Double Agent
Overtaken by events - August 23, 2001 - Chris Jones

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. Today's Boondocks was damn funny. Go read it, if you haven't already. Don't say we didn't warn you.

I put up yesterday's column right as the first Spaceworld news was coming in, which had the added bonus of making most of what I said yesterday completely obsolete. Between that and cel shading on the new Zelda (or is it the old Zelda?) I'm still kind of punch drunk, so go easy, eh?

Onward.

Love/hate relationship
Chris,

I honestly don't have an answer for this one. My parents (read: my mother, my father having never had any hand or interest in the business at all) have alternately assisted and decried my gaming habits. It was they who let me play Atari when I was barely out of toddlerhood, it was they who purchased my NES, and subsequent SNES, and many games on birthdays and Christmases. Not only that, by my mother is something of a casual gamer herself. She's mad for Donkey Kong, both SNES and N64, Mario is quite agreeable, and I have vivid memories of her feverish preoccupation with Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. How is it then, that I have heard her say on several occasions that she "wishes she'd never bought one"? How is it that she is constantly complaining over my, and also my little brother's, obsessive gaming habits? It's not even justified in my brother's case (though certainly in mine), he being only slightly more committed than the average casual gamer. I have no answer for this. If I had to choose I would say it was the odd position video games have, hovering between a children's playtoy and a serious entertainment medium. I suppose, despite my fervent exhortations of it being the latter, she just can't make up her mind. How female of her.

Super Saiya-jin.

Way to work in that weak chauvinist jab there, dude. That said, I can relate to your situation; my parents were death on video games when I was a kid, but soon after I left for college, my mom became a complete Tetris addict and still plays today. Looking back, I'm forced to ask myself if I missed an opportunity by not getting the NES Tetris when it came out - would I have gained an ally in the gaming wars of my middle-school years?

I dunno, but I think you've got it right when you say that games occupy an uneasy middle ground between being something worthwhile and a sloth-encouraging waste of time. It's entirely likely that while your mom enjoys gaming to no end herself, she worried about seeing you or your brother plugged in front of the TV for hours at a time... which brings us right back to the original problem of how worthwhile games are in the first place.

Worst case scenario
CJ-

well, if your child is 27 and still living at home in the basement, writing fanfic and prone to breaking into extended, paranoid rants about various members of the gia, i'd say discourage him/her at all costs. maybe slip a copy of "heroes of the lance" in the nes or something. aversion therapy.

that ugly scenario aside, i'd say gaming on a reasonable scale is, at worst, a harmless diversion. it's only when you mix gaming and the internet (or anything and the internet) that the obsessive element comes into focus.

after all, that sloth-like, anti-social gaming "nerd" with the distended belly and peanut butter in his hair might turn out to be the next great software guru, or even the next chris jones!

good luck

bbrooks

27 years old... living at home in basement... writing fanfic... paranoid GIA rants... hey, I resemble that guy!

Wait, no I don't - my parents' house doesn't even have a basement... heh...

Truthfully, I think that's just about every parent's worst nightmare. Gamers tend to be more introverted than not, and parents always want the best for their kids, which kind of rules out becoming obsessed nerds who never develop a meaningful, non net-based social life or career.

On the other hand, all those hours spent in front of a TV can be strangely beneficial. Back when I was in high school my dad took great pleasure in putting a particular Far Side cartoon up on our refrigerator door, which showed two parents standing with great pride behind a game-playing kid. Above their heads was a thought balloon showing want ads full of notices for Nintendo players at salaries of $100,000 and upwards. But the thing is, playing video games got me interested in computers, which got me interested in programming, which got me interested in engineering... and while I'm not quite making $100k for playing Nintendo, I'm not doing too badly either. And it's all thanks to video games, which even my dad eventually got around to admitting.

Best case scenario
While I would like to chime off about the level of parental encouragement for video games, there's not much to tell. With my parents, it was simply a matter of "you bought it, so you can play as much as you want."

