Gaming Shedding Games in a Good Light

[Shinmaru]

I was just reading an old issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (as I often do) and I came across an interesting letter. It talked about how most stories about gaming in the media (news, radio, etc.) often shed games in a bad light. Example: The Columbine shootings happened because the kids played Doom, etc. However, the person made a point that for every bad gaming story, there are many inspirational gaming stories. For example, this person had a friend who was in art school who got her start drawing Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. He had another friend who eventually became an accomplished pianist after she decided to play the piano when she heard the theme from Star Ocean 2. The person who wrote the letter got into cooking because of the dishes that the chef was making in Suikoden II.

Now here's a story from me: I got into writing because of gaming. I played many a game in my younger days and that led me to reading gaming magazines. I was no great reader when I was a kid; in fact I read about as fast as my brother types (i.e. slow). However, as I was reading more magazines (and asking my mom what some of the bigger words meant) I became a faster reader, which led to me branching out and reading books. Reading developed my imagination, which in turn, led me to develop a fondness for games that challenged my imagination. As my imagination grew from playing these games (like Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metroid, etc.), I started getting into writing about my favorite games. I wanted to become a better writer, so I started trying out different writing styles while continuing to write fan fiction about my favorite games (most of which I've lost, unfortunately). I'm still writing today and my love of video games is still feeding my imagination and helping me to become a better writer.

EDIT: Decided to make this as an edit, because it's a little off topic. Writing is my main passion, but I don't think that I'll end up as an author. If I did, I'd either end up writing stories that I like but would never earn money from or I'd end up writing one story that got famous and I'd have to keep writing stories that were similar if I wanted to earn a living. That would get old real quickly. My dream is to use my burgeoning writing talent to move into journalism, as well - especially if it has to do with video games. To me, it's the perfect job because it combines two of my biggest passions; writing and video games. When I go to college, journalism is going to be my main focus. Who knows, I might actually achieve my dream! It already seems to me that you have a dream job, James. I'm so envious ^_^

[James]

[color=#707875]Interesting thread. ^_^

I'm kinda the same as you. Games were my hobby for many years and they are what led me to become a writer. Today, games are what continues to drive my career.

I went from writing stuff at theOtaku.com, then moved on to places like CloudChaser (now XenGen...bleh), Gamer's Pulse and others. Now I write for N-Sider and Nintendo Gamer Magazine.

So, it was fundamentally my interest in games that fuelled it.

Years ago, I wanted to be a non-fiction author. But I really lost that desire when I moved into high school. I knew that I wanted to do something in the game industry and since I enjoy writing, I thought that game journalism was something I wanted to try. And it has led me to many experiences, including the time where I met Mario! That was one of the most exciting parts of the job...and that alone has made it so rewarding. The great thing is, I talk to Charles all the time (guy who does Mario's voice) and he's really become a friend in the industry. I've also developed friendships with people from game companies down here, as a result of my work.

So, that has been one major benefit to video games without any doubt. I think that video games [i]do[/i] offer many creative opportunities that the mainstream media are happy to ignore. Incidentally, I've written two articles about media so far...both have been more directed at online media. But I've taken a few stabs at the mainstream media as well -- and rightfully so.[/color]