Hear ya loud and clear.”

“Jim, get the last of those rocks and bring ’em back to earth. We need them to save humanity. And Jim…”

“Yeah?” I folded the ten foot drill up and threw it in my space backpack.

“We’re all rooting for you down here.” Mr. Houston’s voice became as silent as the vacuum of space. Then he said, “Get back in one piece.”

As I put away the final sample into a space doggy bag, I gulped hard. Then I heard a strange gurgling sound behind me. I turned around to see a huge eight foot hazy figure.

That’s when I was face to face with a hideous, ragged monster that made big foot look like an annoying mosquito. It’s pearly white fangs had blood dripping from their tips. It extended its arm and lunged toward me. An epic space battle was about to unfold.

And it all began when I pressed start.

People think that traveling into space is both a great mental and physical challenge. Well, they’re right. I don’t know what else to tell you. But you can do it in video games too, so go out and try it.

Bonus embarrassing/funny fact: I once thought Houston referred to a person when I was a kid. That’s why I included it in this post. Also, I thought it just sounded different and cool to give a person that name.

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August 31, 2014 · 12:47 pm

Cruel Achievements Ruin Everyone’s Day

text that says insulting achievement unlockedI had so many tedious chores to do yesterday. As I glanced over my to-do list, I felt an itch. This wasn’t lice in my hair or something that begged for a scratch. It was an itch to finish the game I started the other day.

“Better play now,” I thought. “The dirty dishes can wait. Besides, if I didn’t do something now,” I reasoned, “the itch would only get worse.”

So I sat down and continued what seemed like a regular play session. I set out to find all the hidden fruit in the game and unlock an achievement for this feat. After I grabbed the last set of grapes, the achievement popped up. I felt a surge of excitement, accomplishment and adrenaline mix into a cocktail of euphoria. But then I saw something strange. It brought me down from this natural high.

You have unlocked “Grapes of Wrath – 0 Exp.”

I thought to myself, “Well, that was a waste of time.”

The summary confirmed this, “Whoop-Dee-do! You collected all the hidden fruit in the game. Why don’t you go make a fruit salad with all of it?”

I decided to keep playing and forget the thing had ever happened. And, sure enough, the game became fun again. Everything was fine.

After a while, I paused the game and made myself a quick sandwich. It had meatballs – which had marinated in marinara – and gooey cheese. I played the game with one hand and managed to eat half of the sandwich with the other. That worked for about five minutes. Then another achievement popped up.

“Ha,” I thought, “I deserve an achievement for beating half of this game.”

Boy was I ever wrong.

“You’re a disgusting pig” unlocked. The summary read “Hey lazy boy! Put down the sandwich, get off the couch and get outside!”

I shrugged it off. After all, I was relaxing after a long day and words don’t hurt my feelings.

Yet, in truth, the achievement had bothered me. I lost focus and watched in horror as zombies slaughtered my character a dozen times. On top of that, my character fell off a couple of cliffs because I couldn’t think straight.

Then another achievement appeared on the screen.

“You have unlocked Epic Fail – You’ve died 1000 times. So put down the controller, hang your head in shame, and walk away already.”

That was the last straw. I was going to beat this game and prove it wrong. It would soon find out about my skill.

I charged the through the swarm of zombies and survived. I scaled the treacherous precipices on the cliff that had tested my patience. And I still had time to make a fruit salad in the game. “Ha I proclaimed to myself. That was easy.”

Then something popped on the screen. “You have unlocked Wasted. You have wasted 10,000 hours on this game. You’re pathetic. How can you stand yourself?”

“Why you little…,” I started to say.

There was no time to argue. The game could insult me all it wanted and make stuff up. It was crazy. So I trudged toward the finish line and made it across in record time. The game was over!

As the credits rolled, I dreaded seeing another achievement. Sure enough, it appeared just as I hoped to escape the game’s insults.

“You are terrible at video games. Seriously. Just give up already. Don’t you have something better you could be doing with your time? Oh wait, no you don’t”

“That’s it! I’ve had just about enough of this,” I said. I lunged toward the TV determined to destroy the console forever.

Before I couldn’t finish my foul deed, I felt sweat drench my forehead. My clothes were covered in sweat too. I opened my bloodshot eyes wide and found myself sitting upright in bed at 2 AM.

