Do Video Games Really Do More Good Than Bad?

When I was growing up, the most prevalent games were Subway Surfers, Minecraft, Clash of Clans, and other things like Bloons TD. Looking back, playing those games with my friends of that time were some of my fondest memories, and I will always cherish them. I truly believe that there are many good things that come with playing video games as a child. The person playing the game, whatever it is, is faced with some form of challenge that they must complete in order to do well. From an early age, children who play often will quickly develop critical thinking skills, which they can use for many different parts of their lives. For example, my little brother, who is 9 years old, plays Minecraft with all of his friends. I sometimes play with him and I remember watching as he tried to figure out how to connect red stone together to make an automatic door. It took him a few different runs of trial and error, but he eventually figured it out. I can’t help but think to myself what a tremendous help this is for kids his age in their journey to learn the art of critical thinking.

One variation of a red stone door in Minecraft

Another important skill video games teach kids from an early age is the ability to think creatively and come up with their own designs. In games like, Clash of Clans and Minecraft this is especially required. In Clash of Clans, the goal is to upgrade your buildings to be able to fend off attacks from other players. But the key aspect is that the design of your base must be created by you, the player. The better you design your base, the less likely people are to destroy it. The level of creativity required for Minecraft is astronomical. There are so many blocks that it would take weeks to learn all of them, and each one has a different purpose. To show how many possibilities there are in Minecraft, there is a server of around 1,000 people who are currently building earth. Literally building earth. Like every building, street, forest, restaurant, and mountain that there is in the world. They are doing this through google maps and other references. This means that people could hypothetically recreate a Minecraft server the size of our world, but change everything so it is a completely new variation of our planet designed by the person placing the blocks. This is absolutely something I would want my kids playing. The creativity skills it teaches them are incredible. Looking back on my time as a developing child, I was so excited to play these games because I felt as though I could create whatever I wanted. On top of all of that, I got to play with my friends and family. I remember in fourth grade, everyone started to play Clash of Clans. People would sneak their phones into their backpacks so they could keep building their base during the hours of school. We were all in the same server and it felt like a community. Looking back, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. I truly believe video games created a foundation for me that would have taken much longer to develop had I decided against playing. They helped me gain a set of skills that I still use to this day, and they will continue to provide these skills to children of the next generation.

Clash of Clans Base

The Nostalgia of OG Videogames

Some of the best memories I have had hanging out with friends have been talking on the Xbox microphone and playing some of the all time greatest videogames. My earliest memories of playing games are some of my fondest. I remember the first time I ever loaded into a Minecraft world. This was way before I was intelligent enough to know how to use a microphone, but my younger brother was sitting next to me in the room. I was probably around 9 to 10 years old, my brother only 7, but that’s part of what made this game so special. I remember finding a desert temple and thinking I had come across real life gold. As I circled around the temple looking for one of the door’s, my brother was yelling at me to be careful of all the monsters. The moment I entered the temple I had so much adrenaline (If you have played Minecraft you know that desert temples are not scary at all). But that terrified feeling was what made the game so much fun.

My memories from Minecraft are so powerful that I am now in college and still call my brother, who is living back home, to play just like old times. It reminds me of when I was a kid and it helps us reconnect despite the distance.

Another fantastic example of a nostalgic videogame is Fortnite. There was a period of time where every single person I knew had either heard of Fortnite, or was playing it. It was the only game I have ever seen that gained that much popularity over the course of a few years. The game was so much fun, that when myself and all my friends would hang out, we would turn on the TV and have one person play Fortnite. It connected me with my friends so well because when we would come back from school, we would talk for hours on the microphone. In my opinion, Fortnite was the best ever in its prime. I know this because I have seen countless video go viral of old Fortnite gameplay, and all the comments are things like, “The good ole days”, and “Take me back”. Even thinking about the amount of fun I had playing with my friends brings a smile to my face. It was just such a pure time. I have been waiting for another game to come out that comes close to prime Fortnite, but I don’t think it will ever happen. These games were a staple of our childhoods, and we will always hold strong memories of them, but its important to remember that we don’t ever recognize the “good ole days” until they are over.

by Ashton Kroeger