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The Video Game Generation Grows Up
MarchingAnts writes "The Gaming Generation: Once A Gamer, Always A Gamer has interviews with Gabe from Penny Arcade, best-selling science-fiction author John Scalzi, veteran games journalist and founder of gamerdad.com Andrew Bub, futurologist Dr. Michael Zey, and sociologist Dr. Steve Jones commenting on the phenomena of how video gamers are coping with balancing their hobby with marriages, careers, and how video games might affect families in the future. 'Mike Krahulik, better known to his legions of fans as Gabe, one-half of the team behind the gaming webcomic Penny Arcade, says that time is the biggest challenge in blending gaming and parenthood. "You just don't have as much time for gaming," he says, "when you're getting up every 30 minutes to change diapers and get thrown up"'"
Thatsa a stronga baby!
They have to frag me to get their tea.
:D )
If I win the tournament they go hungry.
(Only joking, though tonight I was teaching my youngest how to type his name
liqbase
While you don't have as much time for gaming, it is still more convenient than the more...traditional ways of entertaining one self.
If I have a kid, and want to go see a movie, go to the restaurant, etc, I either need to find a baby friendly place, or find a baby sitter. Both can cost me extra (if you have a kid and go to the restaurant, well you have to feed the darn thing...).
If, instead, i'm playing an online game with my friends, the only thing I need to be worried about, is that I play a game that can be paused (let say Warcraft III), or a game where I can go away for a few minute at any given time (these are harder to find but still). Or even better, I can simply play solo. All around, its a form of entertainment that has tens of thousands of hours worth of amusement, and is within reach of the kids: going back to take care of diapers is only a hit of the pause button away.
Definately more convenient than, let say, going to a bar and coming back home drunk, then having to take care of the kid once the baby sitter is gone.
The problem I have is that most games these days seem to be targeted at kids and lack real depth. Games such as GTA may have R-ratings, but I doubt that many older gamers find such titles appealing.
My wife and I play MMO's for this very reason. We only play when our son (soon-to-be 2 sons) are in bed. It's much cheaper than a bar/dinner and a movie and its a lot of fun playing together. And it is something progressive we can come back to again and again ... but yea,I used to play (Everquest) hardcore in college, it was a transition once that kid comes along to playing less and just at night and naptime on the weekends ...
...being responsible and not letting games interfere with real life. like playing after the kids are in bed. it's not so hard to do. plus, diaper rash cream keep those joysticks nice and lubed up for maximum efficiency.
Touting MyEclipse AJAX Tools
When I was a kid, there was a Walt Disney movie about a car nut who baby cries sounded like a car horn, crashes the classroom car simulator, and finds love in the back seat of the car. They need to update that movie with a baby born with a gamepad in hand, who crashes the classroom game design computer, and finds love while testing video games.
I turned 11 or 12 right at the height of the Video-Game Arcade craze of the early '80s. My parents gave me an Atari for Christmas.
For about 2 years I was totally addicted to video games. My grades suffered. Almost all my allowance went to video games. I lied and stole to support my habit. Years later I repaid what I stole.
Then I burned out. Crashed.
For years I didn't even want to play games.
It took years to recover but now I can drop a token, enjoy a game, and walk away.
Did this happen to anyone else?
Ok, I'm kinda old-school. I spent a lot of time during my childhood playing my Atari 2600, Vic-20, C-64/128, Apple 2+, etc. Also spent a lot of time with an Intellivision and an Atari 5200, but I didn't own those.
I don't play any games now, except on my phone when I'm waiting for a flight or something. Between my wife, kids, jobs, reading, (non-gaming) hobbies, and exercise, I just don't have time for it. And I really don't miss it. Although they can a lot of fun (and yes, the 2600 was really fun), gaming just seems to me to be a) somewhat addictive and b) a waste of time.
Now I'm not anti-gaming, or look down on those who play games. Whatever floats your boat. Just ask yourself- often- would my life be more fulfilling if I played less often? I decided the answer was yes, and because of the addiction factor decided that my optimum was zero, and pretty much walked away.
