A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed. Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a series that shows that family is more than just blood relations, Telltale Games’ “The Walking Dead”.
Real Family Goes Deeper Than Blood
2010 proved to be a turning point in the world of television as the year’s end saw the conclusion of “The Walking Dead’s” first season following several years of delivering some of the most enthralling comics available. The popularity of “The Walking Dead” season one caused a shift in popularity that saw every form of entertainment be influenced by the growing zombie mania. Though zombies, monsters & chilling decisions had been a part of video games for decades by 2012, very few adaptations of established entities not originally associated with the entertainment medium known as “video games” actually turned out to be memorable for all the right reasons. Instead of focusing on the zombie & human slaying aspect of “The Walking Dead”, Telltale Games – a company known for point & click adventures such as an adaptation of “Back to the Future” – wanted players to understand the fragility of relationships between people trying to survive the unexpected & unbelievable. It was through the Telltale version of “The Walking Dead” that players got introduced to Lee Everett – a former university professor being escorted to his new home in prison after being found guilty got killing a state senator he caught having an affair with Everett’s wife. Of course, as with any zombie apocalypse, Lee was thrust into a do or die scenario that would eventually bring him into contact with a young girl hiding inside her treehouse to avoid the growing destruction including her recently turned babysitter – a little lady by the name of Clementine.
Lee & Clementine joined forces with the latter depending on this stranger turned savior to help her find her parents who left for a trip to Savannah, Georgia only days earlier. It was during their journey south that the two not only unite with other survivors like Kenny & his family and even fan favorite Glenn Rhee. The journey Lee & Clem shared allowed the two to become incredibly close to the point Clementine saw Mr. Everett as a father figure who would do anything to protect her even if it meant sacrificing his own life. Following the game series’ first season, Clementine continued to find alliances with people both aggressive and like-minded; resulting in her making decisions that would solidify herself as both a person who can survive when the chips are down in the most grandiose fashion and someone understanding that family & those you love doesn’t start or end at bloodlines. Every relationship Clementine had in the series thus far, minor or major, haven’t been based on who birthed her or knew her before the end of the world as we know it occurred, but simply depended on who cared to help her when she couldn’t help herself – that’s what real family is for.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing Telltale Games’ “The Walking Dead” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.