“Do something productive.” “Stop wasting time.” “You’re destroying your brain.” Gamers find these phrases all too familiar, and I am no stranger to hearing them from you, Mom and Dad. Truthfully, it is not your fault; to any casual observer virtual video games appear to have no value-time-consuming and eye-damaging-but those pixels include so much more depth than they portray within the screen. Although video games have cons, I should be allowed to play them as they contain a plethora of benefits and features, giving each one its worth.
To begin, I would like to set a few things straight. I know on some occasions I play games and do not finish my homework, stay up way past midnight, and complain about headaches. You, as responsible parents, wisely and understandably try to prevent such unhealthy consequences. However, you may not know of certain aspects, like how games could improve your reflexes and analytical thinking, making them meaningful.
A shooter game like Battlefield or Call of Duty often requires split-second timing, sometimes determining life and death, and a strategy game like League of Legends forces players to plan ahead to gain the upper hand in circumstances. Even the military utilizes video game-like simulators for training, showing the potential of those Xboxes and Nintendos. Practicing improves skills in these fields, preparing gamers for future situations in real life that need quick thinking. These benefits justify sleepless nights and the rare hiatus in homework, and my head probably hurts from brain growth.
Also, gamers must pay attention to detail in games like Garry’s Mod: Prop Hunt. In this simple-looking game, players transform into in-game objects like pieces of paper, coke cans, and dumpsters who then proceed to hide in intricate environments while hunters must distinguish numerous small to large items everywhere as to whether the map originally contained them or not. Homework cannot even teach attention to detail, or at least not as fluidly. In essence, games make learning more accessible and fun.
Continuing on, the benefits extend past metaphysical abilities as well. Basically interactive textbooks, games like the World War II-based Ruse helped teach me about historical events two years before I even started that unit in school. You always want me to get a head start on my classes, and since some games teach me history, playing games is advantageous because it readies me for history class—and this portrays just one example.
In addition, I also picked up other useful information as well, like car things in Need for Speed and physics in Create, among other things. In fact, in a research project a few years back, a team of gamers found a solution for AIDS that had stumped scientists for years—a game accomplished this in a fraction of the time wasted by a group of highly educated professionals who still failed. Games establish a great place to understand lessons easier: a simplified AIDS problem game made it more solvable.
Of course, not every game possesses a factual ability to improve my future. Games are, and always will be, for entertainment, but why not add some dimensions to life at the same time? To further explain, video games teleport time travelers in digital spaceships, which reveal worlds unreachable by anyone. Titles like Assassin’s Creed, where the newest installment in the series expended a year just to design the historical 18th century Notre Dame Cathedral, may lead you to ask “why so much effort for a game?” The answer is simple—the experience. Developers fine- tune computer graphics and game physics so that the player becomes immersed in a believable, seemingly-real yet completely fictional world.
Realities, albeit digital, are paradoxes: why not view the past, the present, and the future? Why not visit other galaxies and countries? Why not take on the role of a soldier, mayor, explorer, farmer, or surgeon (yes, surgeon games exist), or play as all of these elements combined? Living a life a person never can, and never will, really opens up the mind, converting a gamer into a more diverse, aware, and curious individual. Computer-generated realities fuse with his own. Speaking for all gamers, our hobby represents the ability to perform things not possible in our current world, and it becomes part of our life.
Finally, my last argument seems obvious: video games embrace the value of fun. I believe I deserve some repose after a long day at school, pondering life decisions about jobs, colleges, majors, and, later on, work. A video game continues to be the greatest and most convenient source for entertainment and distress, no matter the age.
All in all, video games encompass so much more than meets the eye. Although you have good intentions, honorable parents can still extend this freedom to their children. Responding to your remarks, I am very productive as I acquire extra skills. Rather than waste time, I travel through it, my brain developing in the process. The next time you see me in that chair, controller in hand, I want you to know that the stationary seat is not so I am going places, learning at lightning speed, relaxing and developing in the most seamless, enjoyable way. Trust me: Your son appears settled in one spot, yet he exists everywhere all at once, just in the form of pixels.