That said, I kind of look forward to introducing my kids to videogames one day (we're at Candyland and Memory right now), and was recently pretty tempted by those 2600-in-a-joystick-for-$20 things in a store. But you can bet their game time will be rationed. There's just so much more to life (YMMV).
Simple Unexpected Concrete Credible Emotional Stories
Have adult children that can change their own diapers. ;)
I find it amusing that people would rather invest their time and money into a video game instead of their personal endeavors. Video games are meant to help pass the time from the boring reality that most get stuck in because of either social disabilities or lack of money. I've seen marriages collapse because of W.O.W. and friendships. It seems that the interaction among online games has decrease the value of real life conversations.
"You just don't have as much time for gaming," he says, "when you're getting up every 30 minutes to change diapers and get thrown up"'"
There are very simple solutions to this:
Don't change the diapers. They'll get potty trained faster that way.
Also, don't let your kids throw you up, it hurts. Teach them some manners.
Adidas To Bring Back Sneakernet
When did gaming go into the shadows of geekdom? I wasn't around when the first games came out. However, I do remember talking to my other classmates in 6th grade when SNES was coming out. I also remember the arcade being one of the teenage hang outs for the 'cool' kids. I also remember going to parties and there was always people in the corner playing a game be it PS, XBOX, or anything else. If there was something to game on, most people flock to it.
Freedom is a state of mind. A mind is a state of being. Stay the fuck out of my mind and my being. - Corporate Avenger
You calling me old?
How dare you!
...then who is winning?
I have a 2 year old and a newborn at home. I also grew up with video games and love playing them as a hobby. Time is definitely a precious commodity: Do I spend 2 hours playing games by myself or spend it with my kids? Or better yet, getting some much needed sleep since the baby wakes up every 2 hours.
:)
I think they need to make good games that can be played at 15 minutes intervals, or games that can be played with the rest of the family. I am very interested at the Wii at the moment as it has lots of potential.
I can't wait until I can play video games with my 2 year old
My parents played a LOT of atari 2600 when I was a kid. Possibly even more than my brother and I did. Of course a lot of it was together as a family, but they played when us kids weren't around as well. Warlords was fantastic because all four of us could play at once.
My mother even had the local hospitals very first gaming related injury when she got tennis elbow (or "atari elbow" as they called it) after too many hours of asteroids.
They even played Shades, which was a MUD on the UK prestel network.
I like the "Quick Fix" games that satisify the gaming needs without requiring a night-long commitment. Online, that means Quake4 FFA. Unlike team-based games, nobody is offended when I drop out of a frag-fest.
The article is right on the money about saving the game. I am far less likely to play a game that doesn't have the ability to save at any time. Metroid Prime comes to mind as a great game that frustrated me with it's save scheme.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
Think of it as a respawn.
I started programming when I was 8. My daughter will probably start sooner than that.
She can use a mouse. She can play several of the Curious George games on PBS kids - without assistance. (We have to navigate there, but she can select games from the list and choose the ones she likes the best.)
Oh, she's 2.
Her younger brother will also learn how to use a computer. Right now he's working on "crawling".
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
I remember we had the first Nintendo growing up, my brothers and I would spend countless hours playing Zelda and Mario Brothers, usually later in the evening, during the day we either were at school or working on the farm.
I've got a four year old girl now and so far I have held off on buying and consoles. I watch her already spending way too much time watching Nick Jr. and Cartoon Networks and it really bugs me. Even though my brothers and I did spend a good deal of time playing games, at the same time we also worked on the farm and lived on a forested five acre lot and were continually chopping down trees and building tree forts etc... so it wasn't like we were couch potatoes either.
This new game console (Wii) seems at bit more interesting though, with its motion detection system, it actually encourages physical activity. But then again does it really replace the activities that it models?
I think I would rather take my child to the bowling alley then have her play it on a video game.
