In conclusion to this journey through my childhood, in the terms of the alternate realities I took apart of I think this was an excellent way to map my emotions and trains of thought from a developmental point of view. As the technology increased over time, so did my imagination.  The limitations for what was plausible and realistic vanished from black to grey to white.  The stark reality that limitation could be met with ideal expectations and have some what of a feasible outcome was illuminated. It gave me hope and aspiration as a child.  In recent years, I've come to realize that my interest in video games as a child has left me with an interest in fantasy and story telling.  With this urge to delve into stories and be immersed in another world, I found escape in books.  Particularly well written and developed books.  The first book that led me on this path was Stephen King's Gunslinger part 1 of 7 from The Dark Tower series.  Having exposed myself to this writing and extensive use the english language, I feel this has increased my writing prose and abilities tenfold.  A quote from King on writing, “If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” I agree with this reading has proved to be the biggest influence on my writing ability and process.

My next virtual reality machine was the Xbox 360. I was wrapping up high school and closing in on the mark of my "adult" life as an American citizen, the big '18'. I could now legally purchase cigarettes, porn, and go over seas to donate my body to the insatiable thirst for blood that our nation has so eloquently acquired. With this change in perspective and perceived responsibility for life, the games that I began to play also helped broaden my worldview.  One of the first games I played was Modern Warfare. In this game you are invading the middle east to eradicate nuclear threats to the Americas. In the most recent publication of this game MW3, terrorists are attacking the Americas and you are a solider defending our well earned and inherent right to freedom.  This game taught me many things, one of which being that its okay to kill invaders of your country if it is to defend your peoples rights and admirations for the future.  We invade other countries to protect our freedom, then are appalled when they defend themselves and their values.  Wouldn't it be a nice change of pace to see modern warfare, in the form of a video game, from the view of any of the non-world powers or perhaps even the oppressed? Well I guess that wouldn't sell too well. Maybe it was the culture and the video games was a catalyst... Either way this was the beginning of the end to my childhood, and all naive aspirations for a decent universe where truth and beauty reigned free and in its place the birth of my cynical and morbid American ways. c'est la vie


http://childdevelopmentinfo.com/tag/videogames.shtml

couldn't find much of a big picture conversation or at least an entire website devoted to the topic.