A Penny's Worth of Thoughts, Vol. 5

People don't tend to like things that are new.  We all are like that for something, simply because when we get used to a way of doing things, and a new way comes out, it takes us a moment to change over.  That moment lasts longer for some than others, and that sometimes causes us to have a moment of frustration.  But, something I think gets quite a bit of heat when something new comes out is entertainment media.



Now, I know there has been some research and experiments that say, for example, that video games are corrupting today's youth, but I'm sure if you look back far enough, you can see that similar things have been said about music, movies, and television.  Truth of the matter is, the corruption of today's youth can't be pinned on a single thing, but a combination.  Take for example, a little cousin or son/daughter watching someone play a game like Halo Reach.  We all know sometimes people get frustrated player some of those high competition games, but if one of the little ones watching you sees you as their role model growing up, and they see you cussing, throwing a fit, and angry at a game, what are they going to think they need to do?  I'm not saying that video games aren't corrupting people, but they certainly aren't the sole cause of corruption.

Me personally, I see video games as an advancement in storytelling.  While not all of them tell stories and are more fit for arcades, consider this: storytelling has been a part of human history since we have written records for, even before then when people told stories by word of mouth and pictures on walls.  There has been three major storytelling media: songs, theaters, and books.  Songs have advanced from what used to be bard's tales of glorious heroes and incidents to music today which either tells the story of the singer/songwriter or tells a different story to different people.  Theater plays that were acted on stage have advanced to movies and tv shows that, instead of acts, there are chapters of a movie and episodes of tv shows.  Books told mystical stories to people, whether by narration or by poem, that had the readers follow characters on their journeys.  Games today are and advancement on books because they still follow characters on journeys and exploring mystical lands, but the difference is that instead of a set character, the people playing the games make the decisions for their characters, and in some cases, can even put together their own stories to have other players try out.

Just a penny's worth of thoughts, for anyone who wants to read them.