In Defence of Video Games
September 7, 2014
Michael Shaw, 44, has a wife, three kids and a rewarding full time job.
But as a nerdy kid, video games were always
a friend, hobby and escape from family problems.
He has never had trouble separating illusion from reality.
by Michael Shaw
(henrymakow.com)
I was introduced to video games, a la "Pong," around 1978ish. I was a natural. Whereas the boys I grew up with were into baseball and football, etc., I was never athletically inclined. Oh, I tried to fit in, but I was never successful at it.
Fast forward to 1984 and the movie "The Last Starfighter," the first movie to integrate CGI effects into the movie. I was fascinated beyond all belief. I wanted to know everything I could about computers, and video games, and how they worked.
In order to gain this understanding, I spent my newspaper route money in the arcades, or saving up for the state-of-the-art computers and game systems of the time (I had 4 paper routes in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY). I tore the systems apart and successfully put them back together. I learned how to double the RAM (Random Access Memory) of my TRS-80 Color Computer II, learned how to solder, taught myself some BASIC, COBOL and Machine Language computer languages (long since forgotten)...
...and somewhere along the line, I became (in theory, at least) a world class video game player. Had I known at the time that there were world records for playing video games, I would undoubtedly hold a few, flipping the score of the classic game "Missile Command" nine times on one quarter and playing "Asteroids" for more than 50 hours straight on one quarter.
When my father's mental health started coming apart around 1985 and he started using cocaine, the video arcade was a haven for me (when I wasn't hanging out in the public library or sneaking into the Brooklyn Aquarium).
Drop a quarter in a game and I could put my reality on hold for an hour or so before going back to my dismal life. In 1986, I dropped out of high school and worked full-time at McDonald's on West 12th St in Brooklyn, NY, picking up double shifts just so I would not be around the apartment that had become a crack-den (before that was burned out on the inside and we became homeless). The little money I earned was used on food (I became responsible for grocery shopping, etc. at age 16) and video games.
I played them ALL, and mastered as many as I could, because the sweet release and mild escape actually did me good. I mean, I raced with the best and fastest, out-shot the ultimate snipers, wiped out hordes of hungry monsters, protected an endangered Earth. I was a superhero, a cop, a crook, a martial arts master, fighter pilot, sword wielding warrior, race car driver. I was unbeatable, and on the rare occasion that someone bested me in a game, I played and played and played until I was better, until all the arcade games in the area had my initials at the top of the Best Scores.
Even after I joined the US Navy and was stationed in Scotland, I saved my money to buy the best computer at the time (IBM-PC Jr), modified that, and introduced some of my shipmates to the wonders of video games.
Somehow, however, no matter how much I immersed myself in the games, I never lost sight of who I was, and even with my head in the clouds I never lost touch with reality. I never forgot that the game was a game and not tied into reality. I've never pointed a gun at anyone, nor had the urge to mow down a real-life crowd. I don't speed when I'm traveling, always use my turn signals, and even try to practice common courtesy on the road when traffic flow permits. I don't have the need to fly a drone and bomb people, and never mistake my coworkers for Orcs or aliens from the moons of Jupiter.
At 44 years of age, I still play video games. I find them to be a wonderful outlet to release anger and frustration, or to put my everyday concerns to the side for a short time. While my muscle memory and puzzle-solving skills are actively trying to, say, complete a lap on a circuit at 217 miles per hour, my subconscious mind is cycling through more serious issues and providing me with "A-ha!" and "Eureka" moments to no end.
Perhaps I'm exceptional; perhaps being told from an early age that things on the screen (television, movie, computer) are make believe helped ensure that I wouldn't get "lost" in fantasy. I don't know, but whatever it is, I still know the difference between reality and make believe.
As a parent, if I think a game (or movie, or book, or television show) is inappropriate for my children, I will just not allow my children to view this material. Its up to parents, and not critics, or governments, or schools, to raise their children with awareness of reality, and when a child (or adult, for that matter) starts to lose touch with reality, the parent is supposed to step in and "ground" (not in the disciplinary sense, necessarily) the child back to the real world.
CONCLUSION
Although there is some truth to video games being addictive and possibly changing the chemistry of one's brain (especially as a youngster), video games can be a wonderful outlet for creativity and angst.
As long as a person has a strong grip on the real world, using video games (or movies, or books, or...) as a form of temporary escapism is not a bad thing. Like all things in life, generalizing is wrong; these things should be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
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First Comment from Wade:
One 44 year old man's experience with his carefully selected video games is hardly relevant in the video game debate.
There are three things that have the capacity to to destroy any young man today. 1. Drugs, 2. video games, 3. pornography. The problem with video games (as the 44-year-old author of the article should know) is that they have changed 1,000 % since their inception. Now they are filled with blood flying, sex, violence, and cultist satanic themes. Even the Disney, so called cartoons, many times fall into the category of dark Satanic influence.
I have done some research into many mass shootings like Columbine and many others. Numbers one, two, and three listed above were very present in the lives of ALL the men who did the killing. All of this phenomenon is driven by money and the Illuminati plan to destroy our society.
The first amendment to the Constitution gives the citizens of this nation the right of free speech, and yet free speech does not allow yelling FIRE in a crowded theater. Using the first amendment to justify video games that fall into the same category as yelling FIRE in a crowded theater is, of course, an egregious perversion of our Constitutional rights, that is doing serious damage to our society and costing innocent lives. It is not enough to simply blame the parents. Many of the mass killing shooters were adults. We do not allow parents to decide when a kid is old enough to vote, drive a car, smoke, or drink alcohol. Just as child pornography is illegal to view (for kids and adults alike) so should many of the current video games be illegal.
Michael Replies:
Wade: First off, I'd like to let you know that I'm not defending the industry; since my "awakening" in 2007 (some of us take longer than others to snap out of the hypnotic state), I've come to understand some of the symbolism and messages that are planted in every-day media, such as movies, music, video games, etc. It is rife with corruption. However, until the last few years, where I've stayed away from games that prominently feature human-on-human violence, I was NOT picky, nor did I carefully select the games I played. If it looked fun, I played it, no matter the genre.
I agree that the First Amendment to the Constitution has been used as a green light for pornography, graphic violence, and all sorts of debasing materials. However, I was not raised in any type of wholesome environment, and indeed it is a miracle that I have not ended up as a criminal or dead, and not because of video games. My father smoked as much as $1,800 in crack per day, and my mother (divorced from my father since I was two years old) was a "go go" dancer and a madam to a whorehouse for Italian mobsters. I had very few directions to turn to for something wholesome, and yet, here I am today.
Video games aren't necessarily the problem, its the parents that allow their children to view and interact with filth. Play around in poop, and you're going to gave stinky hands and get an infection. Its up to the informed adults (parents, guardians) to ensure that their children aren't playing with filth, not the children, since they don't know any better.
Plus, the common denominator for the so-called mass shootings (I say so called, because many of them come off as staged events) was pharmaceuticals.
However, I'd like to thank you for your thought provoking comments, and its nice that people can disagree without losing their heads or trolling, and I appreciate that very much.
Doug P said (September 8, 2014):
Lets not forget that the patterns that lie before us show us that these mass shootings of which Wade speaks are more than likely inside jobs. Unanswered questions and the utmost secrecy surrounds facts regarding these shootings that should have been made public. This is particularly true of Sandy Hook and Columbine.
It wasn't video game players that did these shootings, it was the same folks that perpetrated 9-11 and the Oklahoma City bombings.