The Evils of Video Games

note to readers: This is NOT going to be a 3 page long diatribe on the evils of all digital media nor on video games specifically. I am not going to spew ill thought out evangelical nonsense, I am probably not even going spew virtual spittle as I scream at you about the evils of all things scientific. I love video games, video games brought me my DH, video games are going to be putting the food on the table soon (God willing and the creek don’t rise) and they’re a way for my entire extended family to beat the virtual snot out of one another instead of doing so verbally in real life, which in my book is always a good thing. What this is going to be is a short rant about the tunnel vision that is so prevalent in this world. Here endeth your public service announcement

Parents tell me all the time that they don’t understand their children. Case in point. Man brings his angst ridden adolescent son in for counseling. I look at the kid who’s bangs are dragging his nose, he’s dressed in all black and he has this look of long suffering on his face. His crisp blue eyes meet mine and a fog lifts. Despite my frumpy build, my age (31) and my appearance of generic woman hood I like to call my “mask of everywoman” that I wear so often in order to not scare the natives, he recognizes a kindred spirit. Maybe it was the shared knowledge that I not only understood the caption on his t-shirt but that I found it amusing as well. The caption on his black t-shirt printed in white letters was: There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't... but in that moment an understanding was born. For those of you who are baffled at this moment: 10 is the denotation in binary for the number 2 .

The child is totally lost in this rural backwater place with a father who knows his son is smarter than he is and doesn’t even bother to get to know his child. I say to the boy, “Have you tried out the new WoW (World of WarCraft) open beta? It’s a great game, I highly suggest it.” He answers, “No, I got Half-Life 2 last night.” OK, FPSs (First Person Shooters) aren’t my cup of tea but I know they have their place. I nod and he leaves the office leaving me with his father who proceeds to lay into me in that whispered voice that everyone for 3 miles can hear about how he doesn’t let his son play games with Witch Craft in them. The gnome in my head has just thrown the halt switch in my brain workings at that one. Even she is looking at this guy a bit confuzzled. After a 9 hour day of dealing with this sort of bizarre thinking I snap a little and say “Sir, how is it better to run around a rather real looking environment carrying enough ammunition and fire power to take out an entire battalion which you use to blow up anything that moves, creature and human alike, in such realism that the military uses such things to desensitize their recruits to the reality of war….than to say throw a large blue fire ball at a bright yellow spider in a world so far from reality it belongs in a fantasy novel, not to mention the hands throwing that large ball of flame-age are those of a Night Elf. I haven’t seen any Night Elves running around your local park, don’t seen Night Elves blowing up women and children in far away lands. The flaming blue ball of doom ISN’T REAL and you can’t even buy one at your local pawn shop unlike the high powered rifles. How is this more better?!

His response…

Wait for it…put down your drink and swallow first….

His response was…”Witch Craft is evil”.

By this time the gnome in my head is banging her head against her desk while the Everywoman mask remains firmly in place despite my incredible urge to just sit there staring at this man slack jawed. I of course have a misguided hope that by talking to this man parent to parent might help save the budding geek in the waiting room so I try. “Sir, I really don’t understand what the problem is. Of course I have also read Harry Potter, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Madeliene L’Engle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and most Fairy Tales.”

He stops me, eyes alight with that crazied look that only a person alight with the fire of Christian unquestioning zeal can have and says….

Swallow first…

It’s EVERYWHERE isn’t it?!

Gnomeinsidemyhead has gone for coffee by now, having given up on trying to get my brain to process this. She left me with one thought…

Who exactly needs the counseling in that family?

I’ll have to say I agree with her 100%.