Identity crysis

"Stay a while, and listen!"
-A wise old man

Video games have been around for around 3 decades, and yet its still a kind of taboo. Over its time of evolution there have been people who have trashed and praised video games, but most of the time it's never identified for what it is. 

When a new idea or a new product is introduced people always tether it to something they are familiar with. It's a way of comprehending it, and defining a set of logical rules which imply its behavior. Those ideas which really break free of such a binding are those that defy the logic of what it's tethered to. Needless to say that video games have come a far way over the past 30 years, and during its evolution we have all gotten amazing experiences and gaming as a media has gotten an identity of its own. Or has it? 

What does a video game represent, and is it good or bad for society has been a question asked over and over again, it's still being asked. We heard the occasional famous guy says gaming is awesome, or famous guy says gaming is not art or should not be a movie. It surprises me when I see people who are still very ignorant of how powerful video games as a medium.

Think of reading a book, its the ultimate form of immersion. We often compare movies and books and vice versa. I say, that video games is something in between books and movies, if not better than books. At this point some of you books lovers there will be raging, but hear me out a second.

Lets brake things down. What essentially defines a memorable experience. It's mostly associated with some kind of emotion or a set of emotion. The reason why books are so powerful at defining experience is that they can convey emotions which a movie cannot. Not only that, but a form of perspective is associated with a book, even the fact that you are imagining the scene, painting it, constructing it in your brain makes you as a reader involved as its a world you imagined, its something you forged out of text in a book, a sense of ownership of the scene.

The best video games out there are mind blowing emotional experiences. The final scene of Metal Gear Solid 4, The Last of Us, Dragon Age, Fable, Mass Effect, Half-Life, Diablo, BioShock, Crysis, Batman: Arkham City, Final Fantasy, Starcraft, Witcher. Each type of game provides a point of view which I dare by say some books cannot give, or even achieve.

RPG games provide a sense of self-existence, putting yourself in these crazy world, and making decision based on how you want your character to be, and seeing the world react to them. Fighting Baal in the end of Diablo 2 provide a true sense of terror making conscious decisions to stay alive. Once you defeat him there is a sense of victory which was all because of the actions and decision you made, not a pre-written script. Being a nice guy in Mass Effect or Fable, or deciding to jump to the dark side in Knight of the Old Republic. These games tether you, as a person, to its realm and gives you power to imagine and change the world.

A FPS game provides one of the best experiences you can ever imagine. Think of Medal of honor: Allied Assault, your first time playing the Omaha beach level. Despite, it not being a more realistic image of the original event, it triggered the distress and tensions to find cover from those flesh ripping machine guns. You could be surviving the horror of Mars as a Lonely surviving marine in Doom 3, or breaching a terrorist filled room in Rainbox: Six, you could even be jumping of a plane in Battlefield, or infiltrating a prison in Call of Duty. These extraordinary experiences are all available, you just need to be ready to play them.

'Wow, this sounds awesome. How come video games are still a Taboo?'. Simple and most obvious answer is that the majority of people who judge them have not played them. Its like judging something based on research. Classic example would be drinking alcohol. We all have one of those friends whose like 'Bro, I read about it and researched it and I'm not sure if its something I wanna do'. You can't know how something feels unless you have done it. An experience should essentially be itself, we humans always try to simply the intangible and dissect thing to quantify it, in the process losing our sight on what it really is, a feeling.

The solutions sounds simple enough, play video games and then make a decision on it. Yet, again humans being egoistic losers, have to complicate it further. The fact that video games were associated with child during its inception has still persisted, although I am happy that in some parts of the world this is not true, but there are a still quite a large number of people who won't play video games just because its 'childish', 'not mature'. It's the same reason as why some people don't watch anime, 'I don't wanna watch cartoons man'. Even more disturbing is that fact that video games are now being judged as a mind bending medium which program people to do horrible things.

Now the World is in a stale-mate, those who don't play video games judge it. We who love it, defend it and comparing it with something people might know. Even the industry is trying to do that same. If you want my advice, go to a friend house, someone who plays video games on a regular basis, and just chill next to him/her as he/she is playing something he/she says is awesome (=p), I guaranteed that you will not be disappointed. You could pretend to be a parent supervising a child, but you don't pretend anymore, do you?