This video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK and is laced with profanity, but it is SO true! Jenna Marbles talks about what video games taught her.
If you feel that video game designers don’t care about what they are teaching kids, you’re right. Granted, some of those games weren’t meant for kids, like Grand Theft Auto, but honestly, the last thirty years of video game design has been dedicated to the lowest common denominator, violence. I really loved what she said,
“Super Mario Bros. taught me that if you see something that you don’t know, that’s not you, you should… kill it. DIE! I don’t wanna befriend you. I don’t wanna get to know you. You’re gettin’ in my path… you’re dead. It’s basically more hardcore than Scarface.”
The lack of friendly fire in gameplay seems like a HUGE problem in games. I was watching Sean play Sklyanders and I was worried, “Watch out, you’re going to kill your other guy.” He just casually replied, “Oh, I can’t hurt him.” He didn’t even worry about hurting his co-player or the innocent wooden bystanders on that level.
What did video games teach me? Adventure taught me how to memorize mazes and directions without being able to see them. Even now, I can navigate the real world better because of it. Animal Crossing taught me how to be a pretty good friend by sending them nice letters and doing favors for them. In my forty years on this planet, no one ever told me that if I send a pleasant note, text or email to my friends every few days that it would make them like me. I also learned the names of several fish and insects because of that game. Tetris taught me how to pack a suitcase really well. Plants Vs. Zombies taught me to multi-task. Dungeon Raid taught me to run AWAY when I see a big bad guy. It’s really the ONLY video game I’ve played that has ever given me that option and taught me that lesson.
On the whole, the video games I’ve loved the most have taught me positive lessons, or perhaps I was willing to overlook the negative lessons and just focus on the positive.
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