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Archives for April 2008

[Gamer Responsibility] Escape and the Pursuit of Life

If I may, allow me to break the fourth wall of buttonmashing for a moment.

As some of you may know, I am an associate pastor of a rural church. One of my primary responsibilities is working with young people. A goal of mine is to lead and encourage them to live in faith, morality, genuineness, and to make an impact. In speaking with young people (who may even be like some of our readers) I am always trying to get them to see what is really important in life. Often in this society—especially in America—we spend most of our lives trying to escape it. Video games, movies, music, books, sports, parties, technology, and other such forms of escapism are moderately not bad, but can consume a person’s life.

Sometimes people forget. Why are we here? Many people think it’s to try and be happy, maybe even by pursuing the escape of life. I don’t think that is the reason. I believe it to be all about the impact we make on those around us. If we build a better life for just ourself, does it make it worth it? How about if we build a better life for another person?

You may have heard of Dr. Randy Pausch and may have seen his “Last Lecture” video. This is a person who doesn’t have long to live but is making an impact on those around him. His escapism is his life. The following is a ten minute presentation he did on Oprah that sums up his initial talk. I believe he gets it. He’s not a gamer (that we know of—he is a geek, however), but he knows about gamer responsibility.

Escaping to the world of video games is not a bad thing. Living the world of video games can be another thing entirely. Who does it benefit?

A few years ago I spent over 2,500 hours in Guild Wars. I have nothing to show for it other than lack of sleep, mini-arguments with my wife, and times lost that I could have spent with my first child during his toddler years. My evenings and Saturdays were full getting ultra-rare intangibles. I learned from that experience, and now I spend most of my time with the two boys I have.

Yes, there are times that we spend playing video games. Other times we read, we draw, we paint, we tell funny stories, we watch birds in the back yard, we travel, we disagree, we agree, and we talk. We live. As a gamer my responsibility is to not always be one. Yes it is something that I like to do, but there are a plethora of things that are more important.

I chose this topic for my first posting on gamer responsibility because I think it goes beyond just playing games. It’s foundational for how we should look at them. It’s foundational for how we should play them. I know that many arguments can be made for being immersed in video game culture, and I’ve not addressed any of them. That’s not what this is about. All I ask is who does living a life of virtuality impact?

Just what the doctor didn’t order

Gaming addicts with sore eyes and tired brains may be able to perk up with “Game Suppli”, a new Japanese supplement developed specifically for the country’s thousands of fanatic players.

Link.

For some reason, this doesn’t strike me as the greatest idea.

Something to think about

I bet this is something you’ve never considered: Gaming while Color Blind. (via Instapundit)

Eventually I realized there were blue, green, AND red people in the game. *sigh* Green and blue guys are teammates. Red guys are enemies. That seems simple enough, except that I couldn’t tell the green guys from the red guys.

So the rest of the night went like this: “Oh it’s a green guy, I won’t shoot him. Arrrgh!!! I’m dead; again. He must have been red.” Or, “There’s a red guy! I’ll take him out. Oops, lost more points for killing a team member.”

RTWT.

No Wii puns here

That last post was kind of a downer, so here’s something a little less depressing: General Petraeus playing Wii Golf.


(Click to enlarge)

This pic and story are a bit old, but I saw it for the first time this morning on Deadspin and it made me smile.

Sickos are everywhere

And some of them have (and play) video games!

In an unrelenting attempt to make the tenuous violence-and-video games connection, we get a story like this. The media will not let up. Look for a ban on video game controllers soon, backed by Senator Clinton.

This deplorable behavior by the boyfriend should be vilified and condemned. He will receive the swift justice he deserves. But did we really need a headline like “Baby killed with video game controller”?

Unacceptable.

Ikaruga Pleases Me

Quite possibly the greatest shooter of all time is being released tomorrow on Xbox Live for 800 points. I’m seriously considering taking my first ever personal day just for a video game. It is the only game I have played consistently for almost three years.

This game is not for the faint of heart. The person in the video above has played it a lot more than I have, a lot more.

Hmmmm…

It would appear a certain gaming blog was left off this list. A mere oversight, I’m sure. Certainly it will appear on there the next time around.

Monday Madness?

I know I’m a little early, but I don’t have much time. I’ll be disconnected the next two days attending a conference.

Saving other items for next week, I present you with only one item for this post, The Force Unleashed. There is no doubt that I will get this game. The big question is for what system?

All of them?

On my Radar: Bangai-O Spirits [Nintendo DS]

I haven’t done this for a while, but that doesn’t mean there are a bunch of games on my radar. (Gamedar, if you will) The one highlighted this week is Bangai-O Spirits. I was blissfully unaware of anything about this title until I read Tim Rogers’ review over at Action Button. A good read, if you can get past the weird sex metaphors.

After reading such phrases as “Bangai-oh Spirits is “Brain Training” for God” and “Bangai-O Spirits is a puzzle game, a shooting game, a fighting game, an MMORPG. It is Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter III at the same time…” (you get the idea.) I was intrigued. So I did a little research:

1UP has a preview and you can see a bunch of videos, including some gameplay videos over at Game Trailers. I can’t tell if this game is nothing but a cluster of unplayable, uncontrollable madness or pure gaming heaven. I mean, you can use a baseball bat to deflect missiles! Who does that? Who thinks of that? It’s insane.

Bullets bouncing of walls ballistically and barreling into barricades, blowing them away? Sold!

Seriously, what other shoot-em-up has baseball bats?!

Not at home

I’m standing firm with the Grumpy Gamer, as buttonmashing.com will be April 1st joke-free. I’m taking a break from the internet today.

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