Today marks another milestone in gaming history with the release of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV. The impact this series has had (not counting GTA 1-2) has certaintly caught alot of attention with its immoral values, graphic violence, "adult" entertainment, and just in general looked down upon outside of the gaming community as a harmful game that should be marked with a surgeon general's warning label along with the M rating. After hearing some commotion about the game the instant I turned on my radio this morning, I started to think about games that I loved as a kid and how they impacted on my life. Super Mario Bros. was my first ever game that I played when I was about 4 or 5 and all I can really remember was that terrifying first big hole where you had to run THEN jump. I remember being frustrated but I kept trying until I eventually somehow found out what I had to do to pass that part of the first stage. Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers was my first co-op game for the NES and I learned how much fun it was to cooperatively work together to finish the stage (and how funny it was to also pick up and throw your friend across the screen).
As I grew older, I played even more games and it's all been a blur of good memories had by myself and/or with others. I'm a generally good and considerate person (or I'd at least like to think I am) and I definitely do not want to bring about harm to anyone or anything, although I do love the FPS genre and I have played my fair share of GTA and other similar games. I feel that since I play many games that involve some kind of puzzle solving or precise movements with analog sticks or the mouse and keyboard, that I have an easier time solving problems (especially with my hands, like building or taking apart something), decent eye-to-hand coordination, and can learn fairly quickly (especially anything electronic related). As far as morals and values, I mostly learned those from my parents (who did not monitor my gaming in the least and let me played as long as I wanted, generally) but I think that since most of the games had me trying to save someone or thwart some kind of evil force, I can't deny the fact that I generally want to be looked upon as a good person (or hero lol) and always want to try to do the right thing. I'm no saint, but I definitely live an optimistic life where I hope I can help contribute to the world in a positive way.
Not wanting to turn this into another story about proper upbringing vs. adult interactive entertainment, I was just wondering if any others had similar past gaming moments where they felt like they accomplished something as complexed and difficult as a math problem or learned how to play well with others, etc. Have games impacted your life in a positive way, and if so, would you expose those games to your own children and use games in general to be a tool to help instill morals, values, etc.