Of course, it sort of went unsaid to keep the grades up, but it seems better to show the open road than the noose at your back, right?

KZ

Jeez, I would have loved to have a policy like that, as I'm sure a lot of others would have... but for a lot of parents, assuming that their kids are smart enough to manage their own academic careers without overdosing on video games is too big a leap of faith.

On the other hand, there does seem to be less of a bias with parents and games these days. Once upon a time, most of the kids I knew had strict limits on how much gaming they could do in the course of a day or a week: two or three hours cumulative, if they were lucky. Now, based on what I've seen of younger gamers, there's still a limit to the extent that they can't play all day every day, but I don't get the impression that games are considered any more harmful than, say, television. Slowly but surely, they're sinking into the culture, which is probably good news, all things considered.

Xenophilia *Xenosaga trailer spoilers*
Chris,

I was very pleased with the new information that we've learned of the Gamecube launch and it's titles. Every game I've read about and seen images/videos of the gamecube launch titles, looks interesting and worth my time.

So...I'm looking through all the latest news, "Pikmin...yeah, yeah...Star Fox adventures...alright...Xenosaga trailer?"

So I download the trailer. Huge file, 8 minutes long. I'm starting to fall asleep watching it. Sure, the people look really nice. It has some nice graphics. Nice effects...snore... Alot of it showed just characters speaking. Sadly, I'm linguisticly impaired in the Japanese language :)

And then...in the last minute...a man with a sword walks into the camera. He's got the "scary" voice of everyone...some villain. He's going on and on about something.

And then it shows the side view of a man, with long hair, holding a sword. Talking calmly.

"Could it be? Do we FINALLY get to find out why he knew so much? Would they really bring him back???"

And then it zooms in, just for me, and I see for myself, his small...round, golden glasses.

Terminator

P.S I guess this blows my theory that Shion Uzuki IS Citan! :)

As any number of people have pointed out, the chances of Shion and Citan being related seem slim to none, but the more info that comes out about this installment, the greater the chances seem to be that the two are somehow inexorably linked in the narrative flow of the story.

That said, I'm starting to wonder what the point is: I liked Xenogears, sure. It was a good game, I thoroughly enjoyed it when it came out, and I'm perfectly willing to admit that it's an entirely engrossing game, when certain things are overlooked. Still, the original game came out close to three years ago in the US, and the sequel may not be out over here for another year at least. Much like the passion I once had for FF4 or Tactics, my enthusiasm for the Xeno-saga has cooled of considerably. I'm interested in the game from what we've been shown of it on it's own terms, but if MonolithSoft's trying to drive me into a frenzy over suggested links between their game and Xenogears, they're about 2 years too late for maximum impact.

Generation gap
Chris-

I've always had problems with my mom when it comes to gaming, and I'll bet lots of people have, too. My dad isn't so bad (he'll even play them sometimes), but my mom just thinks they're evil incarnate. Parents really should encourage their kids to play some games (not everything, but certain games could definitely teach kids some valuable lessons), like puzzle games or maybe some RPGs. Certain video games really help keep your mind and reflexs sharp, but the older generation doesn't really realize that. My mom always talks about how "when she was my age, she didn't have fancy technology like this," and how she "played outside for hours with sticks and rocks." That's fantastic, I guess (hell, I used to play with rocks and sticks for hours, too), but she has to realize that times change, and just because she doesn't understand this new technology doesn't mean it's bad.

On another note, I don't really care about the Game Cube right now, because the Game Cube doesn't have ICO. That demo sent chills up my spine, and I'll be at the software store the day it launchs, threatening to go berserk if I don't get a hold of it.

-Glass Dragon, doin' a little dance

Ah, I can't wait until I'm old enough to spin out yarns about "when I was your age"... forget all that fancy "8-bit" technology, we were so poor we had to use "1-bit" technology! There was just one one and one zero, and my sister and I had to share it and do all the calculations by hand! It took three hours to figure out what the next frame of Frogger was going to look like! In the snow! Uphill both ways!

