Spending days in front of the TV playing a game just doesn’t seem like a useful or fun way to spend time, but for some reason, guys all over the world don’t agree. Ever since the days of Pong and Pac Man, the male species has never been the same. What makes these games so interesting, and why are guys so into them? Apparently there’s a lot more to video gaming then I could’ve ever dreamed.

I’ve always associated video gamers with computer geeks — the guys who don’t have anything better to do than to sit at home on a Saturday night and play Nintendo. It seems I couldn’t have been more wrong. The world of gaming is so complex I can only begin to understand the surface.

Guys are drawn to certain games because of the storylines, the interaction with other people and the amount of skill needed to play.

Apparently, there’s a game for everyone. EA Sports is the leading producer of sport games: everything from football to baseball, to basketball, to hockey. The draw to these games is that the gamer can play every position. In a football game, you start out as the quarterback, and once the ball is thrown you become the receiver. Another cool aspect of these games is that you can pick from your favorite college and professional teams.

Puzzle games have been around forever but are still very popular. Games such as Tetris and Scrabble are old favorites. A new spin on Tetris is the game Lumines — different moves and shapes change the music and colors happening in the game. These puzzles will have you up all night trying to solve them. These games don’t have a story or plot; it’s all about skill and thinking.

Racing games are pretty self-explanatory. Companies have added a new spin on the classics by adding futuristic cars that can travel at sound-barrier-breaking speeds.

However, the two most popular types of games seem to be the first-person shooter (FPS) and the role-playing games (RPG). With FPSs, the player has the view of the shooter and can only see the type of weapon they’re using and what’s directly in front of them. What makes these games so addicting is that with the development of Xbox Live and PlayStation 2, players can go online to match up against people from all over the world. The unpredictable aspect of playing with actual people makes these games irresistible. Halo 1 and 2, Counterstrike and Rainbow 6:3 have taken FPSs to a whole new dimension.

RPGs are the traditional games where players play against the computer while following a story or plot. Final Fantasy is the most popular, but massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) such as Final Fantasy 11, Worlds of Warcraft and Guild Wars have made this type of video game soar.

Finally, action-adventure games are closely related to RPGs but aren’t turn based: No one really has a turn, the action is just happening all around you. In Advent Rising, every decision the player makes determines the outcome, which also determines what’s going to happen in the other games in the trilogy.

As you can see, video games have come a long way since Pac Man. The amount of skill and concentration needed to play along with complex storylines make the games irresistible to many guys. The world of gaming won’t stop here either. The highly anticipated Nintendo Revolution is due out sometime in 2006. It promises to make video gaming more interactive than ever thought possible with the arrival of a brand new controller that can be used as any type of object during the game. With a whole world devoted to video games, it’s a wonder why guys have sold their souls while so many girls remain inactive.