Think back to your childhood. I mean way back. What are the odds that your memories of learning to read are stacked beside those of learning to handle a one-button joystick? Did you know how to fight your way out of dungeons before you knew how to tie your shoes? Remember growing up with video games? If you're visiting this site, you probably do.
Like it or not, though, somewhere between the Pong paddle and the Sixaxis, you grew up. While you were busy stomping goombas and making chocobos do it, time decided it didn't want to be your friend anymore. Now you're an adult and the games that you loved as a tyke can be played on a keychain. The 8-bit worlds that once dazzled and amazed you are suddenly considered old school. That can be hard to swallow for some, but before you go shopping for a Ferrari to take the sting out of adulthood, hit the jump for a look at why losing your hair and getting wrinkly might be the best thing that's ever happened to the gaming industry.
Getting older is scary. I should know: I've got nearly 28 years of experience. The idea that I will one day have to adhere to a strict diet of two dozen pills for breakfast, soggy corn flakes for lunch and the 4pm early bird buffet for dinner is enough to make anyone want to break out the just for men to cover the grey in their beard (even if you're a woman.)
No matter how you look at it, we're all aging, and of all the horrors that fate is undoubtedly cooking up for us, I can think of only one thing more frightening... one thing that can make Ben-Gay and moth balls smell like strawberries and funnel cake.
Having children.
Oh, it's real. You think I'm crazy, but I've seen it happen. You laugh, you say it'll be different for you, you're smarter than that. Chances are, you're dead wrong. We can't all be the handsome bachelor that Ron Workman is. We can't all be robot playboys, flirting with booth babes and destroying small cities in our spare time.
For many of us, at least those not tethered to some MMO all day, it's coming. Oh yes, it is. Don't think for a second that you can sidestep that train just because you're an ugly geek, either. Ugly people have babies all the time. How else do you think the world got so full of ugly?
However, there is hope. To see a glimpse of the shining beacon that will guide your ugly ass through the dense fog of parenthood, you need look no further than your own controller drawer. Therein, fellow nerd, lies your salvation.
You're not so old that you've forgotten your own early years, are you? Are you so smitten with the glistening sweat and independent breast physics of next gen that you've no fond memories of the bleeps and sprites on which you first calloused your thumbs? Of course not.
Everyone got to be a kid once, but your youthful days were not squandered on exercise and fresh air like those of your parents. You didn't climb trees, you cut them down with the master sword in search of stray rupees. You didn't swing a hula hoop around your waist, you piloted your spaceship through it for bonus points. This ain't yo daddy's Oldsmobile, poindexter, you came up with an uncomfortable NES pad in your boogery little mitts and it's a new age.
Things will be different for you because video games have a certain way of acting as a preservative for your inner child. That sounds stupid, but think about it-- your children's parents will have been gamers.
So instead of leaving your little ones to discover video games alone in their room, You're going to pick up the Player 2 controller and teach them how to pwn those little soccer team brats from next door. You know, the ones who won't stay off your lawn and keep poking flat spots in your air conditioner coil. Those of us who grew up with Atari and NES are now crossing the threshold into our 30s and for the first time in history, we have gamers raising gamers.
We are the first generation that has had a chance to be exposed to gaming our whole lives and therefore the first generation capable of becoming truly hardcore; the first ones who can say it's always been there.
What does that mean? It means that not long from now, there will be no Jack Thompson. There will be no more absurd legislation, because we will have gamers in public office. There will be no more media rockets launched at developers for violent content, because we will have gamers in the media. There will be no more parents lashing out at store clerks who sold them the gory FPS their kid is having nightmares about, because we will be those parents. Those kids will be our kids.
We will have the experience that lets us see an ESRB rating and know what the hell we're looking at. We know better than to buy Rule of Rose for our preschoolers. What's even greater is that we know better than to buy "Happy TV character's Super generic action collect-a-thon" for our children, and that will scare developers to death. It might even scare them into actually making some kid-friendly titles that don't insult the intelligence of everyone who looks at the cover.
The fact that our demographic has grown to take over the positions and roles that most influence the future of the industry means that the next few decades will see the beginning of a video gaming paradise greater than anything you thought possible.
So try not to worry too much about getting older and squirting out babies. There's always somebody nearby for multiplayer with a kid in the house. Sure, they grow up to trample lawns and break stuff, but when gamers breed gamers, it only makes it a more exciting time in history to have a controller in your hand.
Contest:
12:11 AM on 01.21.2007
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Using your kid as a multiplayer slave is good thinking though.
...I hope.
And while the fact that we are getting older and taking power positions means that there will be more gaming acceptance in the world, like any thing, there will still always be the retarded idiots (is that a double negative?) of the world who frown down upon things regardless of how harmless it is.
We all know music and movies still get their fair share of controversy every now and then. Thankfully though it's much fewer and more far between then it was in their golden days. Which is really all we can hope for when it comes to gaming. Though it would be a nice thought that someday there would be flat out universal acceptance, I just somehow doubt that will ever be a reality.
I like, almost totally agree.
hushgush, if only you could do the same.
hehehe
like guys that used to smoke pot. You still can't get the average politician to admit that they smoked pot. Sadly, I dont ever see a time where there aren't at least a few anti-game nuts out there. and no one politician will bother with the issue. sad but true
I'm gonna raise him on all the classic consels, D&D, and whole bunch of the most nertacular eva.
Now to find a willing partner for sexual intercourse... fuck...
here she is playing wii tennis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l-shftm1nk
I first played Space Invaders when I was 10years old, and now 27years later still game hard . I have three sons , the eldest is 15 today , the other two are 12 and 9 respectively , they love video games as much as I do .
Content is content and parenting is parenting . Adult content is for Adults , It'll always be there in movies , music , and 'video games ' .A lot of games have more 'mature content' and I do let my sons play them , but not before I check or play them through first . Then I decide wether they play them or not .
Non gaming parents - The Xbox/PS2 is not the baby sitter , and "games" are not necessarily for kids .
I intend to grow old and die grasping whatever controller device the future may briing .
Welcome to the team, guy.
i start playing in my terder 8 with montezuna for atari and now playing montezuma for psp...
snif...snif...
As someone mentioned above, I'll be raising my children (when I have 'em) as gamers. And as a bit of a collector, I've always thought I'd show them the delights of the older generations too. Can't have my offspring not knowing the joy of Super Metroid for instance.
I'm 27 and married, so it's probably not long till the training of a youngster begins. My wife's Japanese too, so hopefully some of those good gaming genes will pass on lol!
I cannot wait until my friend's kid is old enough to throw down in some Wii sports. I have decided that