And now, just in the name of stirring up some good old fashioned dissent, I'm going to comment on ICO: after playing through the demo a few times, I'm starting to believe it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Don't get me wrong, there are some things (ok, a lot of things) it nails perfectly. The shadow demons are ominous without falling into the cartoonish trap of most fantasy monsters, the graphical design shows any number of subtle highlights which convey that the designers really knew what the heck they were doing, and the girl... well, the girl is sheer genius, from the way her delicate, bright colors offset the rest of the dungeon, to the faint the vibration the controller gives out every time the main character jerks her into walking.

But for all that, the game that I've seen so far has one fatal flaw: it looks like a mere PC adventure game with superb art direction. You know the kind I'm talking about: Out of this World, Monkey Island, Shadowgate, and far back in the mists of time, Infocom text adventures. I play console RPGs for the plot, and for the way they make me forget that I'm doing more than just solving puzzle after puzzle... I play them because the feel more like games, instead of a long string of brain teasers.

Now, don't get me wrong; ICO could have a magnificent plot waiting around the corner, and could be about far more than just navigating through a single monstrous castle. But while I don't want the boy hero to morph into a Paladin, I do hope he's going to be able to do more than wander through large, empty rooms swinging a stick and using a blind girl to open doors.

End of rant.

Parental control
Oooh, parenting and gaming. There's a thorny one for you. I'm rather liberal in my approach to child-care (perhaps it's naivete, never having cared for a child), so I feel, basically, that gaming should be handled like any hobby - the kid should be allowed to use his own judgement for the most part, though it's good to make a kid explain to his parents why something is worth buying if they're the ones opening their wallets. As with most hobbies, gaming is not inherently good or bad, but becomes one or the other depending on degree. If the kid is all about gaming and has no motivation to do anything else, that's a problem. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with being obsessed with something if you don't let it stop you from living your life. Parental discretion is, as in all aspects of child-rearing, strongly reccomended.

Content is a thornier issue. I believe very strongly that kids should not be shielded from content. A kid's far more likely to be messed up if he's not allowed to have any experience with things like sex and violence beforehand, because he certainly won't be able to avoid them in the real world. Some parents may think games with gay relationships or senseless killing or Fancy Mel are bad, but if they can't trust their kids to avoid them on their own, they're going to have to hover over them their entire life. Teach, don't force. I think a lot of parents would find it better to talk to a kid about Carmageddon and the various quandaries it presents than just to ban it entirely. Some would find out enough to need to ban it anyhow, but a lot might find that their kids aren't as dumb as they think.

As for ENcouraging game playing, I can't think of a single reason to bother. Even great literature will mean nothing in the hands of a kid who doesn't already want to read it, and video games are hardly great literature. Some parents use things like video games to wean kids off less reputable pastimes (say, knife fighting), but even then it's not likely to work, and if you're just using it as a tool there are better hobbies to push for. Basically, the people who don't develop an interest in video games mostly by themselves (regardless of who provides them with the game to begin with) probably never will.

-AJ

Actually, I think this is one place where the ESRB, properly implemented, could prove invaluable. As a rule I'm not big on limiting what kids can experience, and you're right - once a kid gets to be a certain age, parents' only real alternative is to hope that he or she will use their best judgement to avoid inappropriate material, or at least handle said material in a mature fashion. (Sephiroth gets to wear a trenchcoat and behave like a complete psycho, but the you don't.)

Still, I'll be damned if I'd want a 10 or 12 year old child of mine exposed to something like Silent Hill or Parasite Eve. The first few Dragon Warriors or Final Fantasies would be ok, but I can only know that if I play through them before hand, or if the ratings are descriptive and trustworthy. Until then, I suppose parents of young children should just be happy that there's Nintendo, which keep putting out superb, kid friendly entertainment like Zelda (which seems to be getting more kid-friendly all the time).

