Bye-Bye Books
I read an article that discusses books being replaced by video games. I’d love to know people’s response on this. Personally, I don’t think this is the case at all. I know a lot of gamers. Most of whom read books. Most of them adore books – because they love getting lost in a fantasy land, like World of Warcraft or Everquest. If a book hits home to that person, they will read it, love it, and go buy more.
I also do know a lot of people who play old school video games, and they also seem to love books. The one “gamer” type that I know who doesn’t read often (and this is only in my experience, so let me know if I’m wrong) is the video game player who plays games like Halo II, Grand Theft Auto and similar games almost exclusively. I had a friend (I won’t name any names here) who played these kinds of games only and he was almost illiterate. BUT, I did get him to start reading the books written about Halo. To me, those books were insufferable, but he really liked them. So, I think it’s great that books are coming out based on video games. These books catch the attention of an audience that rarely reads and gets them to join the enormous community of readers we have in this world.
What do you think? Have I missed anything? Have I got it wrong? Let me know.
Isn’t it awful? I’ve really been noticing recently that alot of role models for kids- who tend these days to be athletes or entertainers or people who’ve made a lot of money- not only admit to not reading at all but they boast about it. Why this attitude that reading a book excludes playing games, writing songs or hauling in the loot? Is there no pride in being well-rounded anymore? And aren’t books a gateway to the imagination in any case? I figure if you read, it should give you an edge in life or don’t exercised brains count for anything anymore? Sorry, lots of questions in there. It just makes me sad that there is a world, a wealth of ideas and excitement and adventure that some poor people never get to experience.
June 9th, 2008 at 1:57 pmI think that while role models may seem rather shallow (or actually are really shallow), it’s still pretty cool to read. If you look at many tv shows, they are getting more intelligent, many of the main characters read a lot. Maybe I watch all the wrong tv shows, but I think there’s still hope for readers and writers of the world.
I understand feeling sad about the current world situation though, and as long as people are aware of it and encourage their own children to read, I think we can make it better.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:47 pmI share Jo’s sentiments. It’s a sad reflection on our times that many role models don’t read. But I also agree with Julia that perhaps all is not lost.
For example, if you’ve ever watched the Gilmore Girls (my wife is addicted and has watched the entire series on DVD) then you will see intellegent writing, many literary references and a main character (Rory) who is young and reads voraciously.
I also think that books like “The DaVinci Code” encourage reading by being very well written and exciting plus that particular book references source materials that readers will then go look at for themselves. I know I did.
So, I think there is hope and I think web sites like this encourage reading by making the books sound so interesting and readable.
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 am