What Have We Done?!

My crazy little engineer's son has almost beaten Super Smash Brothers Melee on the Game Cube. He understands and executes things like, "To get those targets you have to jump and then use the attack button." Oh the shame! How did this happen? What kind of future does a video game addict have in grade school? Instead of dropping out of college because of Everquest, he'll be dropping out of Kindergarten because of Mario Kart, or Noggin (which is an online site with way too many fun kids games.) That's certainly not all he does during the day, but probably because I won't let him, rather than his own personal self-control. We've had the Your-Brain-Will-Gelatinize-And-You'll-Fail-The-ACT talk, but he hasn't yet grasped the significance of working on his reading and writing instead of pressing the A and B buttons at just the right time.

I console myself with a new study that says surgeons who played video games before performing surgery were both faster and more skilled than those who didn't. What they didn't address in the study, of course, is how those video game playing surgeons ever made it through Med school. Much less remembered to show up for the surgery itself. They probably only made it to the hospital for this survey's study because they knew they'd get to play a game first.

All that to say, I myself am now addicted to a game called Puzzle Pirates. (There's a link on the sidebar, there, if you want to join. C'mon, everyone's doing it, and it makes you cool.) I believe I've mentioned it previously. I watched my mother and several relatives sink into this piratey mire a few years ago, and knew my time was coming. Now it is here. I spend my "free time" (when the kids are asleep) playing or researching the games online for tips and strategy guides. Ahhhh! What has happened to us?!

My husband says that if games like World of Warcraft and LOTRO are "internet crack", which is what people call them, then my Puzzle Pirates game is cheap internet beer. Addictive and pointless. Shows what he knows, though. Ha. I can quit anytime I want. Just like my poor little toddler. We're not addicted, we're just...umm...interested.. yeah...in expanding our virtual horizons...that's it. Oh, and just so you don't worry Grandmas P and C, we don't play any of those other games I listed. I know they look a little strange if you follow those links.