When I was younger, my classmates used to have friends waiting to play with them at home -- Mario, Luigi, Link, Zelda, and more -- on their game consoles. Video games are supposed to give kids some benefits and value beyond the wastage passage of time, including improving logical thinking, observation skills, and problem solving (to name a few).
Unfortunately for me, I don't think my parents subscribed to that line of reasoning. We didn't own a video game console like other kids...but that didn't stop me from liking games. My father started us on games like Treasure Island and Alice in Wonderland early on with his Commodore 64. Later, my father and I played old-school Legend of Zelda on Nintendo, and I would also go over to my neighbor's house to play video games. Those were the days before strategy books were published for every game and before Al Gore invented the interenet any fan with an internet connection could publish a walk-through (complete with maps and screen captures!). Those days, I remember my father painstakingly drawing his own detailed maps for each screen that showed where the doorways and other obstacles were located. Later, my father rented a Super NES for us to play sometimes on weekends.
These days, I have my own home and money, so now we have more video game consoles than people in the house to play them.
