Introduction

Also being a child of the seventies, I feel that my life and my life style has been greatly impacted, possibly even defined, by my use of electronics, games in particular. The range of gaming products that have often been a significant portion of my everyday life is astounding, starting with PAC -Man and the lovely Miss PAC -Man, maturing through some early PlayStation and PC games such as Unreal Tournament and The Sims. My family now possess an XBox 360, a Wii along with the Wii Fit and all of it's various components, a PlayStation 2 and four computers, and any kind of game imaginable can be found in our living room.
Throughout the years I have spent hours upon hours playing god to my Sims and engaging in dangerous high speed races in million dollar race cars equipped with nitrous. These games have offered not only entertainment, but distraction, even escape as I spent days on end at home caring for my young children. Many periods of my life can be recalled by the game I was into at the time, or what new electronic gadget I was currently entertaining myself, be it my Walkman, my beeper, or later, my cell phone and i-pod. As I have progressed throughout my married life and the true non- stop-risk-taking game of raising two sons entering their preteen years, these games have metamorphosed into an outstanding 3-d version of their predecessors, and games such as Halo and the new NBA and NFL Xbox video games look like airbrushed versions of reality.
The shadows that Socrates speaks of in the Plato reading "Allegory of a Cave" can be seen through what these games provide to the consumer: a chance to not only glimpse, but to actually become a part of a new life, whether the new lifestyle is silly, dangerous or glamorous. These onscreen realities are the shadows, which, being seen as reality for long enough, becomes the perception of what really is.
As the years have passed, the technologies used in the production of various kinds of video games, both online or not, have grown by leaps and bounds. As this growth has occurred, availability of gameplaying has dramatically increased, ultimately becoming a large part of most Americans' everyday life. In my own family, every member has certain games they prefer and play often, and almost every evening our family spends at least an hour playing Wii sports games together.
This accesibility has allowed gaming to essentially reach across generations, as there are games and systems tailored for every age group. As I write this my nine year old son is playing a game on an internet gaming site for children as my thirty six year old husband is enjoying a football game using XBox Live.
The exploration of these games which are now an integral part of our society will be a very enlightening journey. It will be very interesting to look into this aspect of our culture and understand how it has affected our relationships, our communication and our effectiveness in general, both positively and negatively.