Video Games: Yay or Nay

            My generation is the first to really experience the powerful force of video games as kids. And being apart of this generation I have observed some disturbing things with video games. Are video games bad or are they just a complicated virtual version of a board game? It is certain that if you look at ones Avatar is a reflection of what he or she would like to be with in that specific world.

            I don’t find video games to be dangerous, although they can be dangerously addicting. My first video game concel was the Play Station 2 that I receved for Christmas in 2001. I played it recreationally until one summer when I bought Gran Turismo 3. I spent my whole summer playing this game and never got out of the house. Once school started again I realized that I no longer like video games.

            Currently, I only play video games when I go to a friends house and we occasionally play. My friends who do play RPG’s do get a little too into it sometimes. One friend says that he plays his “Bad Company” game when he is angry, so he gets his anger out by killing people online. And in his “MX Reflex” game he has an avatar who represents who he really wants to be on a dirtbike. Although this is a dream and not a reality, it can be nice for him to feel like he is a pro racer winning it big time.

            I do not think that RPGs are dangerous or could lead to dangerous behavior in distingwishing what is appropriate in the real world and what is wrong. Kids who say they do something because they saw it in a video game are accountable for their mistakes. But don’t blame the games, blame the parents! Games have certin ratings for maturity level so parents should know buying their child that game  is not appropriate for them. Parents also need to distingwish to there kids that “real life” is different then “cyber life” and “video game life”.