“Have you beaten all eight bosses?”
When I was a kid that was a popular question
we asked each other on the playground-
“Did you beat all the bosses in Mega Man
2”? It was an insanely popular video
game back in the early 90s, and the point of
the game was to go from one level to the
next, beating the evil robot boss of each
level, and by doing so, acquiring a weapon
to help you in the next level.
You’ve probably heard of the Mega Man
series, as they are still being made, these
days mostly for Nintendo DS. I was
certainly a big fan. There were few
things I loved doing more in third grade
than playing Mega Man for a few hours
Saturday afternoon, or for that matter,
Super Mario World, Shadows of the Empire, or
later FIFA ’99 or NFL 2K3.
Video games have a way of doing that.
You pick up a controller, tell yourself
you’re only going to play a game for
fifteen minutes… and then you look at your
watch and two hours have gone by!
Video games have gotten so realistic these
days, too, that a fictional world is created
in your television that makes you want to
spend hours there! Whether it’s
Hyrule, the Mushroom Kingdom, a futuristic
Tokyo, or an American sports stadium today,
we can get sucked into playing video games
and forgetting about basically everything
else. Don’t get me wrong, video
games can be immensely fun- a great way to
unwind and even have fellowship with one
another. I’m sure you know what
I’m talking about, though, when I say that
video games sometimes have a way of tempting
us to drop what we’re supposed to be doing
and turn into zoned-out vegetables.
I recently glanced at a few online video
game magazines to see what’s selling these
days. I was quickly amazed at how
realistic video games become each year- like
virtual movies that you control! I am
also amazed when I see that most of the
best-selling video games are rated “T,”
or “M,” (Teen or Mature) and often have
increasing levels of violence- even the
games advertized in billboards, magazines
and TV. Studies have found teenage
males to have raised levels of testosterone
after playing video games, and heightened
aggression. Very subtly, anyone can
run the risk of having a shorter patience,
an increased eagerness to be entertained,
and becoming desensitized to violence.
Clearly, what we play on video game consoles
does have an effect on us, and despite the
many harmless games that do exist, the
industry as a whole doesn’t seem to care
about regulating levels of violence and
content in their games.
God certainly
wants us to have healthy fun and enjoy
ourselves, no doubt. But He also wants
to make sure that we always do what’s
healthy for our soul and spiritual growth.
You know that feeling you get when you stop
playing a game after three hours? What
does your house look like when you’re
walking into the kitchen to get a drink of
water? It’s pretty surreal, isn’t
it? You almost have to phase yourself
out of the game and back into real life.
If we’re not careful, the violence and
mindless entertaining we experience in video
games can have an adverse effect on us if we
don’t balance it with healthy time
outside, reading recreationally and most
importantly, going to church. Our
church services are the most healthy
activity we can do for our souls, and they
are not mindless entertainment, but require
effort on our part for us to participate,
which is a good thing! Our bodies and
souls require a healthy balance of
fun-filled activities as well as worship of
the Lord, not to mention that Christian
“filter” I often talk about to be
working. I promise you, if you make
this an aim of your life, you will see the
benefits and the great gift of life the
Jesus Christ gives us. And best of
all, to achieve this, we don’t have to
beat eight boses.
