How Playing Games Taught Me To Read
Recently I have read loads of articles on other bloggers and gamer’s personal experiences and how gaming has changed their lives.
So I thought that it’s about time I shared my story! Probably every gamer has a story about how gaming made a bad day better or helped them through a hard time.
And the sad thing is that not everyone will understand. A few might lift an eyebrow thinking we are weird as we try and tell how we got into games and our stories of how it brought us joy in times when we needed it most.
I grew up in a small town, while most of my friends attended dance or arts class I would rush home and do my homework, watch anime or play video games. That’s how I spent my free time after school and on weekends. Rather than head out with friends, I wanted to do something I enjoyed!! And what I enjoyed doing was going on adventures, saving forgotten realms and being the hero I wanted to be!
At an early age my family noticed that I had bad eyesight, I would always mess up reading words out loud from the board at school, and still to this day I remember getting teased and laughed at when I got it wrong. Pretty soon after I started to hate reading and the idea of having to read out loud to the teacher while others listened made me feel physically sick. I would constantly get my parents to help me practice a few pages so that nobody would laugh at me anymore when it was my turn. However it didn’t always help as the teacher would later have to stop me mid-sentence and ask me to restart because I was going through it way too fast. Which is true seeing as I was not really reading the words, it was more like recalling them to perfection seeing as I had done my best to memorise it the night before.
That’s when my mom decided it was time to get me tested to see if I had a reading disorder. We found out that I had a reading disability commonly known as dyslexia (and my teacher told me I could never have a career in writing! Look at me now!). I had to go to a specialist every weekend so that they could help me catch up. Looking back on it, I can now see that I did myself way more harm by not trying to read. I had to be taught everything from scratch again, which was definitely not confidence boosting. And it was scary having to go see a new person about it! For 12 year old me it was really hard to understand why I had to learn this again since I already knew it!!
Two years later I had to change schools, since my current school had ran from 8 am to 4 pm (including sports and after activities) and apparently the specialist thought that the hours were too long and hard for my brain to keep up with. I was moved to another school along with my little sister. Let me tell you that she was definitely NOT happy when she had to leave all her friends behind. It was scary for us both as even though we knew the kids from our town we had never really socialized with them before because we were all in different schools. Sometimes fresh starts like this can be terrifying!!
I still had the habit of rushing home, finishing homework, and quickly running to the TV to play video games. A few months into my new school life the lady that was helping me read over the weekends told my mom that she would be moving away but that she would still like to continue to try and improve my reading skills. Unfortunately, because of the distance we couldn’t keep it up. She advised us that I should just continue reading. All she wanted me to do was to read literally anything that interested me but still challenged me enough to really concentrate on what I was learning.
That’s when I remember discovering and playing Final Fantasy IX. My mom told me that I could play it if I did not rush through and skip all the text dialogues. Believe it or not, my ability to read started to improve slowly but surely. It’s probably been the only time I could call playing a game homework! From this point on my mom encouraged me to play games so that I would keep reading what was on the screen. What parents actually want their kids to play more games? Mine did and I was really lucky for it!!
Thanks to the support of my tutor (and the fact that she convinced my mom to let me play games to help me learn to read!) I got to fall in love with both the Final Fantasy series and reading books!! As I started enjoying reading more and more I noticed that it was easier for me to pick up a book and finish it! Most parents would disagree in letting kids spend hours playing video games, but I got to enjoy a wonderful story and experience new lands I could have ever imagined. In truth, I don’t think I could be where I am today if it wasn’t for the impact of discovering a deep love for great storytelling through games.
Learning to read through video games definitely isn’t a standard approach but I was no longer as nervous and scared to read in front of a classroom or to do dialogues with other classmates. As my confidence grew I even became brave enough to stand on a stage and do a debate in front of the whole school!! Something that wasn’t mandatory as you could have done it alone, in private, with the teacher. To my own surprise I won the debate!! It would be the first and last time I got to see my name being added to the “wall of fame” in school but that just made the victory all the sweeter! To others it might have been a small win, but to me it was an experience that changed my life.
Sharing this story publicly makes me nervous since older generations and a lot of media outlets often paint games and the gaming community in a negative light. However its a story I wanted to tell, if nothing else it shows that not every story about games and the people who play them has to end badly.
Like I said before, video games changed my life and help shape me into the person I am today. Looking at today’s technology and the massive advancements in game production we’ve seen in my lifetime alone I do sort of miss that most games use to be text based. These word heavy games are what I grew up with and helped to develop my real word reading skills which in turn enriched my mind. Playing through games like Final Fantasy VIII and IX introduced me to a brand new world of creativity and made me fall in love with reading and writing. It may not have been the easiest journey, but I wouldn’t change any of it!
So whether you are a veteran, hard core, gamer or are fresh to the world of gaming I truly believe we all have something we can learn from this wonderful and diverse medium. Whether it’s the community we enjoy or the wonderful stories that leave us speechless, they all have a story to tell us in any shape or form. It’s these stories that stick with us and help us to learn, improve and develop ourselves. Sometimes all you have to do is look a little deeper beneath the surface.
Now that you know my story, tell me yours! Write a comment below and tell me what your experiences have been with gaming, I can’t wait to hear from you!
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