Video Games: Mindless Entertainment?

This question has been asked for many years now: Are video games just mindless, violent babysitters, or can they be a great source of scholastic material? It really all depends on what we are considering "learning tools."
If we think about them along the same terms that we judge books, television, and music, well then yes, why shouldn't they be held to the same level of study? Video games can offer us plots, character development, twists, morals, and ideas in much the same way that a picture book can bring that knowledge to a preschooler. Every game has at least a basic storyline. Pac-man presents us with a simple tale: eat dots, capture ghosts. Yet this game relies on good reflexes and hand-eye coordination, something well beyond ink and paper.
What about us as a whole? What can we learn about humanity in general? This is something I feel has only recently been addressed in video games. My favorite example is the Mass Effect trilogy. In these games, you are presented with many different choices that completely effect the course of the story throughout the entire series. Right from the beginning, you are sucked into this world and become attached to these characters you share the space with. When faced with questions that could ultimately decide the fate of these characters, I often found myself actually stop playing to consider what I was doing and what impact this could have on my character. One in particular too me several hours to think about before I finally chose. I learned something about myself in those games, about my beliefs and my morals. Whenever something can do that, digital or analog, it is a whole new breed of entertainment- it's educational, beyond a textbook.

Another game, The Last of Us, combines emotion, reality, and pop culture into one to create a stunning piece of artwork and literature. Here, we are presented with a post-apocalyptic world full of zombie-like creatures. While death runs rampant, alliances form as well as distrust. You are never really sure who's on your side, but you know one thing: Ellie is important. Ellie is a young girl who comes along with you on your journey. She makes small talk with your character often, adding to the depth of the story as well as your emotional attachment to her. As the story goes on, you feel many things: joy, hope, despair, fear, sadness- and it all makes for a thrilling story.
Can we learn something here? If anything, video games can be viewed as a more emotional book. Don't get me wrong, I have become so immersed in some books that I have spent days just reading it to find out what happens next. But there's nothing quite like a good storyline in a video game, created by a team of passionate "authors" who want you to discover something new about yourself, and when they succeed, the feeling is well worth the education.

Heavy Industries, Light-hearted Stories

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries presents short stories through quick-flashing words. These stories rely on your reflexes and memory in order to remember the sequence of events presented to you. The more you remember, the better grasp of the story you have.

One story in particular, Dakota, focuses on a group of friends who drink heavily and then go on a long drive. As the story goes on, the people begin hallucinating and imagining people that aren't really there, such as Elvis Presley. The effect of the alcohol kicking in is portrayed through the use of heavy drums and random car noises, and the idea that the car is flying around turns and hazardously going down the road is evident.

Although I acknowledge that there is value in this form of storytelling in the literary world, I found the random flashes to be rather annoying and off-putting, rather than immersive and engaging as electronic literature should be. It's like watching somebody present a slideshow as fast as possible without really explaining their point. You find yourself asking "What did I just see? Why am I here?" An immersive experience would take you into it, not turn you away. Dakota and the other stories presented here would, I believe, serve just the same purpose if they were written on paper. Perhaps a paper version would be easier to comprehend in this instance.

Panther Riders - Perspective #3

I swiped my ID against the reader and pushed the door hard, making a beeline to the empty foosball table that I had spent so much time at during my years on campus. The yellow and black stick figures stared back at me in what seemed like anticipation. They knew a game was about to go down. Too bad I didn’t have anyone to challenge in the empty game room. I angrily spun the closest line of players as hard as I could.

“Excuse me, but do you know how motion sick I get?”

I must have been going crazy. Maybe it was that sub I ate. These wooden guys couldn’t be speaking to me, could they?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know inanimate objects could feel sick,” I replied in a sarcastic tone.
“Really? You didn’t hear me screaming for help the hundreds of other times you played this table?”
“It’s not like I would’ve known you were talking to me anyway,” I said. “I’m not really used to things other than real people talking. I’m not even sure you’re really talking right now.”
“I’m not, this is all in your head, dude.”
So I was going crazy. Just what I needed.

