Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Mentally Stimulating Online Games

I tried as long as I could to keep my son away from video games. Not that he would be prevented from playing them forever. But to prolong it as much as possible.

Oh, eventually, inevitably, other kids, classmates, would talk about them, and he would surely want to play the games himself. That much, I knew, of course. But it seemed like the best idea to hold off for as long as possible.

Ultimately, it was an adult, rather than a fellow child, who more or less introduced him to video games, and he has been hooked ever since.

Now, he is capable of playing video games for hours at a time. I have to tear him away from it at times. Last summer, on a beautiful day, I remember walking in and seeing him cooped up inside, sitting with his face a few feet from the screen, playing one game after another. I couldn't take it, and told him to turn it off, then took him swimming. He was reluctant to go at first, but he loves swimming, and despite resistance initially, he always ends up loving it, and is the last one on the beach, never wanting to leave.

On a beautiful day, it seems much more natural (and healthy) for a kid in perfect health to play outside, on a playground or riding his bike or swimming or playing with friends. Anything but the antisocial and unhealthy habit of playing one video game after another. It's depressing.

I can relate, on some level. When I was younger, on Sundays, I would tend to stay home and watch football (particularly the Giants), even when it was simply gorgeous weather outside. Often times, if it was another time of the year, I would choose to play music or watch television and veg, rather than go outside and do something more imaginative and healthy.

The thing is, I think video games tend to be addictive, and far too many kids seem to jump on this bandwagon. I don't blame video games for excessive violence, or school shootings or mass shootings in general, as some do. It seems preposterous to think that you play some video games, and then decide to pick up a gun and do some real violence. that's to simple of an argument, and generally speaking, it just doesn't work that way, although video games may indeed have some influence in some isolated cases. They surely don't help.

But my main concern with them actually has nothing to do with violence. In fact, the main problem that I see with them is that they generally cause you to do nothing. Nothing at all. Far too many people (notice that I am not limiting it to kids here) find no greater motivation than to play video games incessantly, and to wait in deep anticipation for the next "big thing" video game with the latest graphics and cool effects. Some video games almost seem like movies.

I know how addictive video games are and, again, it certainly is not restricted to children. Plenty of adults that I know of play video games more than seems healthy. Hell, a lot of people who are not into video games still can play hours of solitaire per day. It's addictive, and it can be a problem.

Lately, I have found myself playing games online, as well. That said, these games tend to be a bit different, and not only are they challenging and enjoyable, they are creative. Specifically, I am talking about a website that I have come to love: Sporcle.

Sporcle's slogan is "mentally stimulating diversions", which is true. They are mentally stimulating.

My favorite game personally is "Countries of the World". You get fifteen minutes to name all 197 countries of the world. I have played it many times, and have gotten closer and closer to the perfect score, although I have not quite gotten there yet (although I have gotten several continents with a perfect score). The friend who introduced me to the website has managed it a few times. I can't wait to join his ranks, although it feels right now like one of those situations where, the closer you get, the further the goal seems, sometimes. Still, I think I'll be able to get it one of these days. Soon.

In the meantime, it seemed like a good idea to mention it here, just in case there are any out there who stumbled on this blog and were in search of such games. It is certainly not all about geography, although that is one category where they have a very impressive array of such games and challenges. But Sporcle offers other categories as well, some of which I have tried, others that I have not. Included are history, science, literature, music, language, religion, and numerous other categories to boot.

These may not exactly be video games, but they are mentally stimulating, fun, and they are also free!

So, if this sounds like something that piqued your curiosity, I would recommend checking it out:

http://www.sporcle.com/

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