From a convenience standpoint though it makes sense, its a lot easier to turn on a bowling game then pack all the kids in the car and spend an entire evening at the bowling alley. In a sense what the video game consoles have become are baby sitters for parents who do not have the time or inclination to spend quality time with their kids. Even though a couple hours spent playing with your kids with a video game can be time well spent as well. I guess what it boils down to is finding a balance, a little gaming isn't bad but to plop your kid down in front of a console and then leave them for hours on end is not my idea or appropriate parenting.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
We have two boys and 7 computers. I got them started early. Now I can have a lan game if the internet connection is down or team attack when everything is working. My older son is playing games to acquire virtual property and sell it on ebay. Who knows a few more kids and I can retire to the basement forever.
Telecommuting! What about socialization?
When I was first married (1985) I really loved video games. We had our first child a year later and I remember playing a flight simulator on my Amiga 500 praying that my child would like to play video games with me. Now, 18 years (and soon to be 5 children) later, things have certainly changed a bit. My older two boys (18 & 15) would spend every moment of their waking lives in front of the PC, xbox, or Wii. My oldest daughter (9) spends a lot of her time playing kid internet games. My 2 year old tries to bang on the computer every chance she gets. It's gotten to the point that seeing them play games non-stop has virtually taken all the fun out of video gaming. But alas, there are the Valve games that I enjoy so much (now the Wii too, but I need a shoulder surgery before I can really get into it:) The kids have cured me of the obsessive/compulsive computer gaming I used to do but I still do game a bit. I make sure all the chores around the house are taken care of, my wife and kids are taken care of, our animals are taken care of, and then I have about 1 hour per night, if I like, to play whatever I like. Fortunately for me I'm stuck on Valve's games and am waiting for the HL2 episode 2, Portals, and Team Fortress 2 to come out. Until then I'm learning some new programming languages and paradigms
Mod this guy up. Wastin' modpoints, babyyyyy. Jus' wastin' modpoiiiiiiints...
an amazing thing happened witht he rise of tetrisand such games... my parents took my nes to play games like Solomon's Key, Tetris, Marble Madness, Dr. Mario, and the like... thus i got a computer... they tried to move in on Wolfenstien, Doom, and the like but i was smart enough not to teach them how to use them.. until I moved out.. then i taught them how to use the computer... Windows 3.11 was pretty harmless at the time,, so i figured they cant get into too much trouble.. then came 95-98 2kp and well i have to constantly teach them.. however my 86 year old grandfather and my late grandmother know more about computers than my parents still know... My real father however.. being a engineer uses computers.. so he and i relate... to think i remember using BBS' service before the vast webbernet... at 2400... behind my parents backs because of "predators".. hehehe.... now i have to kick my mom off her computer to check my email... and my 12 year old brother uses the web just as much as i do now... times change.... and i'm feeling old.. no kids though.. not enough time between 60-70 hrs a week at work, my billiards addiction, and sleep... who has time... i do however have a PSP, i recently gave my ps2 to my brother.. minus the "good games" that i will have to wait to play again when i get a ps3..
You can game with your kids. My 2 daughters and I have played many hours of Might and Magic (6 & 7) together. A kid on each knee, one clicking the mouse, one hitting the "A" key (attack). Dad does movement, and we all figure out the puzzles together. Drives mom nuts, especially when we're talking game in the car. "The liches in Castle Darkmoor are really tough, they might be immune to magic. No problem daddy, shrapmetal does physical damage"
They're only kids once, so you gotta share with them as much as you can.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
When we were younger we had lots of time for games but little money. Now we have the money for games (but much less free time).
m =170059988064m =170059999729m =170060001967
I haven't seen any ads that target the adult gamer segment specifically; I guess they figure ads that work for a 17-year-old will work just as well for someone twice that age. But soon enough we will probably see ads: "Forget the Civ games! I play Oasis because I can get in several games between feeding the newborn and changing his diaper."
BLATANT PLUG: If you are a member of The Video Game Generation and you have money now, why not bid on my auctions to benefit Child's Play?
