by Julius Albert Custodio

Created on: February 05, 2009   Last Updated: June 08, 2009

"Honey, just like vegetables, video games are good for you."

How I wish all the parents in the world can say that to their children.

I am a concerned gamer. Recently, video games are put into a bad light because they always become the convenient scapegoat when people talk about major issues (e.g. children's poor academic performance, violent campus killings, etc.). I don't want to scare-off some parents so let me start this off bluntly by saying I'm an addict, of the video game kind of course. Yes, I've played video games all my life and yes, you'll be reading an article straight from the underrated brain of a video game aficionado.

Over the years, I have gained experience, I evolved, I honed my numerous skills and if you're thinking about it, no, I'm talking about my life in general, not about that last RPG I played. I think I even started playing these games earlier than the time I started reading. I practically grew up with Mario and Link, I can already consider them my pixel-based stepbrothers.

Having said that, did that stop me from having a social life? Did I spiral down into the abyss of idiocy and developed a learning disability? Did it make me violent and antisocial? The answer to those questions is a resounding NO. Alright, so maybe I don't have the MOST active social life ever, but I have many friends in Facebook who will disagree! Alright, so there is a potential to neglect your studies the moment you dedicate some of your time in playing these games, but if you think about it that's where the value of good time management usually begins! Alright, so maybe there are kids who develop aggression from playing too much first-person shooters but that's because they didn't have self-control. Don't let this be some kind of witch hunt and track down the potential campus killers through the games that they're playing. Just like the time when they blamed the music genre that they listen to, let me remind you that FPS is only one game-type, a tiny portion of the expansive video game universe. You have to blame the kids more for letting the violence get into their heads! Now, going back to the topic, video games actually helped me in evolving into what I am today. You're probably shaking your head because I use the word 'evolve' too much and now you're blaming Pokemon, huh? It would be terrible if you would think that way because a) I only played that game twice in my lifetime and b) 'evolve' is a common word. Now, I digress. The bottom line is, I attribute most of my logical and abstract reasoning skills from playing these video games.

Contrary to what some people believe, the scope of these games isn't only limited to kids with short attention span or awkward teenagers in the middle of their growth spurts. As a prime example: When she's not working on anything, even my own mother plays Tetris on my little sister's GBA. See? And my mom is the smartest and sassiest person I know. (Again, pardon me for digressing.) So what was the culmination of this video game addict's life? Well, I graduated from university last year. I took up Engineering, and now I'm an "oohmpa-loompa of Science" as Sheldon Cooper from BBT aptly put it. Sure, it's not the traditional way of challenging your mental capacity, but I felt that I wouldn't have been here without the constant intellectual prodding I got from playing these video games. So if you're a parent and you're reading this, do yourself a favor and buy that kid the latest video game console already!

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