Opinion: What Video Games Mean To Me
Games can bring people together, ruin relationships and even make Christmas family reunions bearable. Every household has a console, from students with Xbox 360s, families with Nintendo Wiis, to old couples with a DS each, gaming has quickly taken up residence as top entertainment. After a rubbish day at work, settling down with a good game can help boost your spirits. Boss was talking to you like crap? Kill some pixels on Call of Duty or Battlefield! Customers gave you aggro all day? Chill out with Animal Crossing or Pokemon. Got friends round and cant be bothered watching a movie? Get the Kinect hooked up or take turns beating the crap out of each other on Tekken!
So, what do video games mean to me? Lots of words come to mind; educational, emotional, rage, hate, love, friendship, loss, death. Games are important to me. Am I obsessed? I wouldn’t say so. When my XBox 360 red ringed on me, I happily played on one of my other consoles, read more books and spent more time with my family till I got a new one. They have always been a huge part of my life and I cant see myself not playing them as I get older. And to be honest with you fellow reader, I don’t want to stop playing them.
I’ve been gaming since I was an innocent youth. It was basically “a toy to keep you quiet”, quoting my doting father. Sonic was one of my best friends, the SEGA Master System my babysitter. Many days after school were spent in front of the TV playing Spy VS Spy, Asterix, The Lion King etc against my papa. Then my Master System was replaced. Cue the Super Nintendo, aka the SNES. Sonic and Alex were replaced with Gulie and Captain Falcon, as was my father with my brother. He needed some serious butt whooping and the SNES helped that a lot. Gameboys moved onto the scene, specially for holidays and school trips. Thank you Nintendo for saving so many family meet-ups!
Jump to 1997 when my loving father won a Playstation One on our local radio station with a copy of Tomb Raider. Lara Croft had official entered my life and school went right out the window. Any high schoolers reading this, please don’t throw your education away and do take it seriously. Games will always be there, a chance to have a good education won’t be.
Okay, old woman ramblings aside. Maths and science weren’t my weapons of choice, they were Cloud Strife and George Stobbart. The pull of games has always been strong, even as I type this The Last of Us is looking at me, begging me to go help Joel and Ellie. It wasn’t until I was at college and university that I met people who were on the same gaming wavelength as me. I was a geeky gamer amongst… well, geeky gamers! Late night World of Warcraft sessions with all day RPGing if classes were cancelled, games always found a way in.
I’ve only ever dated gamers and I guess the reason is because I wanted to share something I’m passionate about with someone I love. Plus you get to raid their games collection! It is fun being with a gamer, but sometimes it can lead to some bad arguments. I once stopped talking to an ex because he ranted about how boring and crap point and click adentures were. Don’t ever mock something I hold close to my heart, Guybrush is ten times the man you’ll ever be! Having your best friend be your co-op partner is always fun and when you get to that bit of a game you want to rage quit from, don’t. Ask your fella or missus for help! We wont judge you and we may even unlock that trophy or achievement you were after.
It’s not just relationships that benefit from video games. Having a girlie night in with my friends doesn’t involve Sex & The City or giving makeovers. Instead, we order take away, have some drinks and play Alan Wake in the dark! Games help strengthen friendships, but can sometimes sadly cause fall outs. I’ll never forget the day I let an old school friend borrow my copy of Grand Theft Auto, he not only broke the case, but allowed the disk to be used as a coaster! This is when trust is broken and I don’t like lending games out to people.
They have helped me make new friends all over the world and given me a chance to meet some incredible people from the games industry. I cant begin to tell you how thrilled I was when I met Peter Molyneux at Eurogamer last year! I was dressed up as a zombie, but it was still one of those moments I’ll never forget. He was such a lovely man and said I looked “fantastic”! I would not have been able to meet him if it weren’t for the amazing people I knew and love.
Video games rank with books and TV as my top sources of entertainment and its wonderful to see how big they have become. I just hope my future children and grandchildren want games on their Christmas lists, otherwise I’ve not raised them right. I encourage my cousins and godson to play computer games now, as long as homework has been done first. Minecraft is my godson’s favourite game and it has given him a chance to be creative and show off what he’s built to the family. My grandma is even interested in video games and used to watch me play Final Fantasy VIII during the summer holidays!
My aunt was diagnosed with ovarian cancer back in 2009. Thankfully she has managed to beat it; I remember seeing her in her hospital bed after the operation, feeling fed up. She was bored and was going through books quicker than usual, so my uncle and me came up with an idea. My aunt had shown interest in my Nintendo DS previously and we thought it would be the ideal thing for her. She loves puzzles and the first Professor Layton game had hit the shelves. The timing was perfect! Her face lit up when my uncle passed her the fully charged DS, complete with Professor Layton and Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training. They didn’t last long.
She managed to complete The Curious Village the day before she was to be released from hospital! When I asked how she was able to finish the game without a walkthrough, she admitted she got help from the nurses and the other ladies on her ward. It helped cheer up the other patients and one asked her son if she could borrow his DS. I could not help but beam when my aunt told me this. A hand held console had managed to keep my auntie entertained and offer some fun to people who had just gone through such a terrible ordeal.
So what do video games mean to me? An awful lot as you can tell, but what do they mean to you? Let us know in the comments box below.