My son has discovered the joy of video games. This is not surprising given my own interests in the subject. We obtained a game that he loves to play at school--Hot Wheels Velocity X and he craves playing it 24x7. This is not surprising either. He is very young and hasn't learned to exercise the discipline and will power necessary to avoid falling into the deep hole of video game addition, and all the addictive behavior related (you know, stuffing the dog in the closet, arranging snacks and water and a little bucket for...waste, and then completely ignoring the outside world and the body's need for sleep). Unfortunately, neither have I at the ripe age of 40...so its a fairly bleak outlook. All of this is fairly normal for a youngster his age.
What's not very normal is that while he LOVES to play his video game, the word 'play' has a whole different meaning for him. For the most part what he really wants is to force Dad (that's me) to play the game while he sits nearby watching and bossing me around. "Turn there, Dad!" "Oh, you missed it AGAIN, Dad!" and various frustrated noises fill the room and for a change they aren't coming from me.
We have him on this somewhat complicated system of reinforcement and control whereby he can earn or lose video game time on a daily basis by being good or not. The system has a certain arbitrary aspect to it (its well designed to support the somewhat arbitrary needs of the Parental Units). So at any given time, he's got a fairly limited amount of gametime and he regularly chooses to have ME play ("Unlock the purple car next, Dad!" or "You drive and I'll shoot, Dad!") rather than playing by himself.
What does all this mean?
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2 comments:
Whoa.
I thought only I was subject to the "play this for me" school of video games.
Maddie (6) likes, but does not love, games. She has a lot of fun playing Mario Kart Double Dash (on our Wii), as well as Wii Sports, but her favorite thing to do is to make Miis. She makes Miis on her own, but there are several times in games where she insists I play and then directs (criticizes!) what happens. For example, in MKDD, there are race tracks that she absolutely refuses to play because she's freaked out by the pirahna plants. So I have to play them.
Aidan (4) on the other hand, is much more into games. He is obsesssed with Mario Kart, but right now, at 4, doesn't have the ability to really play the games. He absolutely loves the Co-Op play of Mario Kart Double Dash, since he can play as Waluigi shooting turtle shells while Maddie drives. If there's no coop to be had, though, it's all about watching me play. Worse, because I can't in good conscience expose him to the games I want to play (what's the appropriate age for Assassin's Creed, anyway....), I end up playing some mind numbing things. Like Cars, the videogame adaptation. Or New Rally X on Xbox Live Arcade.
He does show some signs of appreciating the next Burnout game, but during the demo he refused to let me use the boosters after I crashed too many times. It's now forbidden.
I worry that when he's older we're going to have problems with video game time. He loves to draw and learn right now, and I don't want that to be hurt. He certainly has Daddy's obsessive personality, too, so I can imagine him sneaking downstairs to play during the wee hours of the morning.
If you figure out the answers let me know.
What's he making you play?
Heya Jeff :)
Sorry for the late reply...the pace of life prevents me from these pages more than I'd like.
I'm glad to hear that someone else has these issues as well.
We're playing Hot Wheels Velocity X...more or less a much easier and less violent version of Carmaggedon (which was a game I absolutely loved...sadly because of the violence). I actually enjoy it because its fun, yet not so hard that I have to sit and play it for hours to get what I want...
Which is lucky in and of itself because I don't have the inclination or time to sit there for hours 'unlocking' cars, weapons and race sites for Theo.
I'm a bit astonished by Theo's reaction to video games. Its really in a lot of ways exactly how I react, but I've had many years to learn to put a vaguely civilized veneer on it. I play too much. I obsess about it. I get emotionally affected when it doesn't go my way.
I'd like to claim I've got a little more self control, but hahaha. Not.
When I step back and observe the scene more objectively, I see that its just a smaller, less experienced me.
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