So two different gamers came across my path this last week. One was a guy who was instructed by his doctor that if he played another FPS he could die from the seizures it could cause. The other was an 11yr old boy who's religion forbids violence, especially in video games.
Both came to me asking what they should do now. I usually get recommended for the job thanks to my sadly terrifying knowledge of video games. A challenge? I'm there. Lemme give you a little run-down as to the situations.
The first guy has epilepsy. Which right off the bat has got to suck. He brought back COD:Black Ops and told me that it caused him to have a seizure, a bad one. The doctor told him he couldn't play anything with bright flashes of light anymore. He'd played all of the other COD games, the Battlefield games, but for some reason, COD:BO affected him differently. (Yet another reason why Black Ops sucks).
So he said "great, now I can only play sports games". Not so pal. There's a huge world of possibilities out there. So I started to show him all of the different games that don't have screen filling flashes of light (apparently when the whole screen goes, that's when the trouble starts). Now sure, FPS games are fun, and they don't compare easily to any other game, but your gaming future isn't over when they are kept from you! He'd played GTA before, and liked it, but it wasn't his favorite, he liked the open world feeling, but wasn't too keen on the vague mission directives (which actually makes sense, the open world is awesome, but going through the game can be complicated). Now get this, he'd never played Assassin's Creed, and obviously never played Saboteur. So we got him set up with a list of games to try. Not a single one was an FPS, but they all were solid games. Mass Effect, Dirt 2, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Assassin's Creed 2, Skate 2, and Tropico. We also wrote down a list of ways to reduce the screen flashing on most things using the settings on the tv. (It's totally possible, it makes the screen a bit darker and the colors a little duller, but it keeps you from having seizures... soo... that works.)
Now what got me about this was here's this guy who'd only played FPS games, only played shooters, and figured that's all there really was out there. I think my strong hatred of the COD craze is simply because it deludes people into thinking that that's all there is. COD and Madden. Not so at all.
So with the lists in hand, and the knowledge of where to look for the Epilepsy warning on video games. (bottom left corner on the back, not every game has it BTW), he left feeling a little better about being able to continue his gaming lifestyle. Sure he won't have the fast paced shooting anymore, but there's a huge world out there!
Few days later comes in this kid. Polite as can be, and very well-spoken. I simply had to ask how old he was, 11? Get out of town. You're gonna do alright kid. He told me his religion didn't allow him to play violent video games, but not just that, he was opposed to them. Wha? Let's chat. Turns out he found blood and gore to be offensive and sort of stupid to add to games to make them more interesting. Instantly I felt like some sort of huckster, selling gore and sex to children hungry for it. And here was this kid, hardly exposed to the world and yet he completely understood the sex-driven society we live in. So he tells me he loves Lost Planet 1 & 2 and every time he comes into a gaming store, he asks if there are games like it. The games can't have human on human violence, but alien violence is ok as long as there isn't too much gore, and it can't be M rated. He didn't have a problem with the M rating, but his parents did. He said he understood that the M rating increased sales, and made offers of sexual references and maybe even nudity that would help sell the game.
gtfo kid. You're a smart one. Ok ok, a game like Lost Planet, but T rated and fun. First thing that came to mind, Ghostbusters. I must have played that game 5 times straight through. Same control scheme, T rating, and a decent amount of re-playability. "Nah, that's a kids game". Well... you can't blame the mature 11yr old for wanting mature games. Well here was the problem, most games that are set like Lost Planet are M rated, or things like Monster Hunter. He was well aware that sex and blood sells, and knew it was a tough question. So I started throwing out good T rated games.
Batman, Majin, Enslaved. Every game he'd either played and not liked or wasn't like Lost Planet. Oooooohhh, I get it now. So I asked him "was Lost Planet the first video game you played?". Yep.
You always long for your first. Why do you think I'm so particular and protective of Zelda games?
Well this puts a wrench in the gears, that's when I saw it. Iron Man. It was going to be a long shot, and depending on his religious views possibly horribly offensive. "What about Iron Man?". He asked if they were any good, and honestly, they are! It's one of the few decent superhero games out there. (Find me a good Superman game, I'm just sayin). I told him it was pretty good, he tells me he loves Iron Man and that was that.
Few weeks ago a guy came in, this was about 2 or 3 days after Crysis 2 came out. The guy said "my kid doesn't like it, says it's boring". I say "lemme guess, he LOVES Call of Duty Black Ops?" .... the guy- "how'd you know?"... a lucky guess. Turns out the dad thought Crysis looked pretty good and had a decent storyline, but didn't have an Xbox of his own.... yet.
What's this all mean? Well, that video games are quickly becoming an organic being. They aren't just the standard set anymore. AR Games, 3D games, Farmville and others show that "video game" is a label that is quickly changing with the times. For some, it's a medical condition that prevents them from playing certain games, for others it's a religious belief, and even for some it's just plain ignorance. But whatever the restriction might be, there's a game for that. If you don't have good hand-eye coordination, there are games that just track your body, don't have the ability to read? There are games for that. There's a regular customer I have who's completely paralyzed from the neck down. He can still play Tom Clancy's End War, Empires, and WoW. Basically, there's a game for anyone.
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