I've been playing video games since I was kid. One of my fondest memories was receiving Pokémon Yellow as a birthday gift for my fifth birthday. As a child the last thing I thought about was how video games affected me or shaped my worldview. They were just fun! At the age of 20, I realize that video games are important. Like any media, video games heavily influence the people who play them and the society in which we live.

There have been discussions on whether or not violent games create violent people. Studies have shown that these claims are inconclusive over the long-term. These are not the effects, however, for which I am arguing. On a purely psychological basis, video games have shown to improve the critical thinking skills of players. Video games are capable of improving the problem-solving skills of children and adults alike, along with improving spatial-awareness skills. For example, role-playing games such as Bioware's Mass Effect series present players with a series of choices that greatly influence the outcome of the game’s plot. Each action has a consequence, forcing the player to think critically about their actions and applying these critical thinking skills to both real and virtual worlds.

A persistent complaint within the gaming community is the representation of women. While the most common belief is that men dominate the demographics of video game players, the numbers are actually pretty evenly split with 53 percent of the gaming force being men and 47 percent being women as of 2012, with numbers increasing each year. This is important as with more women and other minorities (such as the LGBTQ+ community and people of color) playing video games, there is a call for greater diversity and positive representation.

Representation in media is massive. It's no secret that women are more frequently sexualized in video games. Such portrayals of women as passive, sexual objects while men are written to be the more complex yet overtly masculine protagonists have negative effects across the entire gender spectrum. Essentially, how we view people (both human, humanoid, or even alien) in media -- even in video games -- greatly shapes how we view people in real life. Not to mention, consistently overly idealized characters may set up unrealistic ideals for those who play these games.

As video games and gaming technology evolve, so too do the consumers. Does this mean that developers should create every character to look "average" or "normal" in appearance? Absolutely not! That would be boring. Diversity, however, is good for the soul. Many young women stop playing video games as they grow up because there are simply not enough female characters for them to relate to. The tide is beginning to turn. The world is seeing the release of games featuring women as the main protagonists, such as Dishonored 2 and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. Developers are realizing that their consumer base is craving something more than games in which the sole premise is “kill or be killed.” Video games are a reflection of the world around us, whether we like it or not.

At the end of the day, video games are capable of serving as allegory for real life situations. Examples of this are seen in games such as the Dragon Age series where the plight of the images can be applied to marginalized groups that are seen as violent and evil, even though that would be a dangerous generalization of an entire group. Video games are another way of telling a story; by visual means. They can be more immersive than novels, more interactive than films, and overall a great extension of humanity's innate need to cultivate our imagination and connect to others.Playing video games as opposed to reading a book or watching a film is not inherently lazy. As studies have shown, people are capable of learning much from what they see and hear within these virtual worlds. Video games do matter, and a lot more than what people typically think.