What would my childhood be without them?
It's really amazing how video games have really impacted my life. I remember playing with my cousin's Nintendo 64 whenever we visited - and those are PRETTY old! Being a teenager, it's pretty normal to be, well, playing them for numerous hours - or at least until my parents call me down for food. But, in general, I actually play a lot of video games - which might or might not sound unusual, considering the fact that I'm a girl. To be more specific, I play Gears of War (the first one, and the second one), Halo (the whole series), other first person shooting games, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, skateboarding games, car racing games.. Honestly, the list could go on forever.. And back when I actually used to play them on a day-to-day basis, I would be up 'til 1 or 2 in the morning. No homework was usually done during that time, of course. And those types of video games don't benefit me, or people in general, so why play them?
I don't know why, but it's just something we do. There's just something about these video games that are just so captivating, and addicting that we just can't get enough. (I swear, there has to be some subliminal messaging going on.) I know that with me, whenever I play something like Gears of War 2, whenever the character I'm playing dies, I have the urge to do start again and try to defeat what I lost against before. It's strange, I know.. But I'm thinking that it just has something to do with accomplishments - not like it's that great to accomplish a video game in the first place, but it feels nice. Like, you can go up to your friend and say, "YOOO! Dude! I finished Halo 3 last night! Toooo easy!" Then they'll reply with a "SAY WORD!" and give you daps (Julius is bugging me, and saying to put "props" because teachers apparently don't know what it means :|). Okay, maybe I'm overexaggerating with my choice of words and such, but I'm hoping you get the idea. At the same time, though, finishing a game can result in a variety of things. A desire for the next game in the series; resulting in coughing up the cash, a sadness for finishing the game, vice versa.. It's really.. blah.
But anyway, in my opinion, the limit to video games is when it gets to the extent when you don't eat, sleep, go outside, do homework, etc.. Like, the things that teens basically do on a day-to-day basis that doesn't have anything to do with video games. It's just really unnecessary, and video games just shouldn't take over your life.
Whether video games are good or not is a pretty well-debated question.. I don't really think that the video games themselves are bad.. I'm thinking that it just really depends on the person, and how you spend your time on/with them. If you just play them from time to time just for a little break from reality, then sure, they're fine. The video games that actually help give your brain a boost (e.g. Brain Age), then even better! But if you play video games too much, then.. :\
