Gaming...Older and Wiser

Yes I consider my self a gamer. I say this because I currently own Xbox 360 and have owned other gaming platforms in the past. Ever since I was young I’ve had an interest in video games and it just carried over into my years in college. I think I’ve been a gamer and still am because of my personal interests in games as a leisure activity along with different people you meet and friends also playing video games. It encourages you to keep up, if they are playing games that say are good. There is no better critic for a game then a good friend. If they say a certain game is good then you’re more likely to buy it if you’ve never heard anything about it.

I don’t know if I fit the mold for the platform I play most regularly because I don’t play video games as much as a did when I was younger. I think the demographic for Xbox 360 is a young gamer or a nerd type that it’s the main thing they do. I don’t put myself in that mold. College and work are the main things of concern then if I’m lucky and have a enough time I’ll play when I can. When your younger it’s school, study and playing video games. The time to play video games is much more lenient then rather then now. I used to “fit the mold” because I feel I bought every popular game that was out because I relied on that to buy games way more then I do now. Someone that “fits the mold” is possibly a geek with either not many friends or young such as the middle or high school years.

My favorite type of games is sports games, especially hockey. Any hockey game available I’d likely rent or buy. It’s my favorite type of game because hockey is my favorite sport to watch and play. If I can’t do either of those and have time on my hands that’s when I would play hockey on Xbox 360. I think even though I’m a little older then the textbook gamer I feel I’m doing it for a better reason then I used to or then textbook gamers are playing now. I feel they do it for fun and let it sometimes consume them. That’s what leads to the stories you see about violence in video games and how it can become a problem. I feel it’s safer to play when you’re older because you’re doing it for better reason. Young kids get influenced easy and that’s why you see so many issues of video game violence because they’re still learning and not sure of the difference between right and wrong.

With that said I feel the text does make too much of the issues such as a ratings system and product placement. It really is just a game, it’s not telling you to go out there and commit crimes. What sells is sex and violence which is why games such as Grand Theft Auto have become such big sellers because young children can’t something of that violence anywhere and be accepted. No I don’t think I spend too much time gaming, not anymore. I can’t afford to with having much more responsible then when I was younger. When I was younger I think sometimes I spent too much time gaming because when you didn’t have to worry about a job because you were too young etc. you would allow yourself to almost get lost in the time you devoted to playing these games.