Because Day9 made me do it.

Safiree Saturdays

Happy Saturday to everyone :) Hope your week was good, as always. I reconnected with a friend from High School, and she asked me how I was doing, how I spent most of my time and I was telling her about most of the games Gauss and I play together, and some of the content we experience and she just looked at me dumbfounded. She then proceeded to tell me that "gaming is a waste of time" an that you gain absolutely nothing from it. Now obviously, I contained myself from smacking the shit out of her, instead I asked her a simple question. "How is gaming a waste of time, when you probably sit at home all day on Facebook waiting for a notification?" I got nothing back.

I know there are some people out there are still believe gaming consists of only Mario, or Pacman but honestly....anyone who owns a type of device that connects you with the outside world should know technology is growing at a very fast pace. So this very topic, I could not shake from my thoughts. I did some research, and came up with some facts, basically on the benefits of gaming.

1. Video games like Super Mario have been used to treat patients with a vast range of mental disorders like, Alzheimers, Schizophrenia, and even Post- traumatic stress disorder.

2. Video games can also benefit those who have healthy brains, but improve "cognitive flexibility" to complete tasks with greater accuracy, and speed. Games like "The Sims", and "Starcraft" are both used to also help people with Dyslexia.

3. Studies have been shown, that most teen gamers end up being better at Virtual Surgery, than real medical residents. This is believed to be mostly because Med students are more challenged with maintaining academics, rather than hands on experiments.

4. Most kids gain confidence, and show a major difference in self esteem, and depression starts fading away. When playing fantasy games, most help to restore some sort of glory, and through that gain achievements they can feel proud of.

5. Making lifelong friends. With some people, I don't know where i'd be if it weren't for them. With good friends, it doesn't matter how far away they might be. If they are good to you, you could be closer to them than the people down the street.

I don't think it's right for someone to tell you, what you enjoy spending your time with is a waste of time. There will always be people who don't understand our perspective on gaming, but like I said with the whole facebook thing... They most likely aren't doing anything quite as admirable as killing THE LICH KING FUCK YEAH!
-Safiree

Note: She and I are no longer friends. LOL