Using personal experiences to discuss the potential influence of video games.
Who wouldn't want to be this guy?
So time went on and I continued to follow Tex. I got his next adventure, Overseer, as soon as it was released. While it felt different in certain ways, it was still a ton of fun and kept bringing me back to those good old days when I was younger. Days turned into months. Months into years. Elementary school into Highschool. Then came time to choose my direction in college. For the longest time, and largely because of my brother’s influence, I had decided I was going to go into computer programming. It was strange, but it seemed like the only thing to do. But the closer I got to actually needing to apply, the more I doubted it as a choice. And then all of a sudden a thought popped into my mind; “What if I wanted to be a Private Investigator?” This was 100% driven by all the positive memories I still had from playing Tex Murphy games when I was younger.
So how seriously did I think about it? Well, I bought a book on the subject. I found a diploma program in a local college that was focused on Private Investigation. I even reached out to an Investigator working for an insurance company. He was nice enough to share some insights on what the job was like, what I would need and some things to try to see if I would be up to the task (He told me to see how long I could follow a random person on the street until they noticed me.) All of this was only piquing my interest. Unfortunately in the end, I got some feedback from family friends who knew a Private Investigator and they mentioned how difficult it was to have a steady income. Being in that “make sure you make the right decision” frame of mind, I went back to my computer programming.
Oh….what could have been…still, it’s kinda crazy to think that video games had such a profound impact on me back then. With the recent announcement of the PS4, touch pad controller, Kinect – like motion sensor bar and ease of development, I have to believe that the impact of video games will only grow. As the tales become more and more engaging, so will our immersion. Games are already being used as simulators for real world training. The future can only provide more experiences that will shape the lives of many gamers to come.
