I opened the door without knocking. This, I’m sure, was my first mistake, because standing before me was a grown male, alone in his living room, with a plastic guitar strapped to his body and a television covered in flashing dots.
Welcome to the world of “Guitar Hero,” a place where far too many of my friends have chosen to live, where wailing on plastic guitars is cool and actual instruments are unnecessary.
Whenever I begin to discuss the ridiculousness of this hobby to “Guitar Hero” players, their defense rests on their unrelenting conviction that the game is “awesome.” However, for those who are unfamiliar with the “awesomeness” that is “Guitar Hero,” let me enlighten you.
“Guitar Hero” is quite simply a video game. The main accessory is a large plastic guitar with three different colored buttons, and a fourth button in the center where the strings should be. You then use this plastic guitar to play the song you have selected on the television screen. Once you’ve selected a song, different color dots flash on the screen indicating which buttons you need to press to play the song. And, I’ve been told, you generally do better if you dance along with the music.
I just don’t understand the appeal. On occasion, I like watching the flashing lights on the screen, but I think I lost interest in plastic guitars when I turned eight. Now, I don’t mean to offend; I realize many people love this game, which is completely fine, but aren’t we taking it a bit too far?
I have been to more than one social gathering that consisted of two people playing Guitar Hero at the same time. It was pretty out of control. But all these events did was make me reminisce about the days when people played actual guitars. When I was younger, I used to dream of my future life in college – a time, I imagined, when everyone would be sitting around while someone played guitar. Everyone else would sing and sway to the music. Technology has ruined this dream.
I want to know: Who is the person who actually made up this game? What thought process do you have to go through to take an instrument which can easily be played without the support of a television, and then decide it needs to be a video game? Why are everyday things becoming electronic games? In fact, they have become more important than their original inspirations.
Granted, I feel like answering these questions would take far too much time and effort, and quite frankly I’m lazy. Perhaps it is this laziness that I and everyone else feel that instills this desire to stand in a room – because playing a video game is much better than going out and doing it.
I think there’s some good in games such as “Guitar Hero” or its dancing counterpart, “Dance Dance Revolution.” This good exists in the fact that while they may promote antisocial laziness, they aren’t all about killing things.
I remember being younger and sitting by the computer watching my older brother play “Doom.” While I don’t remember the premise of the game exactly, I do remember watching the character kill people, and as the game progressed you got better guns. And then there’s “Grand Theft Auto,” in which you steal cars and run around shooting. Yeah, I think “Guitar Hero” is definitely better than that.
I’m just hoping this is the stopping point, although I don’t believe it will be. I’m worried for the day when instead of going for a run, we stand in front of a screen pacing on a mat. Or virtual hiking. Or maybe even virtual bathing, although that would just be disgusting and unproductive.
I guess, at the end of the day, I should be grateful to “Guitar Hero.” Because, as I stated, I didn’t knock before entering my friend’s apartment, and there are far worse things to walk in on than someone dancing around with a plastic guitar.
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