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the gym, read, watch television, and the like, but what I find fascinating is how the artificial world that video games create for us enables us to somehow broaden the scope of our existence in ways that, for the majority of us in any event, would never happen conventionally. Where a novel engrosses the reader in the thoughts and feelings of a character or the scope of an event, video games seem to be able to immerse that same person to a degree that they feel they've experienced part of the real world scenario. After all, if not for that near total suspension of disbelief that allows us to get involved in a game, why would we flinch when something horrific happens to our character? Does this mean that I think that I've somehow experienced what it's like to be a member of a SWAT team facing off with terrorists in an abandoned building? Not hardly, but I do know what it takes to successfully negotiate a challenging world full of virtual bad guys with nothing but my own skills, a headset, and a group of my buddies providing the backup.

I think the gaming world is changing. For the longest time video games have been the realm of the child or the childish and I don't see that as being an operable stereotype anymore. For my experience, I'd have to say that games are becoming more and more broad based. I can fully remember a time a decade ago when an 'M' rated game generated controversy for being violent and now they won't sell well if the pixel-lated gore doesn't fly.

My favorite change of all though shows itself every time I go to buy a game and realize that the woman in front of me in the checkout line and the older man directly behind me are both buying the exact same game that I am. God is it a grand thing to be an overgrown kid!

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