Growing up with games (Thoughts on positive impacts of gaming on a person)

When I was little, many of my friends played video games pretty often, and as we grew up, many of them drifted away from the medium, many of whom didn't really want to be friends after they stopped playing. It was always a sad time for sure, but nothing lasts forever I suppose. I'm thinking a lot about my own personal background with gaming this week while I prepare for a pretty exciting trip that involves a discussion about how I began my history with gaming, and I thought I should share some of my credentials here this week, and it's funny that it has taken me this long to talk a bit about my times playing games. This week will be a little more self-reflective than I'm used to, somewhat to convince me that I'm worthy of talking on that topic. I'm getting to where I can accept that I'm deserving of good things, and my friends have felt that way for a while, so I would like to take a moment here before I begin to thank all of them for encouraging me. It's been a little while since I felt as good about the things that I'm doing as I do right now. Without further delay, please take a peek at what I guess I can call "Introducing me, Part 2."

A Brief History of Gaming!

    As a little boy, I began playing video games about as early as I can remember. My parents had a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in their bedroom and we would all play it together pretty regularly. A few of our favorites were definitely Super Mario Bros. 1 and 3, Duck Hunt, Tetris (one of the few games that my mom has ever beaten me at, since she was really good), and the original Legend of Zelda. of course, these weren't the only games that we had, there were quite a few on top of those, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind the most. My cousins and I played NES together at our grandparents' house, where the favorites were a track and field game that used the Power Pad, where you could cheat at the long jump event by jumping off the mat completely, then jumping back on for a crazy long jump, Yoshi's Cookie, Spiritual Warfare (a Christian knock-off of Legend of Zelda that was one of a very few games for the console that wasn't licensed by Nintendo) and World Cup Soccer (where the final team was East Germany, if that tells you anything about the time that the game was made). My cousins and I played these games to death, and I would always look forward to going over to their house to play more. 

    My first console that I got was a Game Boy Color. I don't think I probably had the most popular games out there, the first game that I got was Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, a game which I played way too much, but I beat it many times, along with Rugrats in Paris and Elmo in Grouchland. My first non-licensed game for the GBC was arguably the biggest title on the whole system, Pokemon Blue Version. Of course, it was a game for the original Game Boy, but I didn't know any different, since the whole game was tinted blue, which is why I just assumed it was a Game Boy Color game. I don't remember a ton of games for Game Boy Color, but I got a Playstation when I was a year or two older and I loved that to death. My favorites had to be Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, and a few smaller ones, like Walt Disney World's Magical Racing Tour. I never got a Nintendo 64 until a long time after they were in production, but I finally found one at a Blockbuster back in the day for 40 dollars or so. The Wii was already out by this point, which probably would have been easier if I had just gotten N64 games from the Wii Virtual Console, but I'm still happy to have it, if for no other reason than to have one. 

    A few years went by and the Gamecube came out. My cousin had one and I saw him playing Super Mario Sunshine and Super Smash Bros. Melee, and I was amazed by what I saw, so I hoped I could get one soon. Sure enough, a little while later, I got one of my own, and I think this is the console that I played the most/got the most games for out of every system that I've ever had. Super Mario Sunshine came bundled with it, and I think I got Super Smash Bros. Melee shortly after that. I really can't name all of the games here that I had for the gamecube, but some of my favorites were The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Pokemon Colosseum (definitely the most I ever got into a Pokemon game), Mario Kart: Double Dash, Star Fox: Assault, Mario Party 5, the list really goes on and on for this console. I didn't realize until I was much older that the Gamecube actually didn't sell very well compared to the Playstation 2, but I don't know how that's even possible considering all of the fantastic games that came to the console. I got a PS2 much later into the console generation, and along with it came some more of my favorite games, including Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, Star Wars: Battlefront II (the good one, not the one made by Dice a few years ago in the vein of Battlefield), and all time favorites, Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. I played so much of all of these games, but as always, time continues on, and I would eventually have to move onto the next console to find my next favorite games.

What has my takeaway been with gaming like this?

    I'll stop my little walk down memory lane there before I get too boring just going on and on about all of the games that I played, but instead I'll go a bit into what these games mean. A lot of these games brought about friendships with some of my best childhood friends. We would talk about our favorite moments of these games or discuss strategies for how to tackle a challenge at the proper time. Even though most of these games that I've discussed were single player, we connected with each other through conversation. Through shared memory of what we had been through, a bunch of kids with still-mediocre social skills were able to understand a little language of our own, endearing each other in the same way that an inside joke might. That's not to say that we made up an exclusive club, I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to take a copy of a favorite game of mine to a friend's house and see if they would like it as much as I did. It's the main reason that I buy physical games today, honestly, so that I can hopefully let a friend borrow it and let them in on what I've been talking about. Games are a medium just like books and movies that can tell a whole story, not just from the specific plot, but the gameplay can play into it as well. I say that to mean that even though the Super Mario Bros. series is largely following the storyline of "Save the princess from Bowser again," people talk about the games constantly. It's about the different variations to the gameplay formula, the different places you go to rescue the princess, the powers that you attain at what times, and of course, the secrets that you find along the way. Even in the simplest games from the NES time, storytelling has been encouraged, and it has gotten much more sophisticated along the way, telling more and more complicated stories, but it has always been a medium built around storytelling and experience.

