My experience with video games has been a rollercoaster. photo by Lilah Tuchez
Sometimes, video games and I don’t get along.
Video games are a staple in many households across America. Every day, groups of friends gather online or in person to play games with each other. Personally, I really enjoy this. I’ve played games like Mario Kart 8 or Mario Party with family and friends numerous times in my life and it’s incredibly fun. However, once you get out of the realm of Nintendo games made for big groups, that’s where I get lost.
Growing up, my brother was an avid gamer, and he still is. He’s four years older than me, so when I was five, he was nine and playing games from the Skylanders or Sonic the Hedgehog franchises. Many times, I would just sit and watch because I thought it was really cool. Once I got old enough, I started asking if I could play with him. We played games like Skylanders, Super Smash Bros., Cuphead, and even Super Mario Galaxy.
You would think that since I spent so much time around video games as a child, maybe I picked up some skills. Nope. I’m still not great at video games. I have tried to complete some games on my own, and they’re really fun, but it takes me way longer to beat the game than it would for most people. One example is Super Mario Odyssey, which is probably my favorite game, and I had a lot of fun with it. But while I was trying to beat it, I died a lot. It got to the point that I would go into my brother’s room and say, “I can’t seem to defeat this boss. If I die one more time, I’m gonna need you to help me.” He would agree, and most of the time, I would win on the very next try. I still don’t know how that happened.
I’m also friends with people who play a lot of different games. Sometimes, I’ve never even heard of these games and listening to them talk about it is like hearing a different language. I can make connections by piecing together context clues and what I already know about games, but for the most part, I’m absolutely lost. I remember one specific time I was in my Sunday School class. The first 20-30 minutes are always spent sitting in a circle talking about whatever we want. A group of our high school boys started detailing their opinions on the new Fortnite season. For 10 minutes, I listened to them talk about why the new weapons and skins were so bad compared to those in previous seasons. They got into the specific stats of each weapon and specific strategies on how to use them. I’ve never played a single game of Fortnite and still have no idea what they were talking about.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I don’t like video games, they’re a really fun way to pass the time and pick up a new hobby. I’m saying that I haven’t had enough experience with them, and honestly, it might be fun to start. Video games have been researched and can have cognitive benefits such as improved problem solving skills, reaction time, and reflexes. For these reasons, even though I find them slightly confusing and difficult at times, video games are a good hobby to have.
