Re-posted from earlier but to the right place this time.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video?id=5826748

Much of the discussion in class has been about what video games can do for people.  When playing the game “Passage” in class, I found it interesting that if you picked up a wife it would then be more difficult to do more things in the game, such as navigate around different obstacles.  While we all made the obvious metaphor that having a wife can hold one back from fulfilling other goals in life, I looked more deeply into the thought that being entangled in video games lead to a less social aspect of life, or not picking up your wife to be able to navigate around more obstacles in this case.  However, contrary to the ‘stereotype’ of gamers, playing video games is a useful tool to socialize these days.  In fact, 97% of teenagers are considered gamers, whether it is casual or intense role-playing games that take up many hours.  So if you want to fit in, it seems that you need to play video games (not really).  But thinking as to how video games has been a topic of social discussion in my life, I have found more often than not that video games has been a social tool to not only meet, but further a relationship with other individuals.  A common example that many can relate to is Pokemon.  If you walk into a room and ask who likes/has played Pokemon Red or Blue as a child, the chances are most people have and you will immediately share something in common with that person.  I think it’s important to keep in mind that while we talk about how we can use video games for our individual gains, such as visual aesthetics, music or pranks, the interactive nature of video games be useful as well.