Online Video Games

I think that it is rather amazing the amount of young people that are jamming Internet cafes and public libraries playing video games.  I remember when I was a kid.  Pin Ball machines were all the rage.  Five cents at a time to play Knock Out, a game where the player used flippers and bouncers to try to rack up points for the guy you wanted to win the boxing tournament.  I was playing all the time along with many of the other kids in the neighborhood.

I remember also how it was a little bit addictive watch all of those flashing lights, listening to the bells as the points would get racked up and the big red light at the center of the console point screen getting brighter and brighter.  It was, in a word, amazing.  But those pin ball machines with a steel ball bouncing every which way were nothing compared to the flat screen displayed online and offline video games of today.

I just happen to be old enough to have lived in both worlds so today when I saw ten kids skipping school to play online video games at the Internet cafe I was in I took a step back and thought, ahh, same story, same deal, but a different channel.  I totally understood what those guys were feeling, and, you could see the guilty look in their eyes having been where they were.  Every now and then eyes would dart toward the front door of the cafe hoping that it was not the truant officer from the local international school.

My hope is that perhaps one day the experience those guys are getting playing other people´s games will somehow convert into their developing educational games that will help this country move forward in its bid to find its place in the international business arena.

For a few other unworldly, or worldly photos of mine, which are free and public domain, visit

http://hubpages.com/hub/Railroad-Dreams-a-brief-photo-history-of-a-place-far-away