I remember my first console: Playstation 2. I remember my first favorite game: Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. I remember the first game that I ever played online with my friends: Call of Duty: World at War. I also remember the first Xbox controller I broke from throwing it on the ground in rage. I was quickly lectured by my very angry father but I can wholeheartedly say that I have learned from my situation and never broken a controller since. Besides learning the value of a $60 controller, from all of my gaming experience I have learned so much from playing video games contrary to my father’s belief.
Games have taught me cognitive skills ever since I could hold a controller. I’ve learned about problem-solving, spatial awareness, and motivation more from playing games like Sly Cooper for an hour than playing baseball for a decade. I still learn new things from games now. It may seem like I’m just playing a game but after reflecting on the gameplay I had just experienced, games are much deeper than I perceive. Games like Assassin’s Creed have taught me about history and culture, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice has taught me about mental illness, and games like Minecraft have taught me about creativity. With the new advancements in the video game world, games should be as complex as their operating systems and most of the time, they are.
Austin, I really enjoyed reading your intro paragraphs. I really like how you emphasized remembering your first gaming experiences. The first couple sentences do a great job of reeling your audience in. At the end of the first paragraph, it clearly states what you will be talking about in the rest of your project – that you have learned many skills and gained good qualities from gaming experiences. Your second paragraph starts to build on that idea, with using specific examples of games. This is a great start and I’m sure you’ll be able to find a lot of research on this topic!