My Love Affair with Video Games
It all started when my parents got our first PC. It was 19 years ago. It was an Acer PC, all heavy and bulky unlike the thinner and smaller versions you see today. Though huge, it came with real quality as their peripherals could still be used even today, almost two decades after.
I was like any other kid, I loved to play. This thing was foreign to me, seemed like this huge play thing that I needed to get my hands on, but didn’t know how. When my brother bought his first PC game (CD-Roms back then), the rest was history.
The game was titled Rogue Spear, a Tom Clancy game. And it became an obsession of mine. I played it about 2 hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays. Yea I know, mum was strict. But on the days I don’t play it, I kept thinking about it, thought about the different lineup of soldiers I could put up, thought about the strategy I could use to save the hostages in my current mission, all these thoughts roaming in my brain, at only 9 years old!
The game included shooting and deaths were a common sight, but I wouldn’t really categorize it as being violent, as it wasn’t very graphic in nature, like how today’s shooting games are. Though some would disputed that games such as these would have have distracted me away from my studies, but that wasn’t the case here.
This game opened up a whole new world to me, a world and reality that I was not aware of. It taught me of the reality of terrorism today. It taught me of the different nationalities that exists around the world. It taught me of words that I was clueless in its meaning, such as “ recon” , “hostage” and “assault”. Vocabulary that’d never be taught in primary schools. It was little surprise then to why I’d always do well in my English during school (won school’s spelling competition yearly)
Soon after, more games kept coming, and the more I enjoyed them, the more I learnt. FIFA, Warcraft III, The Wheel Of Time, Championship Manager 2001, Syberia, these games were a huge part of my childhood. The rich lore that existed in Warcraft III was unimaginable, the love hate relationship between the humans and the orcs, the fall of the elves and rise of the undead. I may hate history when it was taught in class, but this particular lore, I memorized every single detail and event to the bone.
It made me think to myself, that actually I was a huge fan of history, but just not in the way it was taught in schools. Video games actually educated me, in a way no classroom could!
I did well in my studies regardless of the games that I played. I am glad that I was introduced to video games. I am the man that I am today because of them, and I wouldn’t turn back time to change it.
Which is why I can safely say that video games are in no way a hindrance to one’s success in life. Like every other activity, it should be controlled to a certain extent, but not banned altogether. In moderation, it will do more good than harm. Some topics are just better learnt in a different way, and not in classes. Next time your son or daughter asks if they could play a video game, let them, at least for a while, or better, play with them.
Thanks for reading Writers Guild — A Smedian publication
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