Man knows no boundaries in searching for life improvement. We have always been in continuous pursuit of enlightenment by searching for knowledge and skills. We have gone to the end of the earth to accomplish the ultimate goal—convenience in our every day lives—and we have technology and human ingenuity to thank for that.
What’s interesting though is that these life-changing concepts came from small ideas and changes that people wanted to address. These small changes eventually led to an impressive improvement in communication and transportation to name a few.
Gone are the days when people used life-sized computers, black and white televisions, and sent their letters to loved ones through old-fashioned snail mails. Today, people bring laptops and tablets in the office or at school. We now have gigantic flat screen televisions, send information or data through electronic mail (or e-mail), and smartphones that have started to trend in the market.
With the continuous development of these technologies came the rise of the video game industry, which started with Nutting Associates in the early 1970’s, and the company’s development of the arcade game Computer Space. Although the game was not commercially released, this game served as the benchmark of the industry that led to the creation of other games around that time like Atari’s Pong. Developed and released a year after Computer Space, the Ping-Pong inspired arcade game could be played by 1 to 2 people.
With Pong’s massive success, a countless list of video game titles spawned afterwards, ranging from a diverse type of genres – like Role playing games or RPG (with titles like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest comes first into mind), music-based games, shooting games, and etc.
From humble beginnings, people have seen the evolution of the video games from 8-bit, cartoony graphics and simple gameplay to the realistic graphics and interactive gameplay that many gamers cannot live without today. After four decades, this industry has continued to boom and has become a favorite pastime among the youth (and even the kids at heart).
The industry has spawned multiple titles in the personal computer, console and arcade platforms. It also gave way to innovations on interactive entertainment, and has also become a major employment contributor.
Video games, simply put, give entertainment to everyone by immersing the player into the story, graphics, and gameplay. Furthermore, players receive the chance to momentarily forget their problems in the real world. It is one of the reasons that has made playing video games addicting, aside from the sense of accomplishment and bragging rights players get in defeating a difficult boss or in completing a game.
Playing these games also improves the player’s creativity and critical thinking since most games today involve problems that require solving riddles or puzzles.
While the video game industry has undoubtedly contributed many benefits, playing too much can be dangerous to your health. Earlier this year, a report came out that an 18-year old Taiwanese teenager died after playing Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo III at a computer shop for 40 hours straight. Playing the game nonstop was not the primary reason for the person’s death, although it heavily contributed on the person’s stress and deprivation of basic necessities like sleep, food, and water.
In addition, being exposed to violent video games can influence the mindset or outlook of players, especially the youth. One of the most notorious school shooting recorded in history happened in the state of Colorado in United States. On April 1999, two students brought firearms and had a shootout inside the campus, resulting to the death of 15 people (including the two perpetrators) and more than 20 injured.
The incident sparked a major controversy; numerous aspects that led to the shooting were brought out. Along with the issues of bullying, depression, and social cliques, the issue of playing video games (specifically games with violent content) became a heated topic among parents, school administrators and the government.
Such events like these resulted to the creation of a review classification board for video games like Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) and Pan-European Game Information (PEGI). These organizations rate video game products, which informs the consumers of the nature and of the age group the product is strongly advised to be given to. These organizations also aim to reduce and to prevent further controversies on video games.
At the end of the day, moderation and balance is the key. It does not only apply to playing video games, but in everything we do in general. It should be noted that there is more to life than video games.
by Kenn Ante
