Arts & Entertainment
 

Games provide escape

Reality obsolete, education optional

Nerd Alert

Barrett Goldsmith

Playing video games is neither the most productive nor the most enriching experience. 

Video games waste time, money, energy and brain cells that could be spent studying, exercising or looking for a job. Many promote violence and a degrading attitude toward women or minorities.

But if you're old enough, and you have the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality, playing a video game now and then is a great way to let off some steam and have a little fun. 

And on top of that, playing some video games can be a good way to learn new things and figure out some things about yourself. 

I read a few years ago that, on average, teenage boys tend to fare better in the annual Geography Bee than their female counterparts. Standardized testing in a handful of states has demonstrated the same pattern. Boys are smarter than girls? Hardly.

Judging from my own experience, I can explain this in two ways. For one thing, males are more likely to follow sports, which have an inherent geographic component to them. I learned all the state capitals from the selection map on Tecmo Super Bowl. 

But it may also have to do with video games. Racing games have tracks available in different parts of the world, usually complete with a map. Action games usually have a map showing where the protagonist must go to complete his or her next mission. Most games aren't as overtly educational as Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?, but they usually feature some element of geography. 

I've played a lot of video games in my time, more than a successful person or a cool person probably should. Thankfully, I am neither of those things, so I don't feel too guilty that I could have spent a lot more time studying, working or reading. 

I may not be able to balance a checkbook, get a date, write a cover letter or wake up before noon. But at least I, and other nerds like me, know how to infiltrate a terrorist camp, assassinate a Mafia boss, follow a radar map and manage the NFL salary cap.

All that stuff I said earlier about boys being better at geography than girls is not true. Well, it might be true, but I didn't really look it up. That's the great thing about video games: You don't have to concern yourself with reality. 

Also, you get to blow stuff up.

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