When this mother and son play video games together a book is written

If the Buggles taught me anything, it is that ‘video killed the radio star.’  As a common trend with technology the newer stuff makes the older tech obsolete.  The other scenario is that the newer technology builds upon what is already there.  Fair, well then where do video games fall in this mix then?

Mother and son team Jayne (65) and Snyder (27) Gackenbach have researched this very question.  It all started when Jayne’s concern with how much time her son spent gaming and how it was affecting him.  This mother though is a professor of psychology and video game researcher at Grant MacEwan University.

Her conclusion is that video games bring lots of positive aspects to gaming.  The main issue, as with most things with negative connotations, is misinformation.    Once information is out there, true or false, often doesn’t matter if it’s publicly known.  The other focus on the book is a concept they call “gamer shame.”  This is the feeling of being ashamed for spending time gaming.

This mother and son team wrote a book called Play Reality.  They believe that gaming is changing everything.   “What’s going on right now isn’t anomalous, it’s quite typical. What we have is a new form of media that people don’t understand (like TV before it), so they jump on the bandwagon, denouncing it the worst thing in the world and it’s going to ruin the next generation,” says Snyder.  “How television changed the world, that’s kind of what we’re seeing now in the wake of the Internet and video games, the same kind of monumental, mind-blowing, unfathomable directional shift.”

Video games have evolved past just entertainment though.  Games and simulations are used to distract burn victims from the pain they are enduring, games are used to relax, they can teach diabetic children what to eat, and they are even used to train soldiers for combat. Gaming has even been known to create fundraising for communities and foundations.

People often look past the good though and focus on the bads.  “Those video games will rot your brain!”  It takes a horrific and tragic event like Columbine to direct the focus on the ‘evils’ of video games.  It’s much easier to forget a gaming organization that opens a new wing of a hospital compared to a tragedy that takes several innocent lives.

If this is something you’re passionate about or interested in reading, you can pick up a copy of Play Reality for only $10.  Check out their site HERE.

[edmontonjournal]