And as for ENcouraging gaming, I'll let someone else handle that...

Family tradition
Dearest Chris,

*sigh* that's it in a nutshell... Personally, I don't think you are as obsolete as a N64. I mean, you are so much handier to have around. The best two things the N64 can do (besides being that verdant Donkey Kong Green) are 1) Harvest Moon 64, and 2) Ogre Battle 64. Considering I would have never bought it if they hadn't, at once point, fooled me into believing that Earthbound 64 would be released onto it, that's the best consolation I could give myself.

Anyway, as you were saying... I'm not sure exactly where this little essay is going to take me, so buckle your seatbelt. I know this may not seem relevant, but as both a child and a parent in the gaming age, I think it is. First, my mom and dad never encouraged me to become a gamer. It was something I noticed happening, but never really got much into, in the olden days. We had the systems, sure. Well, the Atari and C64, but games never became a big part of my life, other than to have fun with my family.

While I was growing up, a company called Nintendo came along, and suddenly, everyone knew about it, seemingly overnight. And so, my mom got one for our brood that Christmas, I think a year after it had been on the market. I really didn't notice it much then, either. My brother and dad played a lot, games like Super Mario World and Duck Hunt. We subscribed to Nintendo Power magazine. And that's when I saw something that changed my life, forever...

I was idly reading it, and something caught my eye. A walkthrough of a little game called "Final Fantasy" that bespoke to me of a world much like that in my beloved books, a realm where I could loose my consciousness into something that was pure fantasy, with Kings, Queens, Princesses, Magic, Swords, even Dragons! It was wonderful, just thinking about it. That was the first RPG I ever owned, and I still have it. This, here, is what set me on the path of RPG, forever.

Where Duck Hunt and SMW were "bonding" activities for my dad and brother, RPGs became "bonding" activities for myself and my mom. I went to school during the day, and she would play, after school we would talk, and I would play, before she went to take a nap for work. Over the years, I never failed to talk her into playing more and more RPGs, and I have always gotten the newest Square title for my birthday (of course, we opened it and played it the day it came out, regardless of the fact that my birthday was a month away).

After my parents divorced, and we moved back to my mom's parent's house, the gaming tradition continued. We somehow got my grandma addicted to Sim City and Tetris, and my grandfather and uncle to competitive rounds of Donkey Kong Country. My entire family was gaming, and it's something that brought us all closer together. Gaming is what landed me a boyfriend, because I had the UBER rare Shining Force III, a game which he coveted.

Games have alwasy been something that brings my family closer together, and because of that, I'm absolutely sure how much gaming I'm going to let my daughter do, when she gets older. As much as she wants. Other things, like learning and martial arts, will, of course, take up most of her time. But if she decides that gaming is something she likes to do, I'm going to continue to tradition.

~arc

This is another prime example of how gaming's permeated the culture; there are families to whom gaming's a tradition, as much as families in the past used to go on camping trips or religiously follow a sports team.

I think arc's a relative rarity in having this kind of setup during her childhood, and we've had some discussion in the past as to how much people will continue to game as they get older, but I also think that as time goes on there'll be more people for whom the above situation holds true, and while it may never be the case that I'll never bond with my son or daughter by playing through an RPG together, I imagine gaming will be part of both our lives, much as my dad and I both enjoyed rock and roll without following the same particular bands.

Then again, if the entire family can get together all at once and enjoy playing the latest Mario Party, so much the better. Just as long as the kids stay away from my Silent Hill stash, it'll work out just fine.

Closing Comments:

Tomorrow's a free topic day, although I'm sure you've got lots more to say about Spaceworld and the Xenosaga trailer, (if you start now, your download might just be finished by 5pm tomorrow) so have at it. Adios for now.

-Chris Jones, weeps bitter tears over the new Zelda

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