Why do we play video games? For most, the answer is enjoyment, but everyone has a different view of enjoyment. American gamers, (I'm using them as an example because I'm from the US) have the sense of enjoyment threw playing an FPS, such as Call of Duty or Battlefield, online against many other players. Weather they are playing with their friends, in a clan, or going solo, the majority of American gamers find this as their enjoyment towards gaming. Racking up kills, ranking up, unlocking mods, and bettering up the K/D ratio. Others, I sometimes find myself in this group, find enjoyment threw fighting games. Unlocking character endings, mastering your combo skills, going a few rounds online with a friend or a complete stranger, or playing an offline match with the person sitting next to you. Lastly, the enjoyment that I find myself sitting at is the sense of a good story. Playing a single player experience and enjoying a well put together story. Character development, the characters that you love and the ones that you hate, and enjoying the atmosphere of your environment.

It's obvious that I like to sit down with a game because of pure enjoyment and love of the game and I have a vast selection of games I can play to quench my thirst. If I want to get some kill-streaks, I'll play Battlefield. If I wanted to bash someones face in, I'll play Street Fighter. Want to enjoy a games good story and make tough choices that can alter the whole experience of the game, Mass Effect series. Feel like playing a game that will get my blood pumping from all the intense moments, Uncharted series. Video games are more than just a hobby to me, I've been playing for years and I can tell when I game is not just a "game" but a piece of art.

The sense of enjoyment isn't the main idea of my blog, it's the issue of media and their viewpoints of video games. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I'm a strong believer in this, but when you are a major News broadcast and your networks says that you are completely opinion free, I expect that your anchors do not state their opinions and make up so-called "facts" that inject your own viewpoint. Without a doubt, I take issue with these problems. I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember and I take gaming as serious as possible as an artwork. Games aren't "the devils best friend" or "a sick way of enjoyment", games are a form of artwork, and art is something that is usually respected. The media today seems to be growing more and more one sided and want their values to be your values, and that is why the story about video games as become to rise. These news networks show little, if any knowledge of games and gamers that it becomes unbearable to watch and shouldn't be on the air.

I can't bear to even watch the newscast because of all the stereotypes these networks use just to push their point forward. I wish the day comes that all the stereotypes of video games and gamers finally come to an end. I realize that this might not ever happen so I decided to just make peace with it. This still doesn't make it right for these "professional" networks to continue with the stereotype. To hear the guests that the networks bring on (which are people that only have the same views of the networks) say that gaming not only destroys society, but ruins your kid, making them so dependent on their parents, and not even backing it up with evidence is a failure at journalism and an embarrassment to the whole news industry. Networks talking about the game creators, saying that they have no values and don't care about society, it's completely classless and extremely disrespect to the game industry and should not be stand for.

These guests that are brought in to the network, with little or no evidence, bash on games and make their point clear that they want games to be outlawed and bring up so called "facts and studies" that apparently have proof that games damages the male brain and makes them view life differently, these "studies" in fact go all the back to over 50 years of research and testing subjects on video games. It's easy for anyone to say that they have facts supporting their claims, but for me, I need to read and see the facts for myself. I have never once seen an anchor or a guest actually show the tests. Another problem I have is this; have video games been around for over 50 years? Making up research (I'm not accusing them of it) or not showing proof of the research is considered an offense and is unprofessional and embarrassing to you, your colleagues, and the entire news network. These networks don't show any respect to the guests that they bring that are for games. They invite a guest that is for gaming only if they can bring one that is against gaming. The anchors pay little attention to the guest for gaming and ask more of the questions to the guest that is against gaming. It even gets to the point where the anchors (who are suppose to be opinion free) start taking the other guest side and begin to gain up on the person who is for gaming. Again, completely classless and should not be stand for by anyone.

This is what I think of a specific single minded news network

A mockery of an accusation that I once heard on the news from someone that was completely against gaming, made a ridiculous accusation. Without mentioning the infamous persons name, he stated (when GTA San Andres was coming out) that gang members are using the game to train newer members how to commit Haynes crimes. Coming from me, I think that this is highly impossible and one of the stupidest accusations I've heard. In order to steal a car in GTA, all the player has to do is press a single button and the car is yours. In real life, it's a lot harder to break the glass hot wire and drive away undetected. Shooting police officers and walking away in one piece is a lot easier in GTA, then it is in real life, you'd have to be more than an expert. Training someone with guns in GTA is completely not true. Anyone can be an ace shot with a gun in a game. Look at me, It's very easy for me to move the aiming cursor at an enemy and shoot them. In real life, I can barely hit a target that's 20 feet in front of me. I highly doubt that anyone is training gang members with a video game, an unrealistic video game at that.

Gang lessons 101

How much evidence is out there that games are destroying kids brains? Everyone needs to remember that not all games are made for kids, they're some that kids should not be playing, but this is not the creators fault for making an M rated game. Blaming a company for that is like blaming a movie company for making an R rated movie: And no, games aren't a waste of time like these networks are saying they are. Gaming has and always will be for the love and enjoyment of gaming. I'm not saying that news networks shouldn't be watched. Just because I refuse to watch some stations because they continue to show disregard and disrespect to the gaming industry without any knowledge of video games, doesn't mean I'm telling you what not to watch. I'm just saying be wary, if these companies handle their stories about video game with no knowledge whatsoever, and the network allowing it to be aired, just imagine what they can do with stories that are more important to the country. Again, the fact that these stories get aired is a big surprise to me and I wish that networks stop talking about games with no respect and no knowledge towards them once and for all.