Jordan McCargar is a 26 year old prep chef for a popular neighborhood restaurant.  A number of full time students and young professionals not unlike himself frequent the restaurant to take advantage of the free wifi while enjoying homemade pastries and cappuccinos.  Jordan is a full time student as well, pursuing a communications degree with aspirations of becoming the President of the United States in 2032.  He is brilliant, a hard worker, fed up with the lack of work ethic and entitlement sickness his peers seem to be suffering from.  He has little time for socializing.  Being an outgoing sort of young man, he searches for an outlet to let his hair down, to find a casual atmosphere, one where he doesn’t have to perform and can just relax with a few friends.  Enter Master Chief, Cortana, and The Arbiter, and suddenly Jordan finds himself transported to a place filled with his best friends, all Haliens---all members of an elite club called Halo.
 

Some of the followers of the Halo community are solely involved in the game playing aspect of it. Jordan finds himself lost in science fiction aspects of the story line, following the exploits of the Master Chief.  He knows the Halo history beginning to end, and one can sense his excitement as he describes how the story unfolds, game after game, series after series, book after book.   The game builds a history with young people like Jordan all over the world.  With the touch of a few buttons, they are released to another place, another time, and they become part of a fantasy science fiction space.

 

Jordan is not much different than many American young gamers today.  They are making friends - and enemies, I might add,  with people around the globe who all share one similar passion: the love of the game.  They are all part of a community. A community where one can lose themselves in a battle, warring against enemies, becoming a hero among the brethren in the world of the online gaming community.  While interviewing Jordan, I was struck by his complete knowledge of history of the game's creation, the purpose of the characters, his ability to learn so much about the topic of Halo.

 

The Halo game series takes place in the future.  Interestingly, while researching this project, I struggled to find much about its history, with the exception of a historical timeline which was written in the future, the game beginning in 2017.  In reality, Halo was conepted in the bedroom of a computer science student by the name of Alex Seropian 1990 who worked relentlessly on a project from the confines of his bedroom computer that developed into The Labyrinths of Crete.  As time wore on, the popularity of his bedroom creations gained attention and by 1994, he was in a run-down office building in Chicago, creating online games.  By 1999, Halo, called at the time, Blam, had attracted investors.  What had started as a personal gaming project by one young man on a computer in his bedroom had now attracted the attention of Microsoft and Xbox. Shortly after, Halo was on its way to becoming the most popular game in history, engaging any number of players without any time constraint, where winning isn’t the most important part of the game.  Playing it is. In 2004 Halo 2 was released, and became the highest grossing game released in history. 

 

 

It is interesting that Halo 4 was released on Election Day.  In fact, Josh Wolford of webpronews.com stated that in a poll conducted by IGN of 4,000 registered voters, 53% considered playing Halo 4 over voting.  Wolford even stated that 24% of those polled would rather stand in line to wait for Halo 4 than stand in line to vote.  It seems this gaming community has a powerful ability to stay united in the Hallien community.  Do you wonder if anyone wrote in  Master Chief for President on their ballot?

 

My young friend Jordan is involved in the political community.  I would never make light of his potential to become our nation’s leader.  He takes himself, his career goals, and the future of our nation very seriously.  He makes choices based on critical thinking and gleaning information.  He pays attention to detail, even the details involved in his recreational activity.  Jordan is a product of popular American culture.  I would not say his ability to arise as a great leader was a result of his gaming.  But I would say that his great gaming skills and mastering Halo are based on those same quality characteristics that would make him a great leader someday. And Jordan?  He chose to vote.

 

 

References:

http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/

The History of Halo. 2007.  Retrieved from http://www.gamesradar.com/the-history-of-                                                                                                            halo/?page=4

McCargar, J. November 11, 2012. Written statements based on an interview conducted by Cherie 

Lewis.

Photo credit.  Lewis, C. 2012. Used with permission.

Wolford, Josh. November 5, 2012. Halo 4 Release May Dampen Voter Turnout Among Gamers.

  Retrieved from http://www.webpronews.com/halo-4-release-may-dampen-voter-             turnout-among-gamers-poll-2012-11