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steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
I think the hardest thing for my generation is the gap between males and females. I personally grew up a gamer female, so when my boyfriend chooses to play video games for hours, it really doesn't bother me at all. However, the biggest complaint I get from a lot of my female friends is that they cannot understand why boys feel the need to play video games so much! The idea that guys play too many video games is slowly, but surely sneaking into Cosmopolitan magazine and others like it. Beware, Men, Cosmo says video games are bad! ;)
Whilst I can empathise with some of the things being said here, i.e. we all feel we have less time for ourselves, it's important to remember that time spent with your family (especially your own children) is real quality time - both for you and them!
I have two young daughters both of whom have grown up around computers and understand (partially) that my work involves how computers "talk" to each other. They've played educational PC games from when they were around 3 years old and have moved on to all manner of computer skills as they've grown up. They love nothing more than being allowed to play a "proper" game (e.g. Race Driver 3) over the network against another member of the family. This gives me time to enjoy gaming and see them enjoying themselves - don't worry, I kick them out into the fresh air every so often as well... to prevent overheating ;-)
Also, the article doesn't mention the Wii, or Gamecube, even though Nintendo has been making games suitable for all ages for years. In particular they have many games suitable for the "5 minute" play that parents get between tasks!
Moore's law is not a law. Theory, yes; Predictable trend, certainly; Law, no.
Don't have kids. Sure get married, but don't have kids please? We already have too many god damned annoying people on this planet, so just lay of on the having kids thing.
Playing games is just due to the lack of social skills and the need to be belonging to a community, you should never continue playing games especially when you have a family.
We "grew up" over a decade ago.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
My first game experience was Stunt Cycle in the late 70's. During the 80's I spent way too much time in the arcades. My parent's and teachers were kinda worried. Now I'm in my 30's and haven't touched a video game in years. People I grew up with who were only casual gamers now spent countless hours on online RPGs. They used to make fun of my gaming habit, now I make fun of how fat they've become.
I have an 8 year old son who I love to play games with. After spending 8 hours in the freezing cold I managed to pick up a Wii for us both. My little buddy just loves the thing and was playing the bowling and baseball games constantly. Then I got a few games on the Virtual Console... Now, I can't pry him from Super Mario 64. He is convinced that it's really Super Mario Wii. Amazing how a game made before he was born totally thrills him.
But it makes sense. Those older games seem to work out a lot better with the younger kids. Even my Atari Flashback has gotten a great deal of use. The games were simpler then - shoot this, capture that - and not much in the way of reading to worry about. Just point and shoot.
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
Thats why it's good to have a yearly 5 week vacation. (we have that in sweden) Talk it through with some friends so you sync the most vacation time possible, then sleep til noon, cuddle with the fiancee and barbeque in the afternoon, then game all night, rince and repeat for 5 weeks=Everyone satisfied. There's time for gaming, unless you're into the career thingy, but who'd wanna jump into a threadmill if it denies you time to cuddle with ones fiancee or play games? You work to support your quality time, not the other way around. Currently i also get some quality gaming time since i commute by train and own a DS.
I've grown up once......it was boring.
I'm from the stand-up generation.
If you are from my generation, you learned to play video while standing, sometimes for hours, at your mall, downtown arcade parlor.
My younger brother is from the console generation. He finished Mario World but perhaps never left his initials in the Frogger or Galaga at the Arcade.
I too froze my ass waiting outside Target for the Wii.
See, we don't have a console at home because we frowned at the idea of having the kiddos pressing their butts for hours on the sofa with sore thumbs all bug-eyed.
We the wii, I made the exception, you have to stand up again!
This will be the 2nd stand-up generation.
- these are not the droids you are looking for -
We're expecting our first child this March, and this is a topic I have been thinking about recently. I gave up gaming completely (well save for the odd arcade game at the beach in the summer) about twelve years back (after a lifetimes work) - Girlfriend, college, money, 'too old for it' etc.. I got back into it a couple of years back at an age where I finally am fortunate enough to indulge myself a little bit. But now I can't help but think those 4 hour sessions (it's enough for me) of 'Gears of War' and the like are slowly drawing to a close... Guess I'll have to wait until Mini-Me can frag like his/her Daddy... Could be a long wait..