by Faolan Johanns

Created on: June 02, 2009   Last Updated: June 03, 2009

"I walk quietly and carefully through the archway, here on the negative side I see the masses, the swarms of evil to be defeated by my longsword which shines with the gleam of the almighty +2, I look over my shoulder where the T intersection met, back where I made my decision, the legions of good do exist there, but sadly are outmatched by the powers of evil, the slavering minions of diablo (pun intended)."

Before I truly begin, let me first establish that I am a gaming enthusiast, I have played them growing up, and continue to do so with much enjoyment, but let's not kid ourselves, enjoyment is the point, not the positive benefit of doing so.

Now that we're on the same page, (well the honest one anyways) I'd also like to point out that this is not truly a black and white argument, alas as so few are, video games have their positives and negatives, unfortunately the negatives I do not think balance out the positives.

First, let's look at what good they do for gamers. Take a look back at that first paragraph, any gamer of ye olde tymes will recognize this, video games are a modern source of what has been valued throughout human history, art, the active imaginings of a buoyant mind, though it isn't commonly recognized even by the gamer playing, video games inspire and stimulate our imaginations and creativity. Video games also may improve such things as reflexes, or more recently, with things such as Dance Dance Revolution, our exercise schedule. More text influenced games help improve reading and comprehension, unfortunately reading content is found today less and less in video games, and often in poorer grammatical and vocabulary substance.

I'm sure there's some things I missed, don't hate me, your positive outlook on games counts too.

Now, for the events which cause me to face the dark halls of the "bad" side: Unfortunately, most games today, as opposed to ten years ago, take most of the positive away from the aforementioned, with simple or slim to none text, and completely visual games - yes they are art, and can be seen as such, however the player is no longer creating that artistic value with their imaginations, it is the artist's work completely now that stimulates your senses in 3D. Text based games are better for development, you have to work with the words to create in your mind what it is that is happening, it is not a rendered frame for you to see, but for you to create. Furthermore, video games are sheltered, with symptoms such as: inactivity, headaches, obesity (the opposite: anorexia in some severe cases), and acute sunlight avoidance. My prescription? Books, books typically stimulate the mind in a greater way than modern video games (the elves I imagine when reading a book are pretty, not them ugly nelves, I know, I lost any positive points from people that play ally just now, too bad, for the Horde!), they can be taken outdoors where the body can also be impacted positively.

In any case, in all things moderation is what we all need to keep in mind, WoW isn't the addiction, addiction is the lack of discipline on the individual's part, video games can be good, or they can be bad, it is with a heavy heart that the masses cause me to turn my back on the good side of gaming, to the greater negatives I behold as their legacy, and with that I sign off, satisfied with a fight well fought, oooh, phat loot!

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