Throughout my teenage years I was always attracted to those "bad boys" who didn't have a care in the world, who were rebellious and always broke the rules... it kind of rubbed off on me too. But God is amazing and always knows what's best for us, so He sent the sweetest, most affectionate, loving and caring man my way. Who is now in case someone doesn't know yet, my husband.
Now if you first meet him, he seems like a nice ordinary guy, but little do people know, that in the realms of his man cave (or our living room) is the king of geeks. Which is something that I have found to be quite attractive about him.
Growing up, I went through many phases..the sweet innocent one, the rebellious one, the somewhat mature one...but along with all of those I always carried with me a nerdy side...not geeky, nerdy. I listen to classical music, played piano, read every young adult book in the library, have an obsession with art, love to write, always had English and literature as a favorite class, and the list could go on and on.
So when Andrey revealed his geeky side to me more and more, I realized how parralel my world of nerdiness went along with his geeky one. Two completely different things but something we both learned to appreciate about each other so much.
Throughout our few short months of marriage I think those two worlds evolved into each other and he took upon some of my nerdiness while I drenched myself into that geeky world of his.
He pre reads all my blogs and takes me to art museums, and I can rant about a movie we just watched for hours, rating it and evaluating it. But a big part of his lifestyle that I never thought I would catch myself getting into was gaming.
Andrey has been a gamer since he was about five years old, he could probably write a book about all his console and game experiences. And the more I think about it the more I realize that, growing up, I played more games than I thought.. we went through gameboys and play stations, even a joystick and many pc games, I even remember playing Age of Empire.
But when I got older I hit a phase where I was extremely against gaming. I watched how it took over my siblings lives, and it upset me because I thought their imagination wouldn't expand, and their learning and growing abilities would be affected. I even wrote an essay about how my kids aren't going to be involved with technology.
I still hope to live up to that, I hope that my kids have a childhood where they play pretend and love the outdoors, I hope that they learn skills mannualy and not through electronics, but my views on gaming changed completely..thanks to Andrey. And when my kids grow up and make their own decisions, I will let them decide for themselves whether they want to be involved in that or not.
Now I know that this topic could bring up lots of questions about where I stand with my Christian beliefs, my morals, but don't be so quick to judge me yet.
We live in a world filled with a large variety of games.. whether its games on our phone or board games in our drawers, we play physical games, we play learning games, strategy games, the list goes on. So how are video games that much different? ....
They arent... sure there are lots of evil content in some, but those could easily be avoided ... some board games and party games could be just as bad..for instance spin the bottle... who ever came up with that? ..
My point is, every kind of entertaintment today could be evil, but also be benefitial and educational.
So to let it out in the open, ever since we got married, I finished five video games, and am on my sixth. And to be honest the experience was wonderful. I have come across some of the most beautiful, creative stories I have ever heard. I now am a firm believer that video games, if done right, could qualify as art. The first game I finished was called Valiant Hearts and it was based on the history of world war two..it was a hand drawn side scroller where you get to experience the horrible life people had during the era and some of the challenges of the war..as you play you learn new facts about the war and the timeline of this era. The game told a beautiful story and the ending was so touching, that I then had even more respect or all the people who took part in this tragic time.
I played another game called Brothers, a tale of two sons..where you go on a journey to find medicine for your dying father, you play as both brothers and have to figure out ways to help each other throughout the journey...also a heart warming touching experience.
Now why am I sharing this?... My point is, video games come in lots of varieties just like board games and the games on our phones. They can tell a beautiful story, challenge you, and also make you feel things. Like everything else in life we must filter what we watch and play...
but don't be so quick to judge when you meet someone who likes video games.
And Please don't get me wrong, me and my husband don't just sit around and play all day.. we work, and go places, we spend most of our time outdoors.. I cook and clean, and take care of my home, we read and pray, have disscusions...
But once in a while, once all the important things are taken care of, we relax on the couch and play a game..and I don't see anything wrong with that because it's no different than watching a movie or listening to a story.