Video Games: What are they good for?

James Winters
Nov 3 · 6 min read

Think about your first video game experience.

Super Mario 64: That’s when I was like 5 years old. 5 or 6. What an introduction! One of the best 3D platformers ever made- so much exploration to do, so much cool stuff to find!” — Zach K.

The overall-clad Mario is often a young player’s first guide into the world of video games.

Abstractly: an assemblage of fictional actants in a fictional universe. Artificial narratives push an artificial agenda. Symbolic art conveys intended feelings, paired with intentionally chosen audio to craft a specific experience. As described by French Philosopher Bruno Latour, these individual entities, actants in his own terminology, are all equal in strength. In Latourian fashion, these individual components come together to form a stronger, more meaningful entity. Like a visual novel, a handcrafted (or “cookie-cutter”) experience is made and circulated for individuals, yet this ride is a bit different: it’s interactive. Video games branch off from this idea that the ‘reader’ is driving the narrative. No longer just gleaning the lore of a fictional world by reading about it or just seeing static artistic renditions, video games give you a vessel through which you become an actant in that world. An extension of you, a new part of your assemblage Latour might describe, is cast into an entirely new universe, having to learn the basics of a world entirely unfamiliar to you. Welcome to the game.

Shrek’s Super Party: We played it everyday. There was a lot of fun game modes and party stuff. You roll the dice and you could get something good or you could roll bad and end up in the bog. I played it with my best friend all the time, I also played it by myself and that was fine. One of the most fun parts about those games was playing them with my friends” — Brennan H.

Whether you’re a hero, a villain, or just a player, you have become a part of this world. An actor in this grand play or, as Latour would say, an actant. An actant amongst many. You will form alliances, mediate others, and interact with a network of entities entirely digital. It is true that not all games have as fleshed-out a world as previously described, but you don’t need an ocean to go fishing. A simple puzzle game can immerse you, as is the encapsulating nature of video games. They provide a temporary escape from this reality, allowing you a respite within a digital one. In a world so constantly busy, digitality affords us the opportunity to fulfill some of our human desires and feel a sense of adventure, exploration, control, companionship; things we may not always have the time, means or capabilities to go out in the real world and do.

Star Wars Battlefront 2: I felt like I was like, part of the team of Stormtroopers or something. It was like I was powerful and in control- since I was in easy mode! The immersion of the game was cool, I really liked feeling like I was part of a team, even if they were a bunch of robots” — Chandler P.

The expansive kingdom of Hyrule invites you, as the Hero, to dive in and explore to your heart’s content.

Despite often being seen as a time-waster or a mind-numbing child’s toy, video games are unexpectedly the branch of the digital realm that can serve these human needs in innumerable ways. As a champion of open-world adventure games, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild seeks to immerse its players in a rich, colorful, expansive world. The feeling of wonderment as you first walk out into its vibrant world and see the landscape, inviting you to scour its every corner. The non-playable characters add levels of depth and complexity to the already enchanting world. As a player, I often lost myself in the enveloping environments, feeding that inner wanderlust with a game like this. On the other end of the complexity spectrum is a simple game like Angry Birds, often considered to be a classic ‘time wasting’ game. Though it doesn’t have the elaborate world that Breath of the Wild does, the game implores the player to think outside the box and utilize strategy to beat the levels. Regularly, I use this game to lift some anxiety by devising unusual strategies and attempting to win each level in a new, creative way. Some games don’t require an expansive world or a score to reach, radically expanding the definition of what a ‘game’ is. Far from having lore or a thought-out world, the game VR Chat is an online multiplayer Virtual Reality game. It allows players to choose their in-game model for other players to see, letting them choose how others see them. This can give the sense of control or power as you decide how you’ll be represented. After deciding on a model, players enter a public space where the general VR population resides. In a space like this, many players simply talk amongst themselves. A hub of socializing, companionship, and general discussion. For people with social anxieties, this can be a haven to fulfill the human need of communication or bonding.

Super Mario Sunshine: It was cool because of the adventure, but it connected to me in the forms of art and music. The constant exposure to this art… letting me play a part in it? Amazing. It helped with my problem-solving skills, putting me in situations where I had to think outside the box. It encouraged me to survey the world around me and to take notice of what the options are at every turn. Provided me with a lot of real-world skills, and a sense of wonder” — Kari M.

Military members refine their hand-eye coordination with first person shooter games.

While each game has its own specific benefits, it has been witnessed that entire genres of video games can have many practical applications. First-person shooters refine hand-eye coordination and spatial reasoning. Puzzle and strategy games challenge our brains to think ahead and manage resources. Team games encourage the development of abilities such as leadership, communication, and cooperation. Role Playing games allow players to be creative, try on a new role and problem solve in unique scenarios. Sports games put the team-management control in the player’s hands, allowing those backseat coaches to put their opinions into practice. Storytelling games put the narrative control into the player’s hands and give their choices weight. Action games can provide is the sharpening of decision-making skills, improving the player’s gut-feelings from quick-time events or survival game modes. Nathanial A. Rivers expressed the importance of refining that gut-feeling in his piece In Defense of Gut Feelings: Rhetorics of Decision-Making. Games that put players through rigorous quick-time decision making can refine that instinct through practice. Building that foundation of trust in our instinct can help us make rapid critical decisions. As useful as the decision refinement is, the diversity of game types is more effective for serving human desires. The breadth of game genres allows for so many digital options to experience many of our human desires from anywhere, home or abroad.

Twisted Metal: It was a chaotic game with explosions and fire, you drove crazy RC cars. My little kid brain was so into it. I think I used to play it with my cousin, the first person I played video games with. We also had Madden. I just loved playing video games with my family” — Dale E.

League of Legends, a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), is a very populated game, touting 5 million concurrent players at one point.

To further understand the reach video games have attained, it might be helpful to see them as a network. Quinn Norton’s piece on networks and how our lives are interwoven with them brings this to life. As he described them, “Networks overlay each other and touch each other and affect each other all over the place. In this phase of human civilization the interaction of the vast networks we’ve built is just about where everything happens”. When we look back to video games as a set of networks, it is easier to see that they become part of the woven network ‘blanket’ we have enveloping us. For some this is far more true than others, making livelihoods and careers out of playing games. Others make a life out of creating these experiences for players to enjoy. However you are positioned in regards to the concept of video games, it is hard to deny that they are capable of far more than wasting time.

James Winters

Written by

Student, Gamer, Friend to Animals

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