Disclaimer: Extensive use of Halo terminology
The video game industry has come across a good deal of flak these days, some found in its obsession with making and remaking WWII first person shooters and that from real life human critics. The first is easily dealt with but the latter is an issue that gets more complicated as the gaming world progresses. I speak in the defense of the video game.
Those attacking the virtual game culture do not play the games themselves; do they have the right to criticize what they can't understand? They spend all their time making people feel as through their life were meaningless but their main purpose is to hide the fact that they know their own life is as useful as an 8-track in Tokyo. The critics say that all video game aficionados are nerds and losers who could better use their time trying to solve and combat meaningful problems not found in a hard drive. They do not seem to understand that video games have become a huge means of social interaction and are sometimes the sole reason that these nerds and losers have not killed themselves already.
When I moved away for college, I came armed with an array of electronic devices at my disposal: a laptop, stereo, XBOX, alarm clock, shaver, and a few others. Can you guess the single most important gadget that I brought along? If you guessed shaver, then you obviously value hygiene too much and should culture yourself by living a week in a dormitory. The correct answer would be the XBOX, the A+ would go to those who answered the XBOX with the game Halo 2 that was equipped with a system link. This, more than anything else, has helped me meet some of the greatest guys I have ever known.
Although some of the other residents of Yosemite Tower 1 may not enjoy the screams of pwning or the wails of being pwned, they are the communists that are trying to destroy America's freedom and deserve to be stuck with a plasma grenade to the face. Why should they care if our dinner conversations consist of how many n00bs we sniped, how incredibly awesome Halo 3 will be, or if Master Chief were a real person he would use his radar to hunt down and kill every terrorist on the planet with a swift beat down. A mastery of this game is essential if you want to be anyone in today's society. It can toughen up the feeblest of individuals to face the fiercest of problems that one encounters on a daily basis in the college world. It is to our generation what golf is to businessmen. It is the one true benchmark of progress.
If anyone wishes to continue with the criticism of video games I invite them to the second floor of Yosemite Tower 1 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and either pwn-up or shut-up.
