h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Manu Chao is well known amongst studenty type people.

I think reading is generally considered to be educational, whereas computer games are generally considered to be games. But I think in reality that depends on which books you are reading or what games you play.

Books are great, I love books, and they are great for the imagination. But games, now, they let you really get into what's going on. You get to choose whether the hero goes left or right, which teaches that actions have consequences. When you read a book, it's like watching TV, it's entertaining and educational (I still learn new words from books), but it's passive. Other people tell you what happens. Ok, so in a game you have to follow certain rules, but generally you can choose where you will go next, if you'll follow that clue, or risk that jump instead of going the long way round, or try to kill that room full of zombies with your last round.

Both me and my son can be seen leaning when we play driving games, jiggling about with excitement and even stomping about in a temper playing a game. Reading a book is just sitting in one position, with maybe a slight shift when your bum goes numb.

If I sound like I hate books, that's ok. I do spend more money and time on books than on games, but I don't like to see games treated as being 'bad' for people. After all, chess is a game, isn't it? Watching it on tv it's pretty motionless too...

In competition chess you can burn a lot of energy just through sheer nerves.

I don't think the best computer games compete in terms of writing characters and stories with the best books quite yet, but maybe soon. In both excitement, fear and little moments of joy I think they trump all other media out there. And when you get the internet involved and teamwork, well you can't do that in a cinema can you?

People in the cinema get annoyed when I jump up and start shouting at the people on the screen because they're doing it all wrong.

I think that by a lot of people books are seen as expanding your mind, whereas computer games are seen as just occupying time.

Of course not all books expand your mind, I spent a lot of time as a child reading Enid Blyton Books, which really didn't expand my mind at all.

I think people who's experience of computer games is tetris and snakes don't think that compuer games expand your mind.

I think computer games designers are thinking the same way. I haven't seen a decent strategy or storytelling game in years. There used to be a lot there.

I don't think that prizes make a lot of difference. My school ran a similar scheme, but it was largely ignored - people still choosing their meals based on taste and price.

Perhaps more variety is the key. I've only found three vegetables that I like, I'm sure there must be more but the effort to find them never seems worth it. Back at school where I was getting a meal a day I'd try anything new they added to the menu once to see if I'd liked it. I just wish they'd changed the menu more than once every two years.