I’ve seen the commercials – anyone who watches television has seen the commercials. There it sits in the middle of an empty room, all alone. No wait! There’s something . a Rubik’s Cube? Yes, that’s it. Something’s happening now – boom! The cube explodes and the once white walls are now multicolored. Another commercial, same room, but this time there are eggs on the floor. They roll around in mass hysteria until they rise from the floor and are slung by an invisible hand towards a wall – splat! Black birds erupt from the clean surface, with their wings flapping hurriedly. Wait, two channels later here’s another commercial but this time it’s a baby doll that’s rising from the floor, hardly audible sounds coming from its mouth and tears sliding down its rubber cheeks – then retracing their steps back to the eyes. Can you say creepy?
All this in the name of gaming! Each commercial must have cost a good penny considering the special effects it takes to make colors splash, eggs turn to birds and baby dolls cry. Then again, just as I heard some guy on VH1 say, blowing up a Rubik’s Cube isn’t that special. Little kids blow up things all the time. As for the eggs, I’m quite sure they turn to birds in most cases with or without the new Playstation 3’s assistance. Still, these commercials are intended to impress us and that they do (for me, at least).
Personally, I’ve never been that big of a fan when it comes to video games. I remember the first console I ever played was the Atari. That was in the day of one-dimensional graphics and single-joystick maneuvers. Oh, how I miss a time when people would rather spend their day outside with friends, using their imaginations and stretching the limits of what an hour could hold, instead of sitting Indian-style with a controller in their hands and with their eyes glued to a TV screen. Those days when, oh I don’t know, people didn’t shoot each other for the newest gaming system.
That’s a hard thing to fathom, I know. Try hard now; let go of what you consider an average day. Free yourself of the bolts and chains of “World of Warcraft.” No more missions, or raids, or whatever the hell they may be called. No more online relationships with computer-animated characters. Oh look! It’s a human.
I guess I should be more serious because this issue, the one of teens spending way too much time playing games, because it’s starting to prove dangerous. According to one study I read, 69 percent of American head of households, which most often proves to be male, admit to playing video games. The average age of the game buyer is 40 years old. Now, given, nearly half of these gamers spend other time doing creative things throughout their week. It would seem the issue of gaming still needs to be addressed since last I checked no one has stood in line for a week for painting supplies or tuba lessons.
Now, I have nothing against video games. As I’ve said, even I can enjoy playing them and happen to own a Playstation 2 – yes, a Playstation 2 – I’m living in the stone-age, I know. But to go to the extremes that Americans do for these items, and this takes me back to the days of Cabbage Patch Dolls, Furbies and Tickle Me Elmos, is a bit overboard.
We all have our passions, whether it be sports, acting or gaming. Whatever your talent may be, you should feel free to pursue and express it to any degree that you wish. Spend your time on the field, the stage or behind the big screen with a sweaty grip on your ‘life support’ system. It’s all up to you.
Go ahead, fight those villains, race other Hondas and battle the dead. Just remember that the expectations of games, in a world of occasional glitches and checkpoints for game-saving, are not the expectations of life.
The obstacles which so obviously lay before you are not going to mirror reality.
So, get out there, get that Playstation 3 and be sure to wear it out with your buddies.
I’ll just go crack the spine of a book . or something crazy like that.

Author