Hope from the generations of PC gamers

This blogger has a propensity to concoct longer-than-needed write-ups on mundane topics. I’ll try to make this geek-speak crisp, but meaty enough to deliver the message. There’ll be more about related topics, so I hope you’ll tune in.

Despite the seeming apathy internalized by today’s youth due to the rise of technology and their immersion – addiction – to video or computers, there remains hope that the said generations will look and act beyond what they have learned through conventional mediums.

The generations referred to belong to those who grew up, developed their cognitive and affective – such as IQ and EQ – abilities in the 1980s up to present. In prior discourses, they are referred to as Gen X and Gen Y, and are otherwise known as ‘lost generations.’ But let us not confine them to those labels. Instead, this blogger proposes the use of ‘IT-generation’ to refer to them in this article.

IT determines public behavior

The intense use of information technology (IT), inclusive of the development and propagation of computers, digital technology, the internet, mobile communications and mass media, have contributed significantly to the current state of consciousness of today’s youth. Some analysts observe that over-exposure to these IT mediums shape the youth to become detached, indifferent, misdirected or apathetic to the realities and structures that determine people’s viewpoints and life in general.

This blogger agrees to the findings (relatively incomplete at this point) that the advanced technology the market creates reinforce the backwardness of ideas, beliefs, values and level of education, broadly termed ‘culture,’ such that the prevailing economic and political relations become strengthened. In other words, the market keeps people captivated by new technology to suit the goals of making more profit. Thus, people have become over-dependent on IT to suit their lifestyle, psychological needs and biases.

The Philippines is recognized as Friendster capital as well as texting capital, and who knows, with a little more push, bloggers capital someday. Individuals and groups maintain multiple user accounts in blogs and social networking sites Friendster, Multiply, Blogspot, FB, Wordpress, MySpace, email groups in Google, MSN, Yahoo, and what-have-you. Mobile services subscribers have more than one cellular phones or numbers, that the market for dual-sim phones continues to grow.

Although these may indicate a sense of the individual having communal or social connectivity, expanding networks or nourishing relationships via IT, there’s lingering doubt that the said cyber-connections may even form walls that isolate the individual from meaningful activities, relations and connections. Let me add that consumer products like digital music players also add to the individual’s isolation. In this regard, instead of the person gaining control by using the products, the market that make the products available contribute to the person’s (under)development. The market keeps control by feeding more ‘wants’ rather than improving the person’s fulfillment of his/her ‘needs’ and thus reinforce the prevailing set-up. This reminds us of ‘Matrix’ wherein humans serve as batteries or fuel for the entire super-machine that is likewise dependent on humans in order to exist.

Inside computer games, players’ minds

I belong to the generation fortunate enough to have enjoyed playing hundreds of hours in computer game time.

The 1980s Nintendo Family Computer offered us Super Mario Bros., Strider, Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Contra Team, Gradius, Astroboy and lots of games that put the player in the position to save the damsel-in-distress, the world, or both. The 1990s desktop computers gave us more, seemingly unlimited and exciting games, complex story lines, and engaged players in ever-evolving virtual reality. The 90s to present generations grew up to one-player or team games such as Counter-Strike, Command and Conquer, Diablo 2, FLYFF, World of Warcraft and Ragnarok Online. Street games diminished, as kids go to computer rental shops right after school, or worse, they even cut classes to spend their baon on PC games. Instead of playing patintero, taguan, mataya-taya and agawang-base, kids learned the art of warfare.

I remember being immersed in Diablo 2 quests and Counter-Strike skirmishes when the Twin Towers fell and America went to war in the Middle East. When Shock and Awe happened, I was manning a computer shop and watching over teens playing the same games I played. They couldn’t care less, at their age, they said. One kid pointed out that the US Twin Towers being sieged was included in a Command and Conquer stage. I recall that another player was insistent on installing his flight simulator on another PC so he could learn basic flying. Simulators are in use in flight schools, he said. Then, years later, as I put those memories together, I asked. “Can players learn anything of value from the video games they enjoyed?”

From the surface level, the said games taught players how to develop tactics and strategies, master the complicated keyboard controls and corresponding characters’ abilities, launch offensives from multiple locations and with varying effects, cooperate with fellow gamers, and have in mind the accomplishment of specific missions with the ultimate goals of saving the world or the damsel-in-distress, or both. Gamers learn about flying planes, planting bombs, shooting guns and eliminating opponents inside the computer games. Of course, either this was the kind of entertainment that the gamers (consumers) wanted or this is what the manufacturers-sellers (market) thought would earn them more profits on a global scale. With the hundreds or thousands of game hours gamers spent, thousands of pesos were earned (by just a couple of computer rental shops in a single barangay, for example), hundreds or thousands of pesos pent for the gamer’s personal satisfaction, and millions (billions?) of dollars were earned by game manufacturers and sellers on a global scale.

On the other hand, the hundreds or thousands of game hours were also spent indoors in psychological exertions instead of getting basic education inside schools, or engaging in physical activities, teamwork, sports, house chores, livelihood activities and other social interactions that may prove to be more beneficial for the gamers in the long run. As another consequence, the realm of ideas that gamers are in may limit their comprehension and response to social realities that need their urgent attention.

Missing links

To conclude this post, this blogger puts forward some ‘missing links’ that may provide hope to this seemingly ‘lost generations’ of IT-immersed youth.

One, IT creates a wall of illusion that make them think they are in control. The egocentrism arising from this barrier of illusion surrounds individuals and make them seem indifferent or disconnected from the rest of society. iPod, iPhone, and iMac may sound a bell that focuses on ‘I’ as the center of the ‘you’-niverse, from the advertisers’ point of view.

Two, such barriers must be broken through, for the stumbling blocks such as apathy and misinformation to be addressed. Lack of information poses a threat as real as wrong information.

Three, a lot of patience is required. Eternal vigilance must also be present. Waking up from the ‘Matrix’ is not a simple task. Taking a ‘red pill’ does not guarantee one won’t take a ‘blue pill’ in the future.

Four, IT must be put to good use, not the other way around wherein technology captures the users for the benefit of the status quo.

Five, internalization of the games’ missions and story-lines may not be all bad. Of course, this blogger is referring to the general ‘good versus evil’ theme. The challenges that the games offer players may prove beneficial in this regard, imparting the lesson that obstacles are meant to be overcome with due persistence, effort and time. The individualism that games create may influence gamers to think that an individual can make a difference. The ‘you against the world’ themes may prod the gamer to seek companionship and true friends from among fellow gamers, even via cyberspace if preferred. The egocentric or hero-mentality may be transformed to ‘you and friends’ and you’re not alone in these quests. Take it from Star Wars, too.

Against the dark background of finding lost bridges and connecting gaps in ideas, the most crucial missing link would probably be found in between the virtual realities of the games and the mind of the individual gamers. Both techies (tekkies) and gamers will appreciate having more responsibilities in the material world, as indeed they have better roles to play in society, once they decide to take the metaphorical path leading to light.