“I would love to help you but I’m literally shaking with rage” Carla from Scrubs

I come from a strange household, we have never had a gaming console- in fact it wasn’t until DVD players came in that we actually got a VCR. Even to this day I still do not have a gaming console in my house. I have little appreciation for video games- literally the only games I have ever played were Sonic the hedgehog when I was ten (and no I did not get past the first level) and then burnout on xbox ten years later (hey I got to crash cars without getting in trouble). That is the extent of my gaming experience. Yes I have watched friends play halo and war games but truth be told I never really saw the enjoyment in playing these games- they were overly violent and graphic.

But now this is all changing, females are now playing video games just as much as guys now- and surprise surprise it’s not just the nerds any more (don’t tell me you didn’t automatically think of comic shop guy from the Simpsons when you saw this blog was about games

What is even more shocking is that now games are being considered art with Costikyan (2001:8) (would you like to buy a vowel with that name) claiming that games are the art form to the 21st Century what films were to the 20th century and what books are to the 19th Century. I’m sorry but I cannot agree with this claim- while graphics of games have improved a hundred old in the past 15 years and the idea that we are able to control the story is appealing. Are we really able to control the story? Yes we interact and become that person within the game whether it be Lara Croft or the solider in Halo but I do wonder how much we actually control the game- there is always a path to follow and a certain amount of things to achieve before being able to move to the next level. This has changed in recent years with games like AFL live and World Cup soccer in which you can control the game and even now with Wii, but what happened to actually getting out and playing tennis or boxing or even bowling?

I can appreciate the graphics in games and sometimes can appreciate how these games can bring people together. I can even appreciate the fact that games are now user friendly for females and no longer have the stereotypical stigma and yes if they ever come out with a Scrubs video game I may actually have to get my act together and purchase a gaming console- but then comes the tough and arduous decision of which console do I go with- Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii or Sony PlayStation? Agrrh I can’t face the decision so I will stick with my VCR and hope that one day I actually get a DVD player!

However in honor of video games todays scrubs clip sums up just exactly how I feel about video games- in this I agree with the Janitor (freaky I know), Carla and Bob Kelso and their thoughts on the video game Turk is playing…