Video Game Ramble

Video games, the electronic fantasy world, have quickly taken over the youth in America. Whether that be getting a new Call of Duty game or Battlefield game, one thing is for sure, a lot of people game. Which, this in its own, isn't that big of a deal.

When I was younger, I used to be an avid gamer. What I mean by avid is that I would play World of Warcraft and Runescape 12 hours a day along with school. I would sleep 3-4 hours a day and continue the cycle. 

I won't lie, when I was 12, it was fun. I could do certain tasks for hours without break. My parents realized how big of a deal this was and attempted to stop me; that didn't work of course. 

Their first attempt at stopping me was taking my internet away after a certain amount of time; I countered this of course. I walked to the nearest super market, a mile away, and bought a wireless internet connector. At the time, all of my neighbors had unsecured wireless internet.

My parents couldn't figure out how I was on the internet because I flipped the USB so it was facing the inside of the computer. This kept the internet connector out of site and out of mind. What did they do? Took my blasted computer away.

No worries, I just borrowed a few from friends. This allowed my video game addiction to flourish for a year or two and no matter how hard my parents tried, I'd always have a way to the internet. My fantasy world.

This went on until I was 14-15 and then I just changed, I lost my video gaming motivation. I started doing sports and working; I must have grew up without realizing it. It's kind of silly how serious I used to take gaming, kind of sickening. I've ruined countless consoles, controllers, and hand held devices because of video gaming anger. 

I learned one thing during this time; someone can't force you to grow up, you must do it yourself. Whether a tragic event brings you back to reality or not, you must eventually grow up. Instead of restricting your child's game time, why not give them substitutes? For example, make them get some sort of job or give them responsibility that they will love.

The older you make them feel, the more they will mature. As bias as this will sounds, I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of youth in America are addicted to one of the major games in the industry.