I feel like part of the beauty of God’s creation and design of our personalities, is that we are all unique, and it’s grossly unfair to judge anyone that might have different interests than your own.
My History in Gaming
When I was very little, around the age of 5, I remember seeing commercials for the Nintendo Entertainment System. There would be a large variety of games that would be shown, depending on the commercial. When I saw these commercials I knew that I wanted one of those Nintendos!
During the year my little brother was born (1989), I remember getting a NES for Christmas
, and oh how my little heart soared! I remember playing Super Mario Bros. for the first time; I had to tap right on the d-pad gently, because Mario at walking speed was too fast for me! After a while, I found myself getting a little better, but not by very much.
Much like any other American boy growing up in the early 90’s, I started being exposed to TV, music, movies, games, sports, church, school, art, and anything else you can think of. During a young boy or girl’s years, they will eventually be drawn to different things that interest them; it’s a part of the unique make-up that God has instilled into everyone. Some are into sports, some are bookworms, some into games, and this eventually evolves and matures giving the skills that can even be good in a real world setting, such as jobs or programs.
As for myself, I was never good at sports, but man I tried! I was what the world calls a ‘nerd’, but these days I take as a compliment! During my adolescent years, I gamed a lot, dabbled on the electronic keyboard, drew pictures of my own characters and put them into stories, but I also went to school and church.
Back in the 90’s, gaming was always looked at as something kids did and it was nothing more than a silly activity or’time-waster’ and didn’t actually do anything productive. In my teen years it got to the point where it was almost embarrassing to say that your hobby was video games… sure you could say you played some, but it would only be acceptable if it were overshadowed by sports or something to that nature… or girls.
Gaming is on the rise in our culture these days. Where there was once a time where gamers were mostly little tykes trying to defeat the first dungeon in The Legend of Zelda on the NES, we are now those same kids are all grown up playing games like The Witcher 3 or Mass Effect; our interests have not changed, but they have matured, and I personally take pride in being a husband and father that also loves gaming as my hobby. From all of the negative things I hear about being a gamer, the baby boomers seem to think it’s still 1992, and they forgot that we all grew up, and that you can be a responsible adult and play games at the same time! The average age of a gamer is 31 now!
I feel like part of the beauty of God’s creation and design of our personalities, is that we are all unique, and it’s grossly unfair to judge anyone that might have different interests than your own. I’m just not into sports, but I don’t judge anyone who may like sports. If you love sports, then great! Enjoy!
The connotations that stand out about being into things like video games, are things like: “He’s lives in his mom’s basement!” or “He can’t get a girlfriend.”, but we are seeing how silly and untrue these connotations really are.
Look at the above picture, and you’ll see this is the mindset of those who don’t game at all. The picture shows a peaceful time fishing and not playing those silly video games, because they rot your mind… sorry for the sarcasm. I can tell you how good video games can be.
Video games help younger ones learn how to read, especially in text-only games such as anything in the Pokémon and Zelda series. If you are really into pokémon and want to make sure you have the strongest team, you’ll have to do tons of math and calculating in getting the best stats via breeding pokémon in the game! Some games have puzzles and challenge the player to think outside the box! I’ve even read that gamers tend to be very good drivers due to the hand and eye coordination!
EV/IV Training Guide in Pokémon games! Whew!
Gaming in the modern era helps people keep in touch. My friend lives in Arizona, while I live in Indiana, but we can chat about our lives while we connect over PSN party chat. My friend’s wife even heard my 2 year old daughter jabbering through the headset leading us into talking about family, fatherhood, and having a family.
I now have a wife and daughter of my own, and have to guard myself against being drawn in so much to the point where I’m neglecting my God-given responsibilities. Just like anything, we need to do everything in moderation… this includes sports, fishing, golfing… you name it!
If you want to take anything from this, take this:
Enjoy what you enjoy as long as it does not violate any of God’s commandments, and keep it in moderation. Read God’s word, and don’t let carnal things take up your prayer life or time in the Word. If you feel conviction about whatever recreational thing you’re doing; you should stop and pray about it.
This may sound silly, but I am thankful that God has given me the interest in playing video games. It is a good stress reliever, and I thoroughly enjoy it.
GG & Amen good brothers! 🙂
Source:
The Reformed Gamers 
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