Pause and Reflect

We've done a lot of celebrating this week, from Dreamcastiversaries to the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band. But, as I'm sure you're well aware, today marks a more sober anniversary. I'd like to press pause for a moment and reflect on that event.

I was a sophomore at New York University on September 11, 2001. The main NYU campus surrounds Washington Square Park, a little more than a mile from the World Trade Center. That morning, from the sidewalk in front of my friends' dorm, I saw the towers burn. I watched the final tower fall.

In the wake of the attacks, one particular event sticks out. The Regal Cinemas at Union Square decided to offer a free day of movies and popcorn. There weren't many good films out at the time -- I think we sat through Happy Accidents, which stars Vincent D'Onofrio as a guy convinced he's from the future.

The movies we viewed aren't what made this day memorable. No, I remember this day clearly because in the lobby of the Regal movie theater, I noticed people smiling for the first time in a week.

That's the power of entertainment. These films allowed us in the darkened theater to divert our attention -- if only for 90 minutes -- from the fact that we had just witnessed one of the most horrific acts in American history.

For me, video games have the same potential. They make me smile in spite of myself. Other people can call them frivolous. They can argue that they should be banned or censored or regulated into some dark corner of the country's collective basement so that more wholesome activities can be encouraged.

When I hear people saying those things, I think back to the difficult times in my life and how video games helped me through them. Then I remember the smiles in the movie theater lobby during that bleak week.

And I know that they're wrong.

Now, I'm not saying that we should play video games to forget our troubles, or that we shouldn't urge kids go to out and explore the real world in addition to the virtual ones behind their television screens.

But video games -- yes, even the violent ones -- can be powerful coping mechanisms. When used properly, they can help get us through our darkest hours.

(9)

Lance Darnell

September 11, 2009

Brett, I too was in University that fateful day, but I was hundreds of miles away. That must have been insane to experience first hand!

I moved to a small town when I was 11 and was harassed by the "locals" for months. Everyday after school I would go down to the local arcade and take my frustrations out by playing Ninja Gaiden, Gaunlet, and of course - Ga-la-guh! ;)

Books and movies are also good for coping, but video games provide so much stimulation that I think they are the best!

Jon Shults

Very well written, Brett.

It reminds me of what I thought was the strongest part of A Life Well Wasted's Episode 3 B-Side, in which a gamer talks about how his PSP helped him cope with waiting for his mother to succumb to her cancer.

Jason Wilson

I worked the nightshift at a newspaper on Sept. 10, coming home around 1 a.m. I woke up late that morning, turned on the radio, and heard the the news. I called the paper and was told to get my ass there ASAP. We'd already published an edition that day by the time I got to the office.

That night, while drinking vodka and munching on brownies, I played Baldur's Gate 2 and Final Fantasy Tactics until I fell asleep in my chair. It was how I coped with that sad, frenzied day.

Aaron Ferguson

Thanks for posting this. Its hard enough on the country to think back to this day, but it really hits home when you live in New York like myself. Lets not forget the lives lost at the Pentagon and the flight that went down in PA. as well.

Chris Cosmo Ross

Nice reflection. I usually use videogames as an escape, espcially when I'm angry or sad. It takes the edge off, cools me down; then I'm able to think clearly and deal with the situation.

Jay Henningsen

At the time, my sister was going to be married about a week later. My soon-to-be brother-in-law was in the Navy and working at the Pentagon that day. He was one of the people responsible for evacuating and re-organizing a group of people at a predesignated meeting spot in the event of just such a disaster.

Ultimately, he escaped unharmed and fulfilled his orders. However, there were a few tense hours there where my sister was worried that her fiance may be dead before he was able to contact her.

The company I worked for at the time also had a service truck in sight of the Pentagon at the time, and the technician literally saw it as it happened, a little too close for his personal comfort.

Brett Bates

I'm glad they made it out safely, Jay. Thankfully, I didn't lose any friends or relatives in the attacks, but that was a small consolation when confronted with the "Missing" posters that covered bus stops in the months that followed.

Dan "Shoe" Hsu

I remember driving to EGM that morning when I first heard the news. I was just stunned. I kept refreshing CNN for a couple of hours before we realized we needed to send everyone home -- no way we were working that day.

It took countless calls before I finally got through to my sister who told me all of our NYC-based family was OK (my mom works four blocks from the WTC and was running away from the debris and dust as everything was falling, and my grandma doesn't live too far away, in Chinatown). It was horrifying not knowing what the fuck was going on.

My sister also worked IN the WTC just a few months before that. Thank GOD she left that job.

Michael Pangelina

I remember that day, I was in high school ceramics class and my mom came and picked me up from school early. I remember laying awak that night trying to cope with how dark humanity can be. It was a surreal moment today, I turned on the tv and one of the stations was actually re-running the coverage of the event. It took me back, but I could only watch those huge smoke clouds hanging over new york for a minute or so before changing the channel.