Oh the topic!
We all know video games are a very fun source of entertainment.
They have the unique ability of entertaining and having the entertained
interact with the game. It brings out so many different paths and styles.
   

As I've been thinking about the things I do over the past year and a half
since my salvation video games and entertainment have certainly been one
that constantly has to be dealt with. As video games and entertainment
were pretty much my previous lifestyle - it's true.

The point and purpose of video games has been a neat subject inside my
head. My first example will be Rainbow Six. Any of these series puts you as
the leader and planner of an anti-terrorist group of soldiers. You are equipped
with a high amount of technology and different sizes of firepower as you neutralize
your enemies. It tests your common sense level and gives you a virtual place to
learn combat tactics and react to the environment around you. You also have to
prepare yourself and your team for what you need with different weaponry
for different situations. Game that tests you in common sense and strategy in your
mind. It gives a virtual place for certain real life happenings.

The second is World of Warcraft. This game is a different breed of game
in which you are immersed as a character (few individuals take this a bit too far)
into a world of good vs. evil. It is known as a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing
Game [MMORPG]. You play against the computer created foes and
also other people who have characters in the game too once you advance your
character. You learn human co-operation in levels of groups and entire raids
as your characters gains higher levels of advancement. You can play with one
friend or 40 people when enemies get tougher. Strategy also
comes into play with this game as you have chosen a character with special
abilities. This game pretty much emulates a new world that providing a
fresh and epic adventure for the mind.

The third is Unreal Tournament 2004. This is a fast paced game in which
the target is either reaching a certain amount of kills or a certain objective.
This game tests your skills in common sense, strategy and teamwork.
This game though as 'unreal' (no pun intended) as others, shows a bit of creativity
and ways of mastering different roles in the strategies used.

The fourth and last (since there are quite a few I could list it would make it
ridiculously long) is Myst. This is a puzzle adventure series in which you are
in a place you have never been before and very mysterious too. Your main
objective is to find a way out of the world, while being confused at the ingenious
puzzles placed before you. Common sense and observation are highly key areas
in this game. In the end this game provides astounding sights of a different world
in which fun and difficult puzzles are the only thing between you and your escape.

Now that I have listed a few games and a bit of how they work. The observations
are from my perspective and might take a different view in your own mind.

The time consumed in these games bothers me. You can invest hours even months of gameplay easily if the game
if made well. The first question that comes into my mind "What eternal value does it have?"

   
    Playing a game kind of takes your thoughts off of the reality of things.
Next thought: is it Biblical to take your thoughts of reality?
From what the Bible says is that we are to think on the true, the pure
the lovely, the good reports, the just, the virtues, the praiseworthy things.

What do these game do? Do these games leech on my pride knowing that I can have success in them.
What is happening to other people during the time I play a game?
How many people are coming to the knowledge of the Gospel?
How am I helping the people? How am I helping the church?
How am I helping my friends?

How will this game affect eternity, how will it affect my faith? How will this game help my walk
with God? Can this game help my walk with God? Does this game help my job? Does this game
help my family? Does this game help the unsaved? Does this game honor God? Does this game
display God honoring statutes, attitudes, speech? Are there better things than gaming I can do?
Does this game aid my testimony? Does gaming help the harvest of God?

    I'm going into eternity and the only things eternal are the Word of God and the souls of men.
Where do video games have their place?

    The one thing I have placed video games is having some fuel for small talk with unsaved people.
Its benefits relating to them are valued. I have enough gaming in the past I don't think I need to add more.
And that isn't the key binding thing I want. Games aren't the common ground I want with my friends; I want it to be Christ! Enthralling exciting conversations about God. Testimonies of faith, endurance, people coming to know
Him. Excitement!
    I want Jesus Christ, the most important person in the universe, a treasured common ground!

What do you think?