Los videojuegos ¿pueden cambiarte la vida? | Daniel Simons | TEDxCONICETRosario

Translator: Sebastian Betti Reviewer: Lidia Cámara de la Fuente

I’ve been playing video games for 15 years

And 10 years ago, I’ve been creating them.

Today I come to tell you how my life was with them.

I was born to a teenage couple

in one of the many marginal neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

It seems that in the game of life, I had to play hard

and to complicate it even more

Two more players entered my game: my brothers.

There I learned that I had a much greater responsibility.

Let me tell you why.

My father is that kind of person

if you have to go to buy at the butcher shop

and in the course there is a local video game,

Not only does he spend all day at the local

but all the money is spent playing them.

Of something there was no doubt and that video games were in my genes.

That’s why one day he enters my house with a device;

that device, which I had never seen before, changed my life forever.

It was my video game console

and he did not even buy it for me, he bought it for him.

That device for me represented a kind of portal

in which I entered into a completely different reality,

a beautiful reality, a funny reality,

a reality that I did want to live.

That reality I loved in all aspects, I had a great time.

In my real life, I had a father totally absent

and a mother who had depression problems,

but when I entered that portal, to videogames,

I was a hero, I beat the bad guys,

and rescued the princess from the castle.

Back to my real life, my friends started to travel

the road of drugs and crime,

especially, because many passed

for sad and dark moments in your life:

some father in prison, some brother with leukemia or cancer

or even a friend shot

and all that was needed was that support,

that motivation that will help them move forward.

Now back in that portal, I entered videogames

and it was a totally different community.

Behind the screen, I saw another person,

a person who wanted to play with me,

I wanted to have fun with me that helped me grow,

a community that fostered teamwork,

a community that solved problems not only to win,

but also to be better people.

Thanks to my father being absent in my life,

There came a point where I had up to two jobs,

and my mother practically got sick

for so many pills I took to fight depression.

In my life, and especially in my childhood,

I had to carry out the role of father and mother for my brothers.

My brothers and I had to learn from a young age to cook,

to clean the house, to wash the dishes,

and even to wash clothes to go to school.

That was the reality in which we were living.

At the age of 12, my father gives me a videogame magazine

in which I find a CD that in addition to having videogame demos

He had a program that allowed him to create his own.

Thanks to that CD I learned to program

and to develop my own prototype of video games,

but everything changed when I saw that my brothers playing were having fun,

They were entertained, they had a good time.

But the most important thing is that thanks to the video games that I had made,

my brothers forgot all the bad things we were going through.

There I knew that if I could do that with my brothers

I could do it with the rest of the people.

Back to normal life.

My mother can not overcome the break she has with my father.

The depression problems begin

and try to commit suicide a lot of times,

in which, in the majority, my brothers and I intervene.

Until one day he takes too many pills,

and he succeeds.

That day, seeing my mother’s body

lying on the floor of his room, lifeless,

I could not sleep.

I could not sleep because I passed

Absolutely all night thinking:

Why does this happen to me?

What is its meaning? What did I have to do?

I felt that the environment was conspiring for reality to repeat itself

and that the same thing happened to me that was happening to my friends.

I felt that, but I did not believe that reality.

One day I accompanied my father by bicycle to my high school.

I thought that I simply had to pay the fee,

so I sat waiting for him,

but when I paid attention and I saw my father

begging please the other person, who was the accountant,

so I could forgive the delay because I wanted my brothers and I

let’s continue studying at school.

There I reflected on the importance of education,

what was most important to my father

which was that we have an important, good, quality education.

So I said to myself that I was going to do what I could

to study as much as I can

and not give my father any trouble, and I did.

I finished high school.

Then I signed up for a national contest

in which secondary schools from all over the country participated

More than 16,000 students.

It was about designing a video game

and there I knew it was my chance to demonstrate

Absolutely all the passion I had towards them.

With much effort, dedication, sacrifice,

and even days without sleep, I could win the first place.

They invited me to the Casa Rosada

and the former president gave me a diploma through a national network.

There I knew it was my vocation.

So I sold the console that I had won

to be able to buy a better quality computer,

to learn much more about the development of video games.

I searched the Internet to continue my career

and I discovered that there was no public education

that encompasses what I wanted to follow

so I had to get a job to pay for my studies.

I started working in a bakery,

and even though after a year

had absolutely approved all the partial ones,

I could not render the endings because I had debt,

because the salary that the bakery provided me was not enough,

therefore I had to leave.

But I did not give up, I decided to study on my own through the Internet,

reading in forums, watching videotutorials.

Little by little I got involved in the development of video games:

I learned script, design, programming, a little sound,

and that’s where I started working

in what would be my first independent professional videogame.

After two years of developing my first game,

the bakery closes, and not only I’m out of work and without money

but I’m left with no desire to live.

I felt that once again I had gained darkness, I felt dejected.

But you know what?

Touch the continue button and I went ahead,

I discovered what the error was,

and the error was that I was wasting the most valuable

that I had in my life that was my time

in something that was not related to my passion.

That’s why I swore to myself

I was going to do absolutely everything possible

to be able to dedicate myself to what is my passion.

From so much planning and work I started a project

to be able to raise funds

and so I can finish my videogame that had already been two years of development.

In the project I not only counted my game,

but it told my life,

why I wanted to make the game

and what was the purpose.

Today, there are 20 days left until that project is finished

and I already collected a large part of the funds.

They made me notes on several radios,

I came out in the newspaper and I even went on television.

The news went viral.

Today I am here telling each of you.

that video games are not a simple waste of time.

Video games change lives,

they changed my life,

I am alive thanks to them.

Sometimes we need to be able to see an alternative,

a meaning in our lives

and even if it’s in the virtual world,

We can see that path that helps us move forward in the real world.

My purpose is that through my videogames

can change the lives of all people

who go through moments of darkness

so that they never again play the game of life in difficult way.

Thank you very much!

(Applause)