RE: Video Games Were Invented By The Devil

http://themomblog.freedomblogging.com/2009/12/27/video-games-were-invented-by-the-devil/42149/

When I was only three years old, I taught myself to read. That's right. Guess how I did it? Video games. I had shared a room with my brothers and watched them play games all of the time. Eventually, I figured out that when I would manipulate the controller, the character would react accordingly on-screen. My brother had a subscription to Nintendo Power and he would leave the games he was playing on, as well as have a controller diagram in the issue opened up and laying out on the floor. I learned that A made Mario jump, and I learned to associate "jump" with leaping in the air. Obviously, there are many applicable examples to this, but the bottom line here is that my parents had to do little work in the teaching department, thanks to video games.


"Frumpy Middle-aged Mom," which is the safe term for "Soccer Mom," states, with a tall, tall glass of ignorance, that children cannot effectively think if they play video games. Any child who plays a video game turns into a zombie that cannot get away from the game.


I'd like to first point out the humorous - she states that Isaac Newton would have been playing a DS if he had one, and thus would not have noticed the apple falling from the tree. Aside from the fact that I am sure he would have noticed the effects of dropping his DS, her argument is false because the apple story is a myth. He discovered the laws of gravity by developing basic rudimentary laws of motion that coincided with gravity.


To toss a blanket statement on games is pure ignorance and faulty logic for someone writing for the OC Register. I have a good amount of gamer friends who are excellent problem solvers, analytical thinkers, and extremely social people. They seem to be doing pretty fine. I developed my interest in computer science because I was a gamer. I was fixing computers by the time I was 7, and wrote my first BASIC computer program by age 9. I know many stories like this where people had developed a fascination in their career because of video games - I'd go so far as to say that the people who wrote her blogging code likely had a gamer on staff.


Not only does she accuse video games of being problematic, but her research is clearly flawed as well. Has anyone ever marketed Grand Theft Auto to be a "socially conscious educational game?" Grand Theft Auto IV was never meant to be educational. The game uses crime as a story telling device, with themes of betrayal, greed, power, etc. Many stories before Grand Theft Auto were not only graphically worse, but contained similar themes. If the parent in the story that she cited is concerned that the child is playing Grand Theft Auto, here is some basic parenting advice: don't buy it in the first place.


Furthermore, she states that, because she read all of the time, she was able to "actually learning stuff about the world, in a way today's kids never will. I was also learning to think creatively, spell and build my vocabulary to the point that I was able to get a job as a professional writer, where people pay me to ride on fire engines, go on ride-alongs with cops and insult the makers of video games." I refuse to sink to her level and write her off based on stereotypes of people who read, but feel that her position needs to be attacked.


Kids playing videos games learn things about the world in a way you never will, Soccer Mom. They learned problem solving by figuring out one of the insane logic puzzles in the Professor Layton series. They developed teamwork by learning how to capture the flag effectively in Modern Warfare 2. They developed social skills playing Left 4 Dead. They were inspired to pick up the drums after developing their rhythm skills on Rock Band. They learned how to tell a story and learn the various philosophical viewpoints, hit the deepest emotions, and connected with characters in story heavy games like Final Fantasy, Shadow Of The Colossus, and Uncharted 2. A commenter even states that his daughter is a web design student because she learned how to write HTML because of Petz. I developed my love for writing because I wanted to tell a story that weaved so many parallel ideas together like Metal Gear Solid. I developed how to plan ahead and utilize available resources because of StarCraft. I was able to develop a quick mind because of hours upon hours playing Tetris. I, as well as many others, learned in ways you never will as well.


The problem seems to me that she, like many parents, love to take credit when they do something right (my kids play outside), but when they fail, they blame the external agents. Honestly, any parent who simply cannot evaluate what their children are doing and fail to step in to turn off a video game to the point where they resort to calling 911 needs to re-evaluate their methodology of parenting. Everything and anything can be abused to extremes. Alcohol, reading, internet, movies, sports, eating, television, sleeping, you name it, it is suspect to abuse. Blame the parent, not the agents. 


Change is also an agent of fear to parents of her type. Books were banned because people assumed that they were inventions by the devil - people were burned over this viewpoint. Books were looked at as nothing but propaganda by the devil, and anyone who read them diluted their own intelligence. Funny that, years later, books are seen as one of the highest mediums of educational intake. Change is brewing, and video games are becoming a relevant medium. They are the next rock and roll, the next Elvis Presley, the next violent movie - the current scapegoat to blame for bad parenting.


Soccer Mom, if you ever read this, I hope that you reconsider your position on video games. I highly doubt you will, but you must know that for every argument, you must research the other side. Many of your statistics are bloated and/or wrong, your research is faulty, and your arguments are built on faulty towers of paper logic. Learn to look at yourself and blame yourself for your parenting mistakes instead of other external items, and stop making blanket statements over subjects you have clearly put little research into.