In the early years of childhood, we've all had dreams of grandeur, heroism, and romance. We've let our imaginations run wild, we've been knights, spacemen, cowboys, princesses, and super heroes, we've dreamt up fantastical worlds in which we are super men and super women. Books, plays, music and movies, in a way, are reminders of our dreams, they satiate that hunger for the incredible and unreal without all the ridiculous role-playing of pillow/blanket fort building and popcorn bucket helmet wearing, through these mediums we get our imagination fix.

For almost three decades, a new medium has been rapidly evolving, it has taken all the great things from books, plays, music and movies, and fused them into the ultimate immersive interactive media, or more widely known as, videogames. Like all mediums, videogames come in different "flavors" to fit every individual's "taste palettes". On one end of the spectrum casual games like the irresistible Wii Sports, which appeal to a broader audience, requires players to reenact simple gestures resembling a variety of actions seen in the sports of bowling, boxing, tennis, golf, and baseball. On the opposite end of the spectrum sit games like Ken Levine's Bioshock, rich with story, moral choices, crafty A.I. and heart-stopping narrative. Through videogames, people have transcended the role of just an audience member, to an active participant in an engaging and ever-changing masterpiece.

The hampering aspect of books, movies, graphic novels and plays is the guided experience in which a person must partake, sans any input. Through videogames, the designer can present a story to the players and let them take the reins to experience it in their own manner and pace. Bioware's recently released epic sci-fi adventure, Mass Effect, takes the interactive aspect of gaming to the next level by letting players create their own fully customizable protagonist for a more personal experience. The game immerses players in a vast futuristic universe, in which humans are a newly integrated specie in a gargantuan political collaborative body of diverse alien races, the player as the protagonist must build relationships with his peers, and make moral choices that will shape the outcome of the story and the galaxy's view on human beings as a people.

Through out history, many forms of art been condemned by the populace as unethical, and, or, dismissed as intellectual creations. From art critics reproving photography in its advent as a viable form of art, to theater aficionados dismissing film as a form of narrative. Videogames suffer from the preconceived notion that they are just for children, for years now, slowly but surely, the medium has matured into thought-provoking masterful pieces of narrative.

Coverage by the mainstream media on videogames has increased greatly due in part to the release of Nintendo's family friendly, soccer mom approved, Wii, and rhythm games like the Guitar Hero series, and Harmonix Music Systems' Rockband. Yet, the ignorant assumption that videogames are just for kids remains constant as it has for over a decade.
Through the growth of an evergrowing audience, and an active tight-knit community videogamers are being heard. Websites like gamepolitics.com, and theeca.com are fighting back at the constant attacks from the mainstream media, and attorneys (the devil's own, Jack Thompson), in hopes to open people's eyes to the importance and credibility games carry. So next time you're thinking of going to the movies with a loved one, or next time you're flipping blandly through the 100 plus channels of your cable television, remember, there is a vast library of world's to be explored in videogames.