Child's Play
"Videogames are juvenile," Simon says. So is football. So are most of the fun things in life, and anything that recaptures even so little as a fleeting glimpse of our youth can't be all bad. "The world's a bubble and the Life of Man/Less than a span," noticed Francis Bacon, perceptively. Too right mate! Frank's been dead since 1626.

"Videogames have no payoff." Well, no, we were all disappointed by the Tomb Raider endings but then, when you actually come to think about it, life has no payoff, except the regeneration of life. "What then remains, but that we still should cry/For being born, or being born, to die?" concludes Bacon.

"Videogames cannot teach us." This isn't true. It's true of most videogames, granted, but it isn't true in the general. Flight simulations, for example, can certainly teach us. Haven't you heard the story of somebody getting into a real aeroplane for the first time and amazing their instructor with their knowledge of the control panel? Championship Manager 3 has a database of information on football clubs and players that is very useful; if you want to find out about a certain club or player, this is a good starting point. Another game that's actively used to teach in a serious environment is Doom. I'll take it no further here, but if you want to know more about the games the US Marines are playing, wait for the article by my good friend and colleague Emma Parkinson, which is scheduled to be published in these very virtua-pages soon.

Meaning and Importance
"They cannot make you healthy," argues Simon. No, they can't - they destroy your sleep patterns and encourage you to eat badly. "They cannot make you wealthy," he continues. Oh yes they can! We're talking about the world's biggest growth industry here.