Video games

As I alluded to in class, I grew up in a very anti video game household. It wasn’t just anti video games, but my sister and I were limited to watching two hours of TV and one movie a week. Both of my parents grew up on farms so they wanted my sister, Em, and I to spend our time outside or at least playing more active games than just spending time in front of a screen. Not only did my parents not just want us to spend time in front of a screen, but, being super conservative, they also felt that the messages conveyed in video games, television and movies were not appropriate for children, or adults for that matter. I often received messages such as “video games lead to violence” or “the women portrayed are not realistic.” Along the same lines, Em and I were not allowed to have Barbie dolls because mom didn’t want us develop an unhealthy body image. Plus, it just isn’t natural for a woman’s feet to be at such an angle! Women don’t have to wear heels!

Tangent aside, I originally found McGonigal’s thoughts of video games being able to help save the world and stop climate change to be absurd. I felt this way because of the negative messages I received about video games my whole life. After reading her article “Wii Shall Overcome,” I was still very skeptical about how video games could make a positive difference on society. However, her TED talk helped better convince me that video games can assist in bringing about positive social change. While I still have a bit of healthy skepticism, such as wondering if the reason that the participants of the gasoline crisis video game actually lowered their gas usage is because they had to blog about their experience. Between playing this game and blogging, the idea of a gasoline shortage is up front and an active part of their thought processes. Having these active thoughts about gasoline could have caused their change of behavior, rather than just playing the video game.

While I am not a full believer that video games are such a positive influence, my perspective has changed to at least welcome the idea that they can be helpful in bringing about social change.