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Adult Gamers and Their Ulterior Motives for Gaming
twistedcaboose writes "The Philly Inquirer is running a nice little article about why parents game with their children. Seems that adult gamers are still on the rise." From the article: "In a national survey released in January, 35 percent of 501 parents living with children age 2 to 17 said they played computer or video games, according to the Entertainment Software Association. Of those, 80 percent also played with their children. On average, these fathers and mothers - yes, almost half were women - spent 9.1 hours a month gaming with the children."
People who enjoyed games as kids play as adults with their kids. Shock, dismay.
People who enjoyed playing football as kids, watch football as adults and live vicariously through their kids playing football.
The only people who wouldn't expect this are people who didn't play games as kids. They also happen to be the social types with lots of misconceptions about what 'normal' is.
There's nothing to see here, move along.
Yeah, right. Kids have a lot more free time, and studies show that reflexes begin to deteriorate after 25. It tends to be very slow at first, and depending on your work/hobbies may not be noticible... but I know I've been schooled by teeny boppers on many FPS ;)
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Heck, back when I owned an N64 my dad used to get in rounds of Goldeneye and Mario Kart with me and my brother after school. And he had never really touched a game system before, except for brief spurts on the systems that we owned before that (NES and SNES).
This might even be seen by some as an improvement over the television habit that many parents have and pass on to their kids.
Many Bothans died to bring you this sig.
Yeah, but kids also seem to know surpsingly little about strategy and tactics. Their nimble little fingers may rule FPSs and fighting games but RTS and TBS will always be the domain of a well sculpted mind.
I don't get why all this about grown ups playing games. It is all the natural.
As Huizinga points in his book (Homo Ludens), since 1939 and before, play is part of culture. And play is inevery aspect of our lives.
-- SouNerd.com
Skilled fps-gamers tend to be smart also. There is actually thinking involved in games like CS and Quake. With good reflexes you can rack up some kills on a public without thinking, but as your opponents improve thinking ahead and predicting them gets more important.
Teamgames also require some good communication-skills
Read, refresh, repeat.
What is this "ulterior motive" crap? That summary screams "Conspiracy!!"
I've been a gamer since the Commodore 64 days. Why do I play them? Because they're fun, perhaps? So many of these articles act like it's shocking that those who grew up gaming are (shocking!) still gaming and (more shocking!) getting their kids involved with gaming.
Why would I play games with my daughter? Because it's something that we can do together without the rigamarole of Want to play this? No. Want to play that? No. We know what games we like to play as a family, and it's at least better time than just sitting around watching TV.
Having been a gamer for 20+ years and having a wife who's really not into gaming, this is a great way for me to finally have a gaming partner. Sure, I'm not about to let my 6-year-old play Battlefield 2 (not that she could anyway), but even something as simple as Mario Kart 64 is still fun!
But for me there's an even more important aspect. Those who don't have kids - and even some parents, unfortunately - might have difficulty understanding that kids want their parents' attention. Yes, I want my BF2 time, but if given the choice between BF2 or some N64 game with my kids, the N64 will win every time. I get to have fun; my kids get to have fun; and I get to show my kids that I'm willing to spend my time doing things with them. That means a hell of a lot more to me (and my kids, I'm sure) than getting a Veteran Support Badge while my kids sit watching TV.
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Wouldnt this world be boreing if you had to give up things you engoy just because of age? I am 42 and will never give up gaming. Why? Because I can aford it and I enjoy it. The same reason I have a computer and a ton of other toy's. Being interactive is a lot better than sitting in front of the TV like a lot of people my age.
I trust Microsoft as far as I could comfortably spit a dead rat
With a sample so small, this is speculation masquerading as data.
The only ulterior motive mentioned was to know the content of the games which is certainly a good thing. I like to know what my son is getting bombarded by daily so that I can combat anything I think is negative.
I just enjoy the games and the time spent with my son. I also like to game with him because it lets me see how he reacts to competition in a friendly environment. I get to give him advice on how to handle winning and losing.
HAHAHAHAH!
You haven't played RTS games lately have you? They figure out what is the uberish unit early on and rush your ass. Which if you're not prepared for totally owns your ass. So you have to play into their hands and they beat you through know every little trick of the game and using tactics they found on a forum perfected for tournament play.
I like muppets.
Yeah, but kids also seem to know surpsingly little about strategy and tactics. Their nimble little fingers may rule FPSs and fighting games but RTS and TBS will always be the domain of a well sculpted mind.
Don't know about you, but when I was younger playing MegaTF on Quakeworld, we were doing offense vs defense training and tactics twice a week for weekly 12-on-12 CTF league matches. I'm proud to say that at one point, I was the top ranked Pyro in the world, and could use evasion, communication and guerilla tactics to penetrate and disrupt the flow of just about any defensive strategy. I imagine young people today are doing the same sort of thing, and generalizing them as poor thinkers and strategists is both prejudicial and stupid.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
The same reason why my dad got me a train set: He wants to play with it and doesn't want to admit it.
So they can say "Hey, it's not like I wanna play. It's the kid, and I gotta play with them because, as a responsible parent, I should know what they're doing... Damn, I'm outta rockets."
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
No.
TBS and RTS games, at the current level of implementation, follow the "click-on-build-dwarf, attack-with-dwarf-army" click-fest. Some games are worse than others, where there is an extremely early rush tactic that wipes everything out. (Civilization included, since enough militia can wipe out a battleship - and "enough" is suprisingly small based on the combat mechanics.)
Even a kid will recognize when a single unit type is going to be too powerful, and with the advent of the Internet, a kid can just as easily do a websearch. I hope you know the counter-unit (if there is one at all.)
This is also not counting how most RTS games do their buildup - you start with one Capitol and a few Zerg Drones and need to start from there. This encourages the optimum rush tactic - as well as cranking up the speed to a point where a single Musketeer shoots enough bullets per second to pierce through an invulnerability device.
Man I hate those fuckers. You shouldn't be able to shoot through a stone/concrete wall!!!
jred
I'm not a mechanic but I play one in my garage...
well, prehaps the game industry might now realise that there is demand for more in games than the flashy lights that appease the average 12 year old.
Something that I "knew" intellectually as a kid, but really didn't think about until this article (Heh, wierd what'll trigger introspection) was that I was basically the only gamer in my entire family of 5. My sister would occasionally play Super Mario Brothers (and this was in the SUPER Nintendo era) but that was nearly yearly in it's occurance. My brother didn't have the patience (ADHD posterchild, he was, but he channeled it all into track, the bastard ;-D) and my parents never even considered picking up the controllers. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but thinking back, thinking about all the opportunities to PLAY with my family when all they had to do was pick up a controller and say "can I try?" instead of "Turn it off, we want to watch the news/Sitcom of the week" or "I'm tired of those damned beeps and bops," well... it almost makes me want to cry. Especially since my Father comes so close to getting it (don't get me wrong, we've got a GREAT relationship, I admire and respect him more than I could ever put into words, and he's proud of my own accomplishments) that it seems so sad that the last little step was never taken... Looking back, I don't think there was anything more that would have pleased my moody little heart than to have ANYONE in my family join in with me.
I guess what I'm saying is, play with your kids, blast it. I don't care if you've never played before, if you've never picked up a controller in your life, just try it! They'll love to teach you, and they'll love you for trying.
It's called proper use of sound.
By simply listening for footsteps you can track people well enough to trace them with your crosshair.
Lots of terribles accuse/ban players for simply knowing how to use sound and where to wall.
Seems like all too often parents playing with their kids leads to buying EQ or WoW Gold from sites like www.iwantloot.com