Anyone who isn't a gamer typically frowns on somebody who prefers to stay indoors and tinker with their Nintendo on a beautiful August afternoon. I personally see it all as a balancing act, but I refuse to shun video games as if they were a bad habit, or a "bridge to nowhere".

Throughout my life video games have been a sort of companion. They have stimulated my imagination and motivated me to do things other than simply gawking at a glowing screen for 8 hours at a time. (Typically my sessions last no more than 2, 3 hours tops.)

Well, here I am in Minnesota, on a little vacation. I brought my laptop of emulators and a PSP with me, but haven't done much gaming at all, really. I watched a friend beat MGS4 (he was dissapointed, heh), booted up Xenogears on my PSP and wandered around Lahan briefly, but alas, little was accomplished.

I'm excited to journey back, however. After watching MGS4 on an HD display, I was convinced I had to replace my SD television (which actually suffers screen burn, by the way). The ability to read text easily is essentially why I feel compelled to do this. It may seem like a trivial reason to shell out $500, but really, gaming is a vice worth investing in. This is what I have concluded.

There is more pleasure in sitting down at your leisure and playing through a virtual world that fascinates you, instead of chasing the bottom of a booze bottle and wondering where it all went once you've guzzled all the whiskey down. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my beverages and such, but I have realized that video games are the most reliable, and healthiest escape I have ever been exposed to.


I do lament over the stigma gamers receive. They are branded as anti-social, pasty-skinned angsty souls, but in reality we know this isn't true. The gamer is a living window that looks in to the future. We are one of the few groups of humanity to truly embrace the digital and virtual revolutions - supporting and setting standards for technological phenomenon for decades to come.