How Video Games Taught Me Technology

Video Games. Chris Keyworth and myself talk about video game controversies regularly on The Craig and Chris Show. We talk about the current state of media seeing video games as a cause of violence.  More recently, we discussed the Government considering taxes on violent video games. There are a number of studies that come out and say video games make you dangerous or violent, which is comical to those of us who play them.

But to parents, news casters and people who do not understand video games. Also, to those who have never picked a video game up in their entire lives. They’re like “Oh my goodness, they’re so violent!” Of course, we are confused because “Have you ever watched television or movies or read a book that’s come out in the past twenty years?” Anyways, that’s a digression…

I’ll never forget how video games taught me technology. I remember when I was in elementary school, I used to wake up early and ask my parents to bring me to school because we had a Apple lab. We had the little Apple computers and the legacy 5 1/2 inch floppy disks. You know, the ones with the huge holes in the middle of them. We also had a couple of games known as Super Munchers, the other was the legendary Oregon Trail. To this day, Oregon Trail is still amazing even after all of these years. I was amazed by what these little boxes called “computers” could do.

Video games taught me technology also by producing many of my technological skills. Over the years, as games and computers evolved, my typing skills enhanced greatly. This was even more prominent with the creation of MMOs (Massive Multiplayer Online Games).  More specifically this included the game Everquest. The only way I could communicate with other people online was to type.

The enhancement of my troubleshooting skills occurred as a result of my games breaking. My computer optimization skills were a side effect of my computer not having enough horsepower to run the games I wanted to play. So many times I had to go in and optimize settings, update drivers, overclock systems and tweak system configurations in order to get the frame rate or resolution I desired.

My experience with troubleshooting and optimizing video games on my computer were really how I started with technology. Once the ball started rolling, it just became a natural progression. People started asking me questions and I’d have enough fundamental knowledge to go figure them out. It simply would just snowball over time. I’ve been working with technology for about 22 years of the 29 years I’ve been here. I still love it. I still can’t stop talking to people about it.

Working with technology is a truly inspirational experience because it has evolved, and continues to evolve, so much. I’ve been grateful that I was given the opportunity to be a part of this era and that video games taught me technology. If I hadn’t been a part of this era, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Maybe I would’ve just been sad, sat in a corner and cried.