I surveyed the room and took it all in. The apartment was quiet, except for the TV in the other room.

“Haha it was all a dream. There’s no game like that.” I laughed out loud.

My roommate furrowed his brow and steadied his gaze on me. “Are you alright? He had a puzzled look on his face with one eyebrow arched higher.” I ignored him for now, and he walked away.

“It was only a dream… only a dream. None of it really happened,” I said.

My eyes started to feel heavy as if a giant boulder weighed them down. I instinctively grabbed a half-eaten meatball sandwich on my end-table, took a bite and then let it fall on my bed. I was fast asleep again.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere far away in a deep, dark cave, a pasty man roars with laughter. His flabby jowls jiggle as if made of jello. He taps away with Flash Gordon-like speed at a keyboard. Then he stops, scans the screen, and shakes his head. “Oh man, the achievements in my new game are too cruel.”

What if achievements were cruel and picked on people? That was the prompt that inspired this silly post.

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August 24, 2014 · 9:21 pm

Video Games Teach Anything Is Possible

Difficult and challenging games are always fun for me. An easy game will put me to sleep, but a challenging one gets my undivided attention.

Why is that? I know I can beat any human problem with a cup of patience and a tablespoon of strategy.

A good example are the comets that appear in Super Mario Galaxy. These comets create challenges, like racing against the clock. A couple of years ago, these challenges seemed daunting to me. After all, a busy life had estranged me from video games during my late teens and early twenties. Galaxy nudged me in the ribs and laughed at my lack of experience. At first, I gave in. I shook my head in disbelief, saying “This is impossible. I can’t do x, y or z.” I was wrong.

Sometimes I need to stop and think to solve the problem. Sometimes I need to plod through trial and error, rinse and repeat. Then sometimes I just rush in and things work out. Go figure.

When it’s all over, I feel pretty good about myself for having overcome all the game’s challenges. I sometimes like that an achievement cements that accomplishment for me. I’m left with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

What is that good feeling? I think it’s confidence. It’s feeling confident enough to solve big problems that seem impossible. After overcoming one challenge, I’m likely to try an even harder problem while believing in myself.

Beating a difficult game or part makes me think I can do anything. Hmmm tell me more about these Dark Souls games.

Bonus post: Goldilocks & the Three Games

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August 23, 2014 · 11:53 am

Are You a Wild Animal?

Let’s go on a safari. We’ll take a close look at video game players in the wild. Below is a list of seven types of wild gaming animals.

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs only play old school video games. Do you play 3D games on a current console? “You should be ashamed of yourself,” a dinosaur might say.

The dinosaur thinks 3D is a major heresy. If it was up to them, they’d excommunicate you from the gaming community.

Pig

This type is pretty self-explanatory. Pig gamers live in sties and don’t care about their living quarters when they play. Oink! Oink!

Bull

Bulls are easily angered. They also tend to throw controllers and such. Watch out! They get especially angry when they see their character’s red blood on the screen. Clear the room when this happens because you could get hurt.

Frog

Frogs jump from game to game but never finish anything they start playing. They get bored easily. When they don’t care for a game, they stick their tongue out at it in disgust.

Beaver

Beavers collect logs to dam rivers and make their home. Some game players share similarities with their rodent friends, but these people are far less practical. These gamers collect vast quantities of games and like to stare at their collection from afar.

There are two types of beavers. The digital kind loves to grab huge amounts of games during Steam sales. The hard copy beaver loves to see a towering stack of games in their living room.

Bunnies

Bunnies, with their pure white coats, are innocent and don’t recognize danger. Wolves devour these innocent noobs online.

Wolves

Wolves are vicious when they are out on a hunt for innocent prey. They’ll show no mercy and might even desecrate your corpse in an online game.

Bonus post: You might be a snail or a hedgehog. Check out my post Help! I’m a Video Game Snail to diagnose yourself.

Which type of gaming animal are you? Did I forget an animal or two? Are you combination? Maybe a bullfrog?

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August 22, 2014 · 9:18 pm

Join the Video Game Defense Force

I want you for the video game defense force!

If you won’t join me, I’ll take up my sword and shield to defend video games myself. You might ask, “Why do you need to defend them?” Mistaken myths and assumptions about video games abound, and it’s up to the people who love this fun hobby to do something.

We all know what assumptions do to you and me; imagine the harm they do to games. How many times have you heard that games are just for kids? Yet the average game player is 30 years old. How many times have people dismissed games as shiny toys for teen boys? Yet we know that’s silly: women make up a large percentage of gaming enthusiasts. How many more times will others accuse gamers of being socially awkward? But it’s a hobby that fits into a balanced lifestyle, just like your cereal is part of a balanced breakfast.

If Aristotle were here, maybe he would tell us to aim for that golden mean in between too little gaming and too much. Many of us can reach this golden mean. So let’s dispel the myth that all gamers have no lives outside their hobby. That’s one simple thing we can all do to defend games from silly assumptions.

We will also need to communicate better with the public. They might hold on to silly assumptions as a weak crutch in their arguments. We need to tell them about their mistaken views.

Let’s start by addressing video game violence. Let’s tell concerned people about game ratings. Let’s listen to their concerns and show them what studies have to say. Let’s speak honestly about study findings and try to understand each other. Then we need to show them all the wonderful genres of video games, including the non-violent kinds. Chances are they will find a genre of video game that appeals to them. And when more people play and love games, we might have to defend them less.

But why should you bother to defend video games? They are worth defending because they fill people’s lives with joy. They transport you to distant worlds and take you on adventures to places that defy imagination. It’s the interactivity that sets games makes games both fun and unique.

Games also need a robust defense because they are so important in our world. They relieve tension, allow for creativity, and can help people learn languages. I’m talking about programming languages or perhaps playing games that teach one to speak a new language. Yes, games are so important in people’s lives that you can’t just take them away.

I wonder what our lives would be like without games.Think about the millions of people who work to make them for us.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with disliking video games, but there’s no need to spread silly assumptions and outright lies. So, since games are so important, we need to defend them. If we don’t defend video games, who will?

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August 10, 2014 · 9:54 pm

Help! My Video Console Is Out to Get Me

I know why it tried to kill me. I neglected the console for a while. In fact, it was so neglected that it choked on house dust.

The console was also jealous about how I spent more time with its competitors. Several times it caught me on the couch with an Xbox or with the PC in my bedroom. The console didn’t like that I grinned from ear to ear when I was in the bedroom. I’m sure this neglected console’s power-on button was green with envy.

The console became distant and cold after these events. Then I stared at a blank screen alone in dark. For a change, I tried to become re-acquainted with my Xbox or PC, but they mysteriously disappeared. I only had this dusty, neglected console.

The console got worse. I learned about its pyromania problems. One day, it became so hot that it almost burned a wooden shelf I had placed it on. Good thing I caught that before bedtime. After that incident, I kept a fire extinguisher nearby—just in case.

The last straw occurred when the console developed homicidal hatred. I awoke one morning to find a picture of my girlfriend, normally on the end table by my bed, missing. I shrugged it off and stumbled into the bathroom. I reached for a knob in the tub when I noticed a long, plugged-in extension cord and something else. There was a toaster in the bathtub!

I guess I should have seen this homicidal behaviour coming. After all, advertisements touted it as the killer console of the century. Those advertisements were true to their word, a rare occurrence indeed.

I decided to put an end to this awful relationship. I threw the console in the dump; it wouldn’t turn on anyway. Let’s hope some poor soul doesn’t chance upon it.

As for me, I walked out of the dump with my held high, staring at the blue sky. The future looked bright and there was a new generation on the horizon.

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August 3, 2014 · 9:29 am

Ice Cold Play, Warm Summer’s Day

It’s been a long and busy week.

Well, life is often stressful, and I play games to relax. I find it cathartic to explore strange worlds and fly spaceships in games after a hard day. Lying on the couch or chair, I forget I’m even there as I become one with the game. The stress melts away like ice cubes placed outside on a hot summer day.

Games allow me to escape from the boredom of everyday life. Good games are fun, they draw me in, and they take me to foreign worlds on budget prices. They let me complete goals that would otherwise go unfulfilled, like driving a tank, meeting aliens or socializing with zombies. Rest assured, I am fully trained in the techniques of zombie hospitality should they appear.

I’m just having too much fun and I’m too mellow to care about silly problems.

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