Here it is after many promises; accusations of being too political lately notwithstanding.
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Ever since I was about 5 years old, my parents questioned my spending multitudinous hours gaming, worrying about my well being and future. Relative to most kids, they probably had good reason for doing so. I've played and completed more video games, spending more hours with a controller or keyboard and mouse in my hands, than probably anyone who'd ever bother to take the time to read this blog, and I take no pride in this reality. Even with all my apparent humanitarian ideals, I've played across basically all platforms and genres - everything from Nintendo (the first one) to PC to Xbox 360 to fps (first-person shooter) to mmorpgs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game).
I'm a literal product of the first generation of video games. The novelty of this reality is still just barely coming to light even to me. However, I have not set this post aside to discuss my love/hate relationship with video games but, rather, to propose something rather radical. I know many people who'd stumble across this post would scoff at the title thinking to themselves something with the consonance of "Well anyone who wasted time gaming could defend it."
Matrix Morpheus - "What if I told you, you're the one missing out?"
And not just the fun, but so much more?
When I stated that "I'm a literal product of the first generation of video games," I mean that gaming has directly changed my life. This is not a revolutionary idea; people have long believed that our culture and environment influence our behaviours, even our attitudes and beliefs. So have games for gamers.
Now, this relationship isn't obvious and clean, but experientialism rarely is. For example: there's the timeless argument that playing violent video games contributes to making you a more violent person. I don't deny that playing such games may give the player ideas and methods, but I'd argue that the motivation to act upon these ideas and methods has a much more complicated origin.
Exhibit Manhunt 2. Arguably one of, if not, the most violent and visceral video games ever created, a psychologist or similar figure might speculate that, after playing a certain number of hours, the player could develop violent tendencies. It's not impossible. (A video that summarizes the game well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATw6FAmeMdo - beware, there're many reasons why this game was banned in several countries.)
But, and this is an important "But." Just as there are bad books and bad movies, there're bad video games too. I'd be the first to admit that there's a ton of terrible games out there, some that'd be lucky to be as edifying as a book about farts or the movie 'Dude, Where's My Car?'
However, the radical argument I proposed at the beginning is this: just as there are good books and good movies, there're good video games out there too.
I'm going to give you a taste of a good video game, which is hard to do since you likely haven't played it; however, I'm going to try none the less.
The picture attached to this note is a screen shot, with text added, from Final Fantasy 9 (FFIX), a JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game) created and produced by SquareSoft, the predecessor of SquareEnix.
*Major Spoiler Alert*
Like all the other main installments of the Final Fantasy series, the game features a cataclysm. In FFIX, this cataclysm was created by a man(?) named Kuja. I placed a question mark in parentheses besides man because he was actually manufactured by an alien civilization trying to consume the world in which most of the game takes place. Kuja almost succeeds at weakening the environment enough for consumption by his own planet, manipulating the various governments of the competing countries within the mainland continent into a terrible war. One country and race is almost completely annihilated. You play as the protagonists Zidane, or whatever you decide to name him(?), and his group of unlikely friends. As I did with Kuja, I also questioned Zidane's gender because, like Kuja, he was also manufactured by the civilization trying to consume the protagonists' planet.
Besides the game being completely awesome in its own right, I personally value the game because Zidane commits one of the greatest acts of mercy I've ever encountered to this day.
Zidane went back for Kuja. After you finally defeat Kuja in a cosmic battle and the tree of life that maintains the balance and flow of life in the planet becomes feral, Zidane abandons his friends and embarks on a suicide mission to be by Kuja's side in his dying moments. (Kuja and Zidane - as manufactured constructs have limited life expectancies. After Kuja realized that he's going to die, he essentially tries to take everyone and everything with him.)
Why did Zidane do this? Why?
Empathy. Zidane realized that had he been dealt a couple of different cards, then he probably would have found himself doing the exact same thing. It still gives me chills. The sheer power of empathy; it still blows my mind.
Here're videos of the events I just mentioned:
part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47BCkNWg5bQ
part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL5m0U57dXY&feature=relmfu
It's an old game (in video game years), so the graphics are clunky. However, for me, the meaning now is just as powerful as the first time I experienced it myself, all those years ago. My hope with this note and those videos is that you might (someday) experience those feelings yourself.
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