What Even is Pokémon?

As a kid, I was not allowed to have a Gameboy or any video games for that matter. Instead I had books because that's what my parents decided was more important for me to be doing. Was that a fair decision? I don't know. Despite that, I don't resent them at all for the choice that they made, but I will be the first one to tell you that it makes for some pretty strong reactions from other kids my age. When I tell them I don't know anything about Pokémon or Nintendo, I get these looks that would convey that I have an extra head on my shoulders. It's something like this:

It's true. I cannot play video games. I would rather do math homework than play a video game because I can't bear to show the world my complete lack of knowledge about anything gaming. The thought of Mario Kart even stresses me out because of how terrible I am at it. On a number of occasions, my best friend tried to teach me how to play Little Big Planet telling me "Rachel you can't even mess this up." Well. Yeah. The best I can do is play guitar hero, but most people don't even consider that a video game. In 7th grade my friend gave me her old Gameboy and I tried it. Once. Since then, it has sat in a plastic bag. 

This is not to say that I don't like video games. In fact, I've always been amazed how taken our generation is with them and how much of an influence they've had. I hadn't really thought about everything that went into the making of a game until we watched the documentary in class the other day, and I left feeling extremely in awe of the detail and and precision that it takes to program something that seems so taken for granted. I guess they're not so "childish" after all.