Wednesday #28 - VGHS

Hey guys! This week I'm talking about a web series called Video Game High School. If you haven't seen it, here's the link for a playlist with all the videos:Yes, this piece of glowing text. And yes, I totally expect you guys to stop whatever the heck you guys are doing to immediately go and watch like 5 hours of videos. I'll wait. Totally. This is a written post, I actually don't have to wait for you to watch it. Since this is read and processed from your perspective, and yours alone, you are the only one responsible for the speed at which you read this post.
That was a weird tangent. Anyways, let's get to talking.

4 Reasons Why VGHS Shouldn't Ever Be Real

Reason 1 - Everyone Wants To Be A Pro

     Look, I know that the idea of a high school solely devoted to playing video games sounds like heaven, but it's not. Hate to shatter the glass, but if the entire world turned into South Korea, we'd be screwed over as a society. Video games, as amazing as they are, and as awesome as they are, take away so much time. If e-sports become a popular thing across the globe, everyone would aspire to become a professional gamer. And yes, I mean everyone. Except maybe the elderly and already successful. But other than those demographics, pro-gaming seems like the ultimate job. It's getting paid several figures to press some buttons, and that's what we all want: to be able to make money and do almost nothing for it. Everyone would try to be a pro, and that means that we have nobody being plumbers, mechanics, contractors, civil engineers, or any other job necessary to infrastructure, which aren't the only department of jobs that would be lacking in applicants. The pro-gaming dream is like the American dream in the 1800s: all you get is a bunch of poor people working literally 6 out of 7 days for 18 hours a day for pennies. I don't know about you guys, but I don't want another Gilded Age. 

Reason 2 - The World Falls Apart

     Kinda boosting off of the last reason, but there's a scene in VGHS where they're showing the news, and the reporter is talking about how the President of the United States is missing, and gets interrupted by the news report that the best video game player gets killed in a random match. A world that prioritizes video games over the government is not a good world. Americans generally don't give a passing glance to their government anyway, and look at what this societies Congress can get away with, or need I remind you of the government shut down? It was only then that the general populous looked at the Capitol and said "This isn't good," but in this VGHS world, the head of the Executive Branch is missing, the guy in charge of the army, the one that signs laws into existence, and nobody seems to even notice, which means one of two things: the society have become so peaceful that the government isn't useful (unlikely), or the government is a mere figurehead, and is actually being controlled by some shadow organization, using gaming to distract the world while they take it over. Almost like the book Epic.

Reason 3 - Becoming A Pro Would Suck

     If you became a professional gamer, you'd have to get into shape. And no, not round, not flabby, not even soft. That's right, you'd have to get fit, and keep your body so you can stay in peak condition, since the healthier the body, the healthier the mind. And the sharper the mind. And the faster the mind. So that means no junk food. But that's not a problem, right? You've always wanted to be that fit, and being a pro just gives you that reason to push towards that goal, so two birds. Have fun balancing that exercise routine with the hours and hours of gaming that you'd need to get to the skill level necessary to actually compete at a professional level, and that thing called a job that you need to pay for the electricity to play the video game, the wifi connection necessary to play, the healthy food you need to get in shape, and the other basic needs of life. Unless you're already rich, your life would crumble before you would hit the pros, and if you're already rich, you don't really need to go and get all that money from winning pro games, or the money from sponsors.

Reason 4 - The World Would Be Controlled By Video Games

     First thing, spoilers. Second, in the beginning of the second season of VGHS, the antagonist of the previous season is on trial for aimboting, and when he is given his verdict, we discover that the court of law he was being charged in was the costumer service of the game company. Sure, knowing Stan Lee was still alive for that is awesome, but do you really want to give so much power to the guys that developed the PS4  or the Xbox One? Think about how terrible those systems were when they were first revealed! No sharing games, no ability to play games from previous systems, internet connection required, no used games, massive price tags. If VGHS became the real world, we'd find ourselves kowtowing to the video game industry, and we would have no choice in the matter, since they have us by the codpiece, and we'd be fine with that. Sounds fun right? Let's just look back at the last time corporations had enough power to properly combat the Federal government, when children would get their hair caught in textile machines, and the factory floor manager wouldn't shut of the machines. 

     See, those are just 4 reasons, and I didn't even bring up the fact that the mom didn't do anything but play games, there's no more console gaming, high school classes can have a wall of guns, high school students don't learn things like math, science, art, or history, and robots with the ability to feel exist but nobody seems to care. As great of show as VGHS is, it's not a place I'd want to live.

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
- Langston Hughes

"Few men have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder." - Thomas Jefferson