Personally, Video Games have had a very large impact of my life. Starting at a young age, video games played a vital role in my learning process. As I said in my previous blog, I loved playing NFL Math because yes I was learning math but it did not feel like it since it was based around an NFL game. I look around at what kids have today and can't help but feel jealous. My brothers have the Leap Pad, V-tech, online games designed to teach specified fields of learning. There is so much interactive material out there I think I would be a genius if I had all that material. They make it so much fun that my brothers have to be told to stop doing their HW so much. They block out everything around them and focus on the HW they do not know they are doing. I believe video games will only continue to grow as a vital tool in learning development for kids.
Another role video games played for me was bringing people together. One of my fondest memories was playing Zelda, Ocarina of time with four of my cousins every weekend growing up. It brought together four people who honestly probably would not have hung out with each other in another scenario. But this game captivated all of our minds and we had to see what was going to happen next. I guess I could say the same for Intellvision but I was not as interested in it as were my older cousins. My family also had a tradition of playing Mario Party when it was out on the Nintendo 64 along with Mario Kart. These games were very competitive but also a lot of fun. It was a way for almost all my family members to spend time together and bond. I can't even begin to explain how much the Wii and Xbox Kinect have once again brought my family together. With both of these improvements in video game technology, even more of my family has become interested in playing with the family. These games have become heavily user friendly and allow people from 3 to 100 to easily compete against anyone in the family. I also believe it does help with hand-eye coordination because many of these games require players to use and increase their hand-eye coordination.
There are some downsides to video games. I think people who are playing the World of Warcraft or any of these games usually have some kind of problem with going out or talking to people. I know the 5 or 6 people in high school who played this would refuse to hang out on weekends because they wasted to play the game for 24 plus hours. There have also been reports in Japan and other countries where people have died because they drink Red Bull and play the game for well beyond what any normal playing time is. I remember writing a report a couple years ago about a boy who killed his mother and I believe shot his dad as well who survived. The boy was upset because he played too much of the game Halo and his parents locked the game away. The boy was so outraged that he found the game along with a gun and shot both of his parents. Many critics said it was the video game and the industry to blame. I think this theory is a crock of you know what. So many people buy video games and a couple people go crazy and it is the video games fault. When would these kind of statistics stand up in any kind of scientific study. This is obviously either a problem with the parenting or the child. People can't keep trying to make video games the scapegoat and expect everyone to just accept it.
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