It was a lovely night in here in LA. I was about to go to bed, as I had to wake up early to get to my QA job the next day. I walked out to say goodnight to my roommates, who just happened to be having a lot of fun playing the incredibly popular Guitar Hero II.

"You want to play?" one of my roommates asked. I refused at first, but he persisted.

"Maybe just one song," I said.

I slung the small plastic guitar around my shoulders and instantly felt cooler. I selected a moderately easy song and began to play. I could probably count the number of times I’d played that game on one hand, but something about this night was different. I quickly got the hang of the controls and the song began to sound like it should. My roommates cheered me on. The percentage of notes I hit was consistently improving as one song turned into two, then three, then more. I finally pulled myself away and I went to bed, excited from newfound ability to 'play guitar'.

I had never been strongly attracted to Guitar Hero before. My sister had it and would play it in our house, so I had complete access to the game. I like rhythm games, but this one was pretty loud and hurt my fingers. However, that night made me realize that Guitar Hero can be addicting. You can have literally no knowledge of music and suddenly you can "play" a song. The game is structured so that you feel like you can play just as well as the real rock stars without actually doing all the work.

In a way, Guitar Hero feeds off your ego. Simply by having the word 'hero' in the title, it implies that you have done something great and possibly extraordinary. Within a few hours, you can develop the necessary skills to play harder and harder songs in the game, catapulting you to star status in an incredibly small amount of time.

I spent seven years of my life as a dedicated classical musician. I practiced one to two hours almost every day. Practicing is not at all glamorous. Music requires some of the most intense dedication of any career. With an instrument like the flute, taking just one day off can mean a huge difference in tone for the next one or two days. In some ways, Guitar Hero is almost a cheaters’ method of playing music; it feeds off nearly instant gratification and the satisfaction of playing beloved tunes. In real music, you can play songs you know and love, but it takes a lot of hard work to get there.

While I hesitate to say that I disapprove of Guitar Hero II, I find it hard to love a game that ignores the dedication it takes to become a great musician. I think this game can be a lot of fun, as long as people remember the difference between pressing buttons on a controller and genuinely playing music.