by Thaius Tydane

Created on: November 04, 2008   Last Updated: April 17, 2009

I will not disagree that video games can potentially be harmful. However, that is all based on the character, self-control, and mental health of the player. The subject of this article is not whether or not games are bad for teens, it's whether or not they are good for them. So I am going to show that they, in fact, are.

In order to understand why video games are beneficial to teens (and people in general), it must also be understood that video games are art: more specifically in the realm of storytelling. Some of you may frown in doubt at that statement, but don't worry: I'll explain.

When storytelling began, it was merely spoken. There was no written language, so stories were passed on orally from generation to generation. Thus, the first form that storytelling took was that of the spoken word. Then, once a written language was developed, storytelling took a very large step up in that stories could now be recorded. Stories were recorded in writing, accurately preserving them and allowing for some new ways to tell stories. Thus, stories could not only be told orally, but through the written word. Then storytelling took another step when visual drama was developed. Now, people could not only read or hear stories, they could see them acted out on a stage. This was a huge step, as it combined the two previous forms of storytelling, the spoken and written word, combined them together, and added visual storytelling as well. It combined all that had made stories so far. This is the last large evolution storytelling went through for a long time to come.

Eventually, when technology was taking large steps in development, the radio came into being. This was another step for storytelling, but really, it did not take the art anywhere new. By moving to radio as a source of storytelling, we really just went back to the written word. Was it done differently? Yes: it could be recorded, sound effects were done differently, different actors could tell the story, and it could be broadcast to many people at the same time. But it was really nothing new in terms of how stories were told: it was simply an electronic form of the spoken word. Then came television and movies. This did something similar to radio in that it is simply another, electronically dependent way to present a previous form of storytelling: visual drama. As in radio, there were some advancements: the camera added visual interest, sets and sound effects were done differently, visual effects could be more spectacular,

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