I spent all day taking my grandparents to the doctor. My grandfather is not doing well, I mean he is not in danger of dying or anything but he is losing his mind. He was diagnosed with Parkinsons years ago and ever since he has not cared to do therapy and kind of let himself go. He doesn't shake at all, in fact he is pretty health but he is a twig, cant hardly walk or speak and he is not clear in the mind. Its not Alzheimer's, its like he is always nervous saying hes going to die, saying he has some tumor when in fact he has none, or he is short of breath when he is breathing fine. He repeats things over and over, he calls my grandmother every 30 seconds. Yes its sad but this post isnt about him. I saw how he just decided to sit at home and stare a TV all day, he'll sometimes he just sat in his chair with no TV on, of course you will go crazy. Its like he let his mind waste away and I feel like if he played games or did anything to stimulate his mind more he wouldn't be where he is now.

I have it set in my mind that if I play games until my body allows me to that I will always have a clear mind. I maybe wrong and of course if you get hit with a certain disease nothing but medicine will help. But that is my goal, to keep playing games cause if I can play games with puzzles and complex controls my brain is still functioning correctly. I see old folks homes where they have the old people just watching the same game shows everyday, the same reruns, they are like zombies. When I heard that some homes started using Wii I thought it was genius, it's perfect. Its easy to control so they can understand and its an activity that stimulates their mind.

What gaming offers us is incredible. It has all the elements of TV and movies, it has music, some games have plenty of text so there is reading, many games have puzzle solving and they look beautiful cause of artists creating new worlds. It's all forms of entertainment put together with a level of interactivity that no other medium has. There are even elements of competition and social aspects. It is an incredible form of media and its why I do believe with all my heart that this is the best form of material entertainment. The problems is most games are stuck with a teenage boy's mentality, its all very juvenile so I understand why so many look down at our hobby. Games can do anything, it can tell a story, it can display amazing pieces of art. Its the equivalent of a book with moving pictures, that plays music, has puzzles to solve in between chapters, and it takes good hand eye coordination to flip pages. They make you think, they test your mind,  you stay active in a way none of the other forms media do.

One day I do believe what we have here will evolve into other forms, it wont always have to be "games". I think a lot of the educational possibilities gaming has. I learn stuff from games so quickly, I remember random shit  from random games far more than I remember what I learned in english class  when I was a kid. Why, cause I was actively participating in the game, I had to understand the concepts and apply them to move on, you pick up new concepts far quicker when you do that then when you read it in some text book.  So why not make education games that are actual games, not some stupid quiz game. While studying for ultrasound exams I was thinking how much easier this would be if it were a game. The Wii is perfect, a wiimote is a great substitute for a transducer. You move the wiimote around a virtual dude and you see the ultrasound image on the screen. The game tests your knowledge of different pathology by having you identify it or even solve some kind of puzzle using that knowledge. Add rankings to it, all of a sudden now I want to get the correct image and learn the right pathology quicker to get an S Rank. Attach a trophy to it and I would be an expert in days. We can use this interactive media in so many ways that we just don't, the possibilities are endless.

Clearly I had a lot of time to think on the drive home. I just feel like gaming is special and it's something I plan to be doing till I am dead. I hope to see the day that it becomes used in different ways and integrates itself into every day life. One day playing "games" won't be looked at as just a dumb juvenile thing to do.