I recently upgraded computers. As a college student, a laptop made the most sense; as much as I would like an amped out desktop system, going balls to the wall with the latest card and processor, I needed something portable. I needed something light.

But I’m also a gamer, so I couldn’t get an Apple. I didn’t feel like having to tweak my system and manipulate it simply to run Counter-strike, or Hellgate: London.

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While visiting my parents for a wonderful Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend, I was struck at how obnoxious a commonly uttered parental phrase had become. I hadn’t heard it in over a year, and quite frankly I wish to never hear it again.

We were discussing my work, my education, life as I now know it in my semi-new city. How are things? What have you been up to? Still playing those mindless video games? Excuse me? Just stop right there for a moment.

Are all video games an avenue to mindless brain off-switching? Do we benefit from playing them in more ways than just entertainment and relaxation? If you actually sit down and play a video game then think about it for a minute, you’ll probably be able to draw the conclusion: yes, there are benefits. The general idea that video games are undermining critical thinking and intelligence in today’s gamers and kids couldn’t be farther from the truth.

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Back in my formative years, I played video games without even questioning that I should. I had an Atari, and I would play Bubble Bobble, Zak Mckracken, Full Throttle and some spaceship shoot-em-up whose name I can’t remember. I bought a Sega - and added Road Rash, Street Fighter, Streets of Rage, and so on. A typical gamers story, except I’m a girl, and girls don’t game. At least, not those kinds of games. Sure, they might play The Sims, and Bejeweled, and some of them might even play World of Warcraft. But they don’t play shooters. They don’t play racing games. They don’t play Command and Conquer, or Half Life, or Bioshock.

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