Anthropology 295: Anthropology of Media

I thought Ray's presentation was both interesting and hilarious, and being an outsider to the world of both X-Box and Halo 3 I found myself asking questions about my own relationship with video games. I haven't bought a video game consul since I was a wee freshman in high school and wouldn't say that I am a huge video kid (aside from my old school Sega). I remember visiting my friend's houses and being perfectly content with them just watching them play. Then again one of my friends was a video game junkie and getting beating in everything lost its appeal after awhile. But even now I find myself completely disinterested in them. Well for starters I'm not very good at them, maybe my hand-eye motor skills aren't as advanced as some peoples but in a way I'm glad that I was never a huge video gamer (if that term is still relevant). I have had extended flings with certain video games, there was that period before I could drive when my friends and I would play PS2 on the weekend nights. But this was a social gathering, communicating with others not sitting alone in a dark room totally at the mercy of the glow of the TV. But I could also never bring myself to constantly dropping $50 on a new game.

So now why are some many young people (Jesus, I sound old) so attached to video games, whether it be Halo 3 or Guitar Hero? Is it the thrill of doing something that you know would be difficult in real life? Is it the escapist qualities of video games? Or perhaps the networking between players that we now have seen rise with the presence of the internet? While I know that it would be awesome to have one of those new fancy game systems out now, I'll stick with my Sega that makes me blow into the cartridges to make them work. I like reality too much, I guess is what I'm trying to say here.