My generation is nothing but a generation of man boys; we never grew up. All you have to do is look at how we spend our leisure time. We sit around still playing video games, reading comic books, and watching TV. I know some of you have grown up but the vast majority of us have not and probably never will. We are a generation of children with really good fake IDs. Our wives and girlfriends start with us as the children we are and then work to get us, as close as they have the energy for, to men.

Is there a greater leisure activity for the modern “man” than video games? We use it to escape from our worlds into worlds where we actually have some control or influence. Games also provide us with fantasy fulfilment. We never made the dreams come true so we supplement our dreams for digital worlds. Gaming also provides us with the release we need to keep from going to jail if we did what we wanted in the world; a therapist would not have the normalizing effects that games can provide.

In the modern world gaming provides us a chance to influence our world. We see them as way of actually effecting change in a world that provides us with little time to actually work towards change. You can sit down and play an RPG, Fallout 3 or Skyrim, and through your actions actually see a difference you make in the world. It is also part of the instant gratification that we have come accustomed to, if you think my generation is bad with instant gratification then wait for the next they are worse. My point here is you can see a direct correlation to your actions. Sure we recycle but what does that actually get us? Some far off reward for some generation we will never know? This is not how we live. We need to know that when I do A then B happens. Perhaps this is being the first generation to have grown up with tech that has lead us here. As we see it life should be a series of “if then” statements. Why I love the RPG. If I complete this task then I get that reward. In life if I complete that task then I get that next task. No real reward shows up.

Many of us as young teens had dreams. We wanted to be rock stars or athletes. And let’s face it most of us do not have what it takes to make that happen. Yes I am a musician. Yes I love nothing more than that feeling when you get on stage and room full of people go along for the evening. I would love to experience that on the largest stage ever. To date my largest crowd was a Halloween festival, and yes I am still riding that wave. In recent years Music games have come through. Now I don’t need a band or even rehearsal. I can sit down pug in and stardom! Athletes get the same treatment in games. A plethora of sports games exist with varying levels of control. You can chose to be anywhere on the spectrum from GM to All Star QB, or whatever the equivalent is for you sport. Want to be a home run king? No need for spring training or steroids; all you need MLB2k’s new baseball title. Have dreams of world cup? Plug in the new FIFA. This is our new reality, even if just for the evening. Don’t believe me? Listen to a group of gamers discuss their digital exploits.

We also have those dark games that many in congress and uptight religious groups seem to hate. I am talking about the crime oriented games. Things as simple as a Need for Speed title all the way to the other end of the spectrum of criminal organizations. Of course this is the GTA or Saints Row series. These games allow us to play out some of our great anti-heroes without the threat of going to jail. It is, for lack of a better term, a healthy outlet. This allows a bit of wish fulfillment and just unbridled id indulged fun, without lawyers or jail time. Have Abad day where everything seems to be against you? Throw in GTA and make your rage be known. Take down your rivals with that level of violence that is just not accepted in the real world. Allow your inner criminal loose. Did that guy just cut you off? Pull him out of the car beat him down, really want to do that in traffic. Sometimes you might just wish to be a street racer and get out on the road and push your skills to the limit and beyond. You can now do that again without court costs or injury to yourself or others. We get out on the digital track and run those high end cars, which you know you will never afford, to their limits. It is safe and fun what more could you want?

My generation probably reads more than any other generation; it’s just from nontraditional sources. I know I personally spend a couple of hours a day reading online articles, I am guessing you do to. To get a sense of where our culture and I use the term loosely is just look at…well our culture. The movies and TV shows are geared towards comic books. And the conventions; It seems that somewhere in the USA there is a comicon every week. Filled with many who dress up as their favorite characters. This is where we are a comic book society.

Television and moves are filled, and from looks of it will be for a while, with stories ripped form comic books. And can you blame us? Again it’s that wish fulfillment that we get nowhere else. Bad guys lose and good guys win, even when they lose they win. Marvel and DC are both throwing out tons of movies and TV shows in the next decade or so. Marvel agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. did well enough to get a second season. This prompted FOX to explore what Gotham looked like before Batman arrived, personally I can’t wait. Even the darker more novel like comics have been given TV shows. The hit series for AMC, The Walking Dead, has had huge success and is, at its core, character driven. No real super heroes, just people trying to survive a world trying to kill them, not unlike our modern experience.

Is there a weekend that doesn’t have some convention center somewhere filled with people dressed as their favorite characters from TV, movies or comics? I think not. Many of these people are not the normal you would expect. As a coworker of mine tries to point out all the time “these are loners who live in their mom’s basement” he is wrong and is obviously left over from the last generation. These people are lawyers, accountants, and some are even doctors. Normal people who engage in cos-play to be something more even if for a few hours on the weekend and it would shock to you find out how normal they are.

It used to be said that religion is the opiate of the masses but in today’s culture it is definitely TV. We sit at home analyzing plot points, rooting for our favorite reality star or even complaining how different the show is from source material. This is our new way of being. This is who we are at our core. We look forward to our shows for a multitude of reasons but it is what we discuss at work.

We watch as critically as our high school English teachers wished we had read. I even make fun of myself, and my wife, for how critical we are on some shows. We will be watching a show like Continuum and my wife will say something like ‘I really don’t think that a cop would do that”. To which I respond “oh the time travelling cop from the future?” It is just that bad, or good depending on how you look at it. Sure we are lost in the story but at the same time we are picking it apart but we enjoy it. I know the internet is filled with like-minded people. We all know someone like that; please point them to my blog. We are active viewers now more than ever. We no longer sit back and accept it we pull at the strings and see what unravels.

Reality TV, don’t get me started. I hate Reality TV. Except for like the ten reality shows I watch they are good but the others are CRAP! We all love our competition shows, I am currently into America’s got talent and a slew of other talent based competitions. This is what we do. In a world with hundreds of channels it really is the only thing holding us together. We all post videos of that girl singing, that magician, or that humorous perspective on the news. This is what holds us together. I remember a time when we all talked about shows that matter. I remember when we discussed roots, or the day after tomorrow, or even that TV movie where Ted Danson played a child molester. Now it just feels like we are sitting at the cool kids table watching those who dare to try.

Where has it gotten us? I don’t know. We seem less likely to act and more likely to argue. We tend to see why it can’t be done instead of what can be done. We have chosen sides, like some comic book or game, and we go forward form there. We don’t play outside anymore and we don’t follow our dreams. Maybe we should all walk away from our digital life and try our real ones again. It was a better world when we tried. When we rallied against the things that hold us back; we need more R.P. McMurphy and less Jaba the Hutt. I’m just saying.