How can this apply to other people?

    In the last few years of isolation and seclusion from each other, I've really thought a lot about the importance of community, as have many people. It's a massive concept, and one that definitely comes in so many different forms. How can this type of experience inform any community, especially the church, as I've been called to talk about this weekend? I think it's important to know that not every video game will resonate in the same way with anyone. Throughout all this time, I've sent games home with friends in the hopes of them loving them as much as I do, though sometimes it just isn't their cup of tea, and that's totally fine. Not every game is for every person, in the same way that books and movies generate different opinions from different people, the same goes for games. A good example of this is Skyrim, the mega hit from 2011 that made people go insane for a long time, and that Bethesda has continued to re-release every few years on new hardware. I am not a fan of it. I'm glad that so many of my friends love the game so much, but it's really not my cup of tea, even though it was the "Game of the Year" for so many. Like that, however, we as people in a community are not all going to fit into the same roles. Someone who likes Legend of Zelda may not be as into Final Fantasy, and that's fine. It's important to know what you do and don't like, and even to try something that you don't think you like and surprise yourself with how good it is. When I first tried to play Persona 5, I really didn't think I would like it since it was a turn-based RPG, but a friend convinced me to give it another try, and I ended up loving it so much that I've played through it maybe 3 times now. In a similar way, my current role of "adult presence" with a youth group is something that I didn't think I would be any good at, I wasn't sure if anyone really liked me that much at that point, and yet, I've been really good at it. I wouldn't have ever known how I could be at it if it wasn't for my friend who saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. 

    Going on further with that statement, not every role is for everyone, just like every game isn't for everyone, but I believe that there is a role for everyone. The video game landscape of today is extremely wide and varied, and I feel like there is a game for everyone if they give it a try. Even if you're not into an extremely long title which will take 100 hours or more to beat like Final Fantasy XVI, you can try out something else, like Stardew Valley for some nice and relaxing gameplay built around farming, though there is still some combat in some sections. If that's too stressful for you, you can try out Animal Crossing, where the only gameplay lies in decorating your house, your island, or your town (depending on which game in the series you're playing), as well as meeting your neighbors and doing smaller tasks. If that's too much, we have games like Clubhouse Games, where it's just a collection of a bunch of different board games that you could play with your friends. Of course, that gets more into the "tabletop" type of game, but that's still a form of gaming. 

    Another thought I've had along the lines of this discussion is the importance of a tutorial. In video games, you need a tutorial as the game begins or else you don't know what to do. Every game is different and every button does its own thing. It can be overwhelming to play a game where you have no idea what you're supposed to be doing, or what your character can even do. In the same way, it's important to have people in positions that can show newcomers the ropes of what it is that you're supposed to be doing, or how the community or group interacts. Of course, that's not saying to just accept whatever you're told, but it's important to have a mentor or someone that has been there longer to tell you what the deal is with any particular situation. The main point of this thought is that you're not alone. Chances are that someone else in your community has had a similar thought to one that you're thinking right now, and you would be greatly helped by talking to them about it, and vis versa. It's complicated, but when you're getting started in a new community of any kind, not just a church group, it can take a little while to get your bearings and figure out what the group is about and how the people act.

    This has been a very disjointed post, I know, but I think it's something that's interesting to think about. Where we come from, how we are the way that we are, and what we can do to better know people and interact with them in a meaningful way can all be traced back to what you know and what interactions you're familiar with. I grew up with games all around me, and were the best kinds of presents for me, and more than that, taught me a lot about how to interact with people, clueing me into a new language that I would have never known otherwise.

    Thanks so much for reading this weird and very disjointed post, friends! Last week I was writing this to get ready for a trip where I was speaking to a group of young adults at Princeton Theological Seminary about gaming and how it can factor into something spiritual that the church can learn from. I'm back now from the trip, and it went really well! It blows my mind that I actually had the opportunity to speak at such a respected school, and more than that, I actually made quite a few connections while I was there! I hope you all have a good week, and I'll talk to you all again soon! Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed video game expert (also officially recognized by Princeton in that capacity), and thanks again for everything! I'm actually really proud of myself for that.