“Okay, so why am I hearing you now?”
“You’re going through a tough time. You’re failing that class, right? Think of me as a guardian angel,” the wooden man informed me.

“So what great message are you here to deliver?”
“It’s gonna be alright.”
I paused for a moment. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Really?”
“What else do you want, man?”

By this point, it was hard to hold back my frustration. “I don’t know! Aren’t guardian angels supposed to guide people to whatever they’re supposed to do next?”
The voice of the wooden man in my head stopped. I could tell he was thinking of what to say next. “Do you realize how many beatings I endure in a day?”
“What do you mean?”
“A lot,” he continued without hesitation. “People just like you. People worried about grades. People trying to think of what to do next. They don’t ever really live in the now. They don’t think of how much they’re actually worth.”
“What are you worth?” I retorted. “You’re stuck on a table kicking a ball around all day.”

“I’m doing what I love,” it told me. “I’m playing a game I love and helping others cool off at the same time. I already found where I’m supposed to be. What about you, man?”

I was stunned silent. What was I supposed to say? I was having deep, philosophical conversations with a game table. I might as well continue with my madness.

“What meaning do I have, then?”
“Who knows? This is just the beginning of your life. You have so much ahead of you.You think one failed test will really mess that all up? You have a lot more going for you, dude. Don't let it go to waste.”
I sighed. Why was I so concerned about one stupid test? Had I been forced into thinking this would be an end all, be all for me? I smiled and began walking away from the table. I stopped and turned slightly to see the imaginary audible piece. “I’m sorry I caused you so much pain over the years.”
“Don’t worry, man. Headshots are my specialty.” I swear I saw him grin as I went give that extra assignment one last shot in an attempt to boost my grade.

Ice Through the Fire: My Google Maps Narrative

Ice Through the Fire is my attempt to create a noir-style fictional narrative within the realms of Google Maps focusing on a man consumed by the thought of this woman he has obsessed over for the past few months of his life. As a fan of old detective drama's such as Dragnet, I tried to emulate the dialogue of such shows through the use of short, broken sentences and abbreviated words. Each point on the map has been made in an attempt to give brief insight into the Man in the story, as well as the Woman he is chasing after.
When approaching this narrative, I didn't want to simply write a beginning-to-end storyline and show different places on a map. Instead, I wanted to take these real life places and try to imagine how they would feel back in a 1950's setting, hearkening back to the detective drama feel I was going for. Imagination is important with this as well, as what you're imagining when reading may not be what I was imaging when writing, and this is completely fine and what was intended in the first place.
Like I said, I didn't want to create a story with a definite beginning and ending. I wanted to write the story in a way that it could almost seem like an infinite loop, something that I hope seems apparent once you reach the "end."
From here on will be, I guess you could say, "spoilers," so if you would like to view the map before reading on, your last chance to do so is here. The main point of the man's story is his struggle with alcoholism, and his attachment to his flask is evidence enough of that. But hopefully what you find more subtle are the elements of the Woman, as well as the smells and sights the Man experiences. Having never been an alcoholic myself, I can't attest to the complete truthfulness of this, but from what I understand and from what I have read, it seems as though people under the constant grip of alcohol tend to distort reality to their liking, either consciously or subconsciously. The Woman is his ideal life, everything he dreamed of and chased after, which is the reason she is always just out of reach. The flowery scent and random encounters with people talking to him about his life are projections of his imagination onto reality. There is no flowery smell around to anyone but him, and people aren't really talking to him about this girl, but he still believes that they are.
Finally, Louie is sort of the "connecting light" at the end of the Man's dark tunnel. In the beginning we see Louie simply as the name of the bar, and presumably the bar's owner. This is to suggest early on that the Man frequents this place, that perhaps he is on good terms with the owners and buys a lot of their inventory. Towards the end, Louie is remembered as a person, not just a bar. By this point, the alcohol has completely taken over the Man's life and driven him even more insane than when he started-even in withdrawal- leaving him to want to retell the story of the Woman to Louie when he "returns home," almost like at the beginning of the story (the infinite loop).