I have never been a gamer, or even know enough about video games to really know what it meant to be a gamer. My brother got an Atari from one of my uncles at one point. The joysticks were tough and the turny-knob controllers busted on a regular basis. The best game was astroblast, or the one with tanks… combat something or other. We had a whole case full of games, and those were the only two that worked. The Atari was only entertaining for short amounts of time before my brother and I would rather go outside and ride bikes, swim in our canal, or play with our pets.

NES… now there was a system!! I still have the old Nintendo with Mario Bros permanently planted in the slot. The greatest disappointment was thinking I had finished the game, only to have to replay the dang thing in black and white!! My older cousins were the ones with this toy back in the day, and the only opportunities we had to play this was at family occasions like Christmas. While the adults were upstairs being social, the youngsters were downstairs playing this game non-stop. My brother could barely peel himself from it to eat Christmas dinner!
Super NES was the next purchase and I had never played a game as fun as Mariocart. Blisters the size of nickles on your thumbs, and eyes just dry as heck from staring at the tv 3 feet away for about 5 hours. How enjoyable… yet so addicting!! Anywho, the long and short of it was my brother would sneak inside from doing chores, and play his nintendo, or for limited time frames. These games were seen as a waste of time that could be used for things that needed to be done, or that could be done instead. Videogames were seen as vehicles that tainted the mind rather than fuel it.
Alright, after the N64, Playstation era, I am completely lost. I didn’t even know that you could play other real people through these things, let alone type messages and speak to them! What is this doing to the children of today and tomorrow? America has an obesity epedemic. Kids don’t want to go outside and play anymore, they want to shoot eachother in fantasy. What are they learning about true life and death from these fantasy worlds?
I volunteered in grade one for a while, and a few of the children lived and breathed videogames. These young boys would go outside on the playground and pretend to shoot eachother like in the games and would speak in hushed voices about the 14A games that they played at their cousins. Show and share consisted mainly of which games they were good at, the characters they liked, how they got a new controller…..
Videogames are seemingly taking away from the imagination. Why bother thinking of games to play, or wanting to actively participate in physical exertion, when it is all handed to you at the touch of a button. You never get tired, you never really die.
This video must be an example of one of the boxing games. From this clip the family seems to be participating together, and having an enjoyable time. It looks something like taebo….active! good move Nintendo.
Nintendo may be on to something here with the Wii. Getting people to physically become involved, and beginning to focus on family orientation is a start… however, what does this mean for the institutions that are set out for these activities ( such as bowling, tennis, hockey, ect). It doesn’t take much to take your kids bowling, or teach them to play ping pong…In such a technological world, parents don’t have the time nor the patience to take their kids to do these things, and teach them how to physically do it. And why would they when for a measly 500 bone the kids can do it themselves, for as long as they want.
What does this mean for the human form in America? Is everybody going to turn pasty from rarely having to leave the house? Obesity is already huge ( no punn intended), and I think gaming contributes to the problem. Children desire nothing else but to have these toys. They believe they cannot function without them, yet everyone seems to have it. So being left out creates a social barrier for these kids. Parents cater to these demands, believing it is something to do for their children and to make their children happy. It can keep them occupied for hours upon hours with something many parents know next to nothing about. Playgrounds are now dull, the outdoors are a less extravegant and exciting place and it’s seen as a chore to actually go outside to do anything.



Judas Priest- Stained Glass





