People ask me at times why I play video games. Why do I play video games? To win video games. Video games are an art that few accept as art, entertainment that people consider somehow a greater waste of time than TV, and a social activity that's considered more anti-social than talking on the phone.

How are video games not art when a red line down a white canvas is? That just shows "art" is up to interpretation. It could be the moving story, or perhaps the amazing graphics, even the sound-track or art-style all add to the art value of a game. It's an interactive media, it does things with the tools at it's disposal that you could never do with anything else even similar.

Video games increase your cognative abilities, and your ability to work in a team. The entire idea between a clan vs. clan battle is combinining all of your abilities: reflexes, tactical understanding, and ability to work with your team. Ronald Regan once said the airforce was interested in gamers to pilot fighter jets due to the heightened hand, eye, and brain coordination granted by playing videogames (src). It might be a waste of time, but unlike watching a movie atleast you get a little bit of something out of it.

And are the people I play with online not real? Doesn't that make this a social activity? You sit around and talk with your real-world friends, I do the same with my real-world friends, and my internet friends, the only difference is I've fought tooth and nail against armies of robots, zombies, and other people with my internet friends, they've covered my back and I've covered theirs. They're more than friends, they're brothers in arms that I've never seen, and we've taught eachother how to work in a team efficiently, using our strengths to cover eachother's weaknesses, and vice versa.

They're a form of entertainment, pure and simple, perhaps the ultimate form of entertainment, one that requires skill, logical ability, reflexes, tactical understanding, patience, and a sense of teamwork.

I started playing video games with Command & Conquer around the age of 5. My first console was a sega genesis, but I played on my friend's SNES just as much, before the advent of the console wars when a person could enjoy every console even if they didn't own it.

Since then I've had an N64 and Gamecube (not including the numerous portable systems I've had), but I always preferred the PC, it just has the technical capabilities way above and beyond that of the other systems, and a wider array of generas. I do still play the newer consoles whenever I have access to one, but home is where my PC is.

Video games are the reason I originally got into programming aswell. During my first year of highschool I was working on a game in RPG Maker 2000. The tools at my displosal were seriously lacking so I wanted to learn how to program to make a game properly. At this time I had my first programming class and realized I had a nack for code. Each project I had a choice at I made a video game, starting with Ninja Castle, a text based RPG made in Turing. I then started to get into the most interesting part of coding: physics. With physics and the graphical ability of Visual Basic 6 on my side I made a clone of Pong for my final highschool programming project. This lead me to working on a diploma where I could learn everything I needed to make video games, such as advanced physics, rendering libraries, and the complex nuances of code.

If you want to play a game some time add me on xfire at ToxicNinja or on steam also as ToxicNinja.