Why Videogames are Better than Books

All new things are criticized, even if only a little. People thought cars were far too expensive and bulky to be useful. They thought electricity was too hard to connect using long wires from house to house. Even now people wonder whether hydrogen fuel is too hard to make for what it’s worth. But there is one topic that has been criticized long after it should have been: video games.

It is common conception that TV and video games are bad for you and people should read more. To that I have one question: what is the difference between a book and TV? I’ll tell you: one you sit and do nothing but watch a screen, the other you sit and do nothing but watch paper. Both can tell stories teach or tell you what your favorite celebrities are doing right now. And both you do nothing but sit and watch.

But video games are something different. In video games you don’t just sit and watch, you interact and experience. YOU are the one who led an army into battle. YOU are the one who ran to someone’s aid. And YOU survived against all odds… or maybe you were the one who died bravely. Video games are not just about watching events unfold, it’s about MAKING those events unfold, and learning from everything in between. You don’t experience sacrifice by watching someone else do it. You experience it by doing it yourself; and video games are just the conduit.

Some would argue that video games are not realistic, that you can’t restart when you get a game over in life. But that’s the beauty of it, video games allow you to learn and make mistakes without the threat of it being final. You lost all your men because you didn’t take the time to properly prepare them. But now you can restart and try again. The difference this time, is that you’ve learned the importance of patience and preparation.

I could have gone on about how video games are more social, or how they are better for your brain, but instead I told you how video games are more interactive. Because that is what video games are all about, the experience and exhilaration that comes with the knowledge that YOU did it, and not some other character.