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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mistwell" data-source="post: 6228854" data-attributes="member: 2525">I'm the first generation of video game kids.  I had pong, and Atari 2600, and my family built the first (well, second) consumer personal computer (an IMSAI, the same computer seen in the movie War Games with all the switches).  It's certainly not that I disdain video games.  But I stand by my argument that avidly reading fiction as a child and teenager on average leads to more valuable things for society than avidly playing video games in those years.  It's not always the case, and both can be bad and good, but I think on average I have the right of this.  My SAT scores (and later LSAT scores) were better for the reading than for the games.  My language skills, my writing skills, my reading skills, my comprehension skills, even my critical thinking skills, all improved far more from the reading than from the video games, and I think that continues even into modern video games.  My hand-eye coordination and rapid reaction skills improved from the video games, but I don't think those skills are as valuable to society in general as the reading skills, at those ages.  And, I think a lot of rude trollish behavior and taking advantage of anonymity also is exacerbated by the video game culture of today.  It teaches some socialization, but often it emphasizes the negative socialization more than the positive (though not always).Nor do I think that's society leaving me in the distance - Harry Potter and Twilight and Hunger Games all prove that reading fiction remains a popular form of entertainment for many during those years, if the right fiction is available and known to them.  They might read it on an electronic device rather than in the form of a paperback book, but they'll still read it.I think we will continue to see both video games and fiction novels thrive in the future.  I don't see the death of novels any time soon, though certainly they are undergoing a transformation, much as video games are as well.</blockquote>

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