How Video Games Changed My Life

Give The People What They Want is a monthly column on the happenings of a preteen, written by 12-year-old Henry Jones.

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About four to five years ago, I received one of the most memorable gifts: an Xbox 360. It was old, my uncle gave it to me for my birthday, but I was ecstatic to finally have an alternative to watching “Wild-Krats” on the tv for once. My dad set it up for me, and that's when my life changed.

I want to talk about video games for a second. You can call me a nerd or say I have no life, but video games are amazing. Who would’ve thought two bars and a pixelated ball would’ve evolved into futuristic VR headsets and full 360-degree gaming setups? Video games are full of life and imagination. Let’s take Red Dead Redemption 2 as an example. You play as Arthur Morgan in late 1899. Gangs and Outlaws are practically legends as bounty hunters and agents hunted them down. The game shows how Arthur, a member of a struggling gang, experiences betrayal and death. Anyways, enough with my blabber; onto my life.

Shortly after receiving my Xbox, I headed over to GameStop (yes, that still existed back then) and bought Skate 3. I loved this game, I loved turning on cheats to make a radical skeleton riding a skateboard or the cheat where all NPCs would act like zombies and attack you.

This dream lasted until I got my Xbox One in 2018. Video Games are a HUGE part of my life; either I’m getting chased by Deathclaws and Mirelurks in Fallout 4, or repeatedly dying by grenades in Call of Duty: World at War; I'm always enjoying playing video games. Some of my favorites include, but are not limited to Fallout, Skyrim, Call of Duty, FIFA, and Red Dead Redemption. Ever since I got my Xbox 360 in 2015, I was playing Lego: Indiana Jones and getting lost in Kung Fu Panda: The Video Game, to now where I just mod and goof around in video games. This type of entertainment and culture will always be in my heart. Except for Minecraft, Minecraft can go away.