Just as James Gee stated, “Many people who don’t play video games, especially older people, are sure to say that playing video games is “a waste of time.” I used to fall into this category until I actually tried to play my five year old nephew’s Playstation game. I learned that it takes more than just picking up a controller in order to play a video game. I found that the most important part of playing video games was learning what each button or symbol on the controller commands. This was crucial, even with just reading through the commentary. I also learned that it is important to have well developed eye-hand coordination skills in order to be somewhat successful.
The video games that are created today are much more complicated and advanced then the video games that I used to play during my childhood. My childhood video games consisted of Pacman and Super Mario Brothers. Games today are also made for general audiences, just as Pikmin was rated “E” for everyone, and this is one reason for the expansion and success of the video game industry. Another reason is due to advancements in technology. Like all electronics, there are constantly new video game systems being created.
I can see why people might say that video games are “a waste of time” because they take a lot of time to play them. What those people need to understand is that the reason for video games consuming a large amount of time is the different skill levels. Video games require players to conquer multiple layers in order to finish the game. While they require a lot time, they also have memory cards as an option of saving the place in a game for the player to be able to continue at a later time. Like everything else in the world-video games should not be played in excess.
