I got this email forwarded by Uncle Rahman and he was egging me to try the game, so I said what the hell (because I noticed he had been staring at moving blocks on his screen for some time.. hee hee), so I tried the game (http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html) called Escapa!.
Well, after a few minutes, I averaged 22 seconds (quite tough - gotta remember the routes a bit before you get so gan cheong that you throw everything to the wind and start moving around frantically trying to siam the moving boxes and not touch the black edges.
But the whole point of this blog entry is a little more than the game itself. Razzak cockily said something like "Uncle Rahman got 18 huh? Azzy?" "Azzy got 21", Uncle Rahman said. "I'll sure get more than that!!", Razzak said. So, he tried it and didnt get past even 11 seconds, afterwhich he dismissed the game as 'childish'.
The fimiliarity struck me like a thousand electrifying lightning bolts from the gloriously black skies during Armageddon, striking the earth (me feels like a bit of exaggeration today, can or not? =P)!
It's like most people who view general gaming, Sony PSP, Xbox, Nintendo DS, Playstation, PC or whatever as childish and that the people playing them to have the need to get a life or something or something to that effect.
I have kind of like gotten used to these kinds of narrow-minded comments as I realised there are only two reasons why people make these comments -
1) They are generally ignorant and do not know a thing about whatever things or hobbies they dismiss off as childish
2) They are not good at the games, even if they have some sort of interest in them
Do you know -
1) Gaming is a multi-billion industry with complex research and development involving highly skilled IT and technical talents
2) Gaming is widely used in treating a growing global epidemic of dementia and Alzheimer's Disease
3) There are thousands of professional gamers who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just competing in games professionally
4) Gaming is fuelling the infocomm industry as it constantly needs high powered machines to cater to the ever-growing need for gamers to have their games more realistic and AI (Artificial Intelligence) taken to new heights
Speaking of the dementia problem, statistics show it is fast replacing heart problems and cancer as the number one disease in people of old age in Singapore (http://www.alzheimers.org.sg/understanding_dementia.htm). You don't really want to be unable to control your mind when you are old, trust me.
Another thing that bothers me about these people (who dismiss games and hobbies and childish) is that they just do so because I feel they'd rather be negative than try to understand what really it's all about. It's like a disease when people opt for convenience with negative connotations. It signifies that they don't really use their brains that much and are much more comfortable 'agreeing with the next person' and dismiss it as 'childish'. I also feel that these people have very low self-esteem. They need to put down others just to feel good about themselves.
Games are all about challenging yourself mentally, cultivating your analytical skills, nurturung your motor reflex capabilities and learning how to solve problems within a very short period of time.
But in the end, I think the most important aspect of gaming is the fun element. Having fun and de-stressing can be very beneficial and definitely helps in healing.
And who will disagree that the best part of our lives was when we were children, having innocent fun and laughing hard and loud?
=P
