How Video Games Can Affect the Brain

Nostalgia. Nostalgia is a feeling of joy and familiarity when we do something in the present that we enjoyed in the past. Gaming is no exception. Everybody has memories of times past that they associate with better times. Like the snob who points out what you could do, hindsight can reveal that our childhood might not have been as terrible as we think. We know the way the world works as adults. As children, we didn't really have a grasp on the world. We know now that these times were safer, simpler, and more enjoyable. Reminiscence-inducing games can put us back in our childhood days. It makes us feel secure, protected, and safe. We are naturally inclined to seek safety and protection. Adults are especially vulnerable because they know how quickly things can change from okay to awful. Gamers seek security and safety in games.

As most gamers my age, I began gaming at a young age. My mom and sister were avid gamers of Super Nintendo 64 and Nintendo 64. We played Super Mario, Kirby and Mario Cart. Zelda was the most popular game we played. My mom has issues with fast-moving games such as Call of Duty or other graphically intense games. We played Super Nintendo, and it was a great time! Zelda on Super Nintendo was beaten many times. Although I said "we", it was actually my mom who played, not me or my sis. It's a memory that I get nostalgic just thinking about, even as I write this. We were getting closer to the end, but then the game wiped our saves so we had to start over three more times. It was great times. It was back when I was six, seven, or eight years old. It was a long time ago. Nostalgia is a source of hope for the future. It reminds us that good times in the past are likely to bring good times in the future.

Later, I began gaming on my own. Although it is difficult to remember which game was next, they all shared a common theme: single-player strategy. This is a broad gaming description that can accommodate many games. Games such as Pharaoh, Cleopatra and Age of Empires II and Sid Meier’s Civilization III. Shooters were not allowed as they contained bad language. I was limited to single-player games. My parents were extremely protective of me and games weren't as common twenty years ago as they were today. Pharaoh is an ancient Egyptian city builder. It was a challenging game for an eleven-year-old to build great cities with the limited resources available. Age of Empires II, a real-time strategy video game, is very different from pharaoh. To defeat AI and other players, you must balance troop production and resource collection. Growing up, Civ III was my favourite game. To this day I still enjoy pharaoh II and age of empires II.

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