Are Video Games Bad for you?

At what point are videos games “rotting your brain” and how does this effect social skills?

    I don’t think that they do either. As a social norm if there is A problem that requires actually effort and responsibilities of individuals the only way to make it go away of course is to blame someone, or something else. Video games have been this target for some time now and it does not look like it is going to let up.

    What is it that we get out of video games? Simulation? Relief from boredom and too much free time? I feel like it is more of a “Challenge accepted” then “I have nothing better to do”. Video games in my youth allowed me to not just live in a fantasy world but it is where I found a real challenge. School for me was not where I found where the limits of mind could be reached. As each year went by things just built a little more on themselves and nothing really new was added in a way to tie it all together. Each class was a snapshot of a subject or idea. These snapshots were then passed on as “all you need to know” and that always left questions for me. As I have always been a big picture kind of person I did not like knowing bits and piece and often what was left out of class was much more interesting.

    I was always playing video games throughout my younger years but it wasn’t until I received a computer at age 10 that I really started to get into them. The earlier games allows you to do things like editing maps and creating worlds that you and a friend could go in and play together. Without even knowing it I was creating simple computer programs and testing them. This kind of mental simulation was addicting, being able to take a little bit of information and create something using only codes and images. How could you not fall in love?

    Once I was hooked on the creating part of videos games I found playing them much more enjoyable and I even looked at them differently. I often wondered why I could do this, or that in the game or why this didn’t look right. This led me to having to dive into the hardware of my computer to figure out why my game looked differently and why it was not running very fast.

This lead into a whole world of math and hardware that I don’t think I fully understand to this day, but it allowed me to learn yet again. I was able to see the whole picture all the time, I did not have to wait after class to ask anyone to explain it or try to figure out what the books where trying to say. I was the creator of my own world and it used my hardware to do it.

    Once online gaming became very popular I was able to play other people from around the world. This soon sparked groups of people who would play the same game together and try and fight against one another or the computer. This fell down with my set of skills once again. Strategy, patients, and the willingness to be cut-throat when need be. I began to really get to know a few people on some of these online games and really started to developed and relationship. It was then I was asked to join my 1^st online gaming community. BloodLust Soldiers.

    It started out just a small 1^st-person-shooter gaming community that would love to go from game server to game server smashing the competition, but then it became more. I would spend so much time with these people I would know them by voice and even there playing style. I would know what is going on in their life to a degree and often times have long conversation about life, love, and among other topics. They started to become a family, of course helping with personal matters as well as issue with my computer.

    Whenever I was having an issue with my computer they were always there and at age 15 I was eager to learn. I was taught everything from how websites works and how to make them, to how hardware communicated and functioned inside of a computer with the software. I am not sure if it was because I was a teenager or what, but I thought I knew it all when it came to computers with their help.

    As my computer knowledge and my skill at video games grew I started to look into working on computers for a living. I started taking classes at local community college to see what it would be like. I dropped out of most of the classes as it was all just a bit to “text book” for me. After 2 years of messing around and just being in my 20s. I went back to school and started my bachelor’s degree in computer networking. I felt like I was learning everything all over it again, but in the end I was able to re-enforce my knowledge and add on it.

    As I would sit through each classes listening to the instructor go on about a piece of hardware I would think back to the first time I tried to work on that part and broke it and had to have my fellow gaming community mates assist me with putting it back together. They would laugh and poke fun at me because they knew I would be too hardheaded to ask for help until it was too late. That didn’t stop them from walking me through fixing it using a voice program.

    As my years in school went on I started to be able to help other younger members with their computer issues. I was able to even mentor some to a degree as I was in my youth. The gaming community has been a big part of life and now it is going on 14 years old. We have a yearly get-together so that we can see one another in person and just be a misfit family.

    Like all things in life, you need to take it in moderation and each individual needs to know their limits, but for me playing games and being a member for BloodLust Soldiers has been a life style choice and has been one of the biggest factors in my success in life and my career choices.

So if you are on the fence about letting your kids play games, show an interest and to use it to your advantage to expand their mind. 

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Do we deserve to be loved?

We always seem to be looking for something better, something more fulfilling, which is very easy to do when the lines are drawn for products and services, but not so much people. People…well, I don’t like to deal with people, I like dealing with individuals, and it is on the individual level that we build relationships and can rid ourselves from the mass hysteria.

What does this mean as a person are trying to find someone to be with, or to just see where a relationship might go? It means, we are at huge a disadvantage and it may not be for the reason we think.

Some say that finding the relationship type or the right person, is half the fun, but not for everyone. Those who are out searching for a companion in the real world, or even media linked dating sites, will quickly tell you that it is not a “big single’s party hookup” like seen on TV and rarely fun. There are no one nightstands every night out to the bar or techno club dance floor relationship sparked over fifteen dollar drinks and a dance song that never ends. The reality is that people outside of places like that know that at some point they have to come back to the real world and when they do, they do not always like the person who they brought back, or …themselves.

Of course in life we can only control ourselves, but what does that mean when trying to find a relationship? Everything. I am a strong believer in the idea that “You cannot truly love someone else until you love yourself”. This means to be in a state of giving and willingness to open your life and yourself to someone else you should know and love who you are, the latter being the hardest part. We as people may care and give to one another, but at a certain point there is nothing more we can give, because we did not get what was needed in return. I hate the idea this comes from another person, because often times it is what we did not give ourselves.

                In a way we are in a relationship with ourselves which the normal things you would expect to find in a relationship such as giving, taking, appreciating and loving. These things are often not considered when looking in the mirror, that we are not just the person in the mirror but we are everything we think, do and act on. Whether through our own eyes or someone else’s; and this means responsibility for happiness is up to ourselves, plain and simple.

In order to be ourselves and love ourselves we need to understand that we are perfectly imperfect people. As a person we are the only ones that can define ourselves, through our own mind and eyes. Once this idea is in place, one can really look at themselves and find out what they like or may not like about themselves. It does not, however, have to be so black and white. Often times, the decisions that we make are based off of what is known in the here-and-now and we do not always know the full details of the situation. I cannot stress that last point enough, because it ties into forgiving yourself.  Which for most people is one of the hardest steps to overcome, but the most necessary. Through forgiveness, we can move forward in our mind and in our life towards who we want to be and how we want to act.

I, like most people, have always found that the past haunts us all, but that if I think hard enough I can always say, “if I did not do that or make that decision I would not be here in my life today.” Maybe the place you are now is not where you want to be, but if you are thinking about this, then that means the change has already started.

Change is not an easy thing to do I had to fight off the idea that “Why do I deserve to be happy with someone else?” What have I done in this life to make me worthy of such a rare thing? That is when I realized that I don’t… I don’t deserve to be happy in life and relationships until, I am happy with myself. Now with being happy with myself I have so much more to give. I know myself in and out and I am able to see the flaws and mistakes that other people make are similar to ones I have or made myself. Despite the way it may feel, no one is alone in the mistakes department. Through loving yourself and forgiving yourself, one will not find happiness because as a whole person you will be creating it.

I will be posting more on some ways to be happy with yourself in the next few days. If you like what you read please follow me via email over on the right. – if you are viewing this page on a mobile device you may need to click “View Full page” to subscribe.

               
Thank you,
Mark