Benefits of video games outweigh the negatives

By: Dan Kim

Posted: 7/3/09

As I write this, there are many issues going on in the world today. Economic woes, political woes, and all the celebrities that you like are dying off while the ones that you don't like continue to thrive and multiply like roaches. Fortunately, we're not going into anything serious or deep like that. We're going to talk about video games and why they are awesome - and also why they can be not so awesome. Just a disclaimer: you'll probably get more out of this if you are an actual gamer, seeing as how it was written by one. And when I say gamer I mean a gamer, not someone who just plays Wii Fit or "Rock Band" or "DDR," or even "Super Smash Bros." It's OK if you play those, but if you play only those, you aren't a gamer.

Gamers are the people who don't know their way around the place they live, but they have the layout of Paradise City memorized and know the subway system of Liberty City by heart. We may not know the exchange rate of dollars to euros, but that doesn't matter since we deal in gil and rupees. Basically if you have ever been shot, stabbed, thrown, sniped, stuck, ganked, assassinated, dominated, owned, pwned, poisoned, paralyzed, burned, frozen, silenced, feared, possessed, drowned, sapped, trapped, slowed, nerfed, buffed, electrocuted, run over, eaten or just driven into a guardrail by that jackass in 2nd place, you are a gamer.

This is my first time writing an Op-Ed piece so I did some research and apparently the term "Op-Ed" comes from the Latin phrase "opinious editus" which when translated, literally means "The opinion of Ed." So, I talked to my cousin Ed, who just so happens to work in the videogame industry.

Ed works for a company called Moberg Research. According to Ed, his job is to find out what makes a good game, and what will sell and make money. Apparently this involves playing a lot of "Counter-Strike: Source." I've never actually seen him do anything else. When I see him we are either having lunch or he's in "Office" charging up garage stairs with a shotgun. I asked Ed what he likes about video games and his reply was two words: "challenging entertainment."

To me this is a fairly accurate description of the gaming world, which contains dozens of sub genres such as first person shooters, racing games and role playing games. Playing a game is not like watching TV or a movie. It is an experience that you are a part of, that you allow yourself to become immersed in, in order to move things forward.

A video game does not work without the human element.

If there is a story, it will not progress unless you take certain actions. That feeling of being involved is very stimulating. It is also slightly more active than just sitting there and watching.

However, video games, and by association, the people who play them, are often looked down upon. There are many negative stories about video games and the "effects" they have on young impressionable minds. The violence in some video games often comes under fire as well as the sexual content if there is any. There is also the case of when someone becomes obsessed with a game. A game is meant to be a temporary escape from reality, and in the end you come back to the real world.

However, when one begins to put the game before other, real life events, then that is when obsession sets in. People who aren't familiar with games at all, still probably know the game "World of Warcraft." For those of you who have never played the game before, "World of Warcraft" has a nifty little command, where you can type "played" in the chatbox and it will show you how much time you have spent playing the game overall. In fact it shows you the exact number of seconds, minutes, hours and days. Yes, days. Not days that you have had the game. But days as in if you have spent more then 24 hours combined playing the game, straight playing, then it begins to count in days. It's not uncommon for players to have over 100 days logged over the course of several years.

But there are some positive aspects to gaming. For one, if you game online, the gaming community is an interesting bunch. You do have your 10-year-olds, the guys who spam songs over the mic, as well as thousands of people all with different spellings of the name "Sephiroth." And yes, since anonymity is granted behind a fake name, people tend to act as if there were no consequence to their actions.

But there are some interesting people out there with funny stories or jokes. It also allows you to play with your friends if they game which is always nice. Ed and I actually talked via Steam which is a kind of in-game instant messaging program.

Gaming is definitely more active then just watching TV. But most of all it is enjoyable. A video game is meant to entertain, to kill some time when you have the chance.

Studies done by Rochester University have shown that people who play first person shooter games develop better eyesight, specifically your contrast sensitivity. Games can also be educational. For example, to prepare for this article, I spent a large amount of time playing "Team Fortress 2," in order to research more about gaming. I learned a lot from this experience although I still haven't come to any definite conclusions besides that fact that that one Sniper on the Blue team has got to be hacking, so I will leave you now in order to continue my research.

Dan Kim is a sophomore majoring in English. He can be reached at op-ed@thetriangle.org.