Thing 15 - ("tizenot" - HUNGARIAN)

I am now angry. Angry that Thing 15 exposed me to Puzzle Pirates because it revealed I need a life. I played that darn, stupid game for well over an hour. I did every puzzle trying to help my pirate self-esteem of being a "novice" and "able" to being at least "respected" in that world. I joined up with two crews and kicked some major cartoon pirate "booty". I order a hat, boots, and a jacket so I would not look like a home less, wandering hobo (that took all of my pieces of gold that I earned). I even was disappointed some captain made me walk the plank because during our sword fight against another crew we lost. I was like "what the", but then I left my body and looked down at it from the heavens. It was a sad sight.

I yelled, "GET UP AND GO OUTSIDE! IT IS BEAUTIFUL OUT THERE!"

I love video games. I quickly learned after my Sega in high school that I could easily pump in the hours on these gaming systems. I then promised myself to not own one in college. The game systems came out and I stayed away. I did have chances to play the Playstations and other new and advanced boxes of entertainment, but I never owned one in my home. My skills did drop. My friends enjoyed shooting me over and over again in Bond 007, the scores for Madden were like 63 to 6 with me being the 6, and they would laugh that once I figured out one combo move in any fighting game...well, that would be my only move again and again and again and again. Computer games would slip onto my Apple in college. I would play for hours sometimes when everyone was asleep in the dorm with no class in the morning. Thank goodness they were really old games like Populous and Galacixa that never kept my interest.

Now, I am an adult. Matured and wiser. And I am still frickin' addicted to playing video games......aye, ya matey. There are many online games, free or at a cost, that have caught the world...children and adults of both genders. One thing that I noticed about some of these games is their format to keep players playing. Having the players collect things and gather levels to be a greater character. Making this possible, but not too easy and not too impossible. Also, giving the player the ability to have some ownership over the character's image and look. This is just to keep them playing....keep me playing.

To be preachy, I do not blame the games out there for the list of negatives people come up with about gaming. It comes down to us as people to be in control of ourselves. To self-evaluate and act on good judgment. This is not a natural progression, though. I strongly feel that the youth out there needs exposure and practice at balancing this sort of entertainment. They need guidance and an opportunity to have some decision power in how they fill their day. "They will play all day, Jon!!" Then, they need to build a greater concept of who they are. As adults, we often dictate and order when children do things. Eventually they will rebel from this. We need....we, as adults, need to do what the games are doing with our youth. Give them the ownership of creating their character, give them opportunities to collect knowledge and experience, but make it not too easy or too difficult to gather, and let them enjoy playing the best game out there.....life.