In the above picture, you can see what is called the Alienware Area 51. Boy, gaming sure has come a long way than when I used to play! I still don’t mind playing the occasional sports game, but when I was a teenager, gaming was bigger than life. Sure, I was active outdoors and in the neighborhood, went to school and church, but I, like many of my friends, lived to game!
I understand this generation’s fascination with gaming. Barna recently reported that over sixty percent of teenagers stated that the number one reason teens used their phones was to play games. But when I was growing up, we didn’t have smart phones and we sure didn’t have games on our phones.
The neighborhood boys would take turns going to each other’s house to play video games. This way, we could play the game systems we didn’t own and have friendly competition between each other. There was no XBOX Live, where you could play with your best friends online without having to leave the comfy combines of home.
AOL was kicking into high gear about this time so my friends and I began to get involved more with computer gaming. We still went to each other’s house, but this time, we piled the chairs around the computer screen. I can still remember when the Gateway 2000 computer arrived at my family’s home in what looked like a “dairy cow” box.
My favorite game of choice was a strategy game called Civilization. In this role-play game, you picked a nation and its represented leader to try to take over the world. I played the game every chance I got and for hours on end.
I even remember the old magazine Nintendo Power and how the back of the magazine advertised the “Triple Play.” Yep, I had to do it, so at one time I owned the NES, Super NES, and Game Boy.
Games today are much more violent and grotesque than when I used to play. You used to have to have to enter a code to get blood to show up on the screen, and even then, it looked like grey sweat. Stores back in my day wouldn’t have been caught dead selling a game like Grand Theft Auto where you could steal cars and run over cops.
To show you where my game IQ is now, I walked into Best Buy last week and asked where their computer games were. The salesman pointed to me what little they had to offer. The reason they didn’t have much was because everyone downloads their games now. Then I went over to the system console section to see what games they had to offer. Needless to say, I walked away highly depressed. I couldn’t find anything that would suit my fancy.
Games bring a certain healing and destructive power with them. Games are fun and rewarding. Who doesn’t like to beat a hard level, a big boss man, or the game itself? But games can also be addictive, steal one’s life away, and keep people in a fantasy land where they never have to grow up and become responsible adults.
As I said earlier, I understand gamers because I was one. I don’t like to bash the gaming culture, but I do like to give gamers a glimpse of reality that some seem to be missing. The choice really becomes one of two questions. Are playing games your God? Or is God your God? If games are your God, then God is just a game. If God is your God, then a game is just a game. The words of Joshua come to mind: Choose this day whom you will serve . . . But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).
Some games are appropriate. Others are not. Don’t overplay and don’t get overplayed. And my last bit of advice when it comes to gaming: Play hard, but pray harder. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you (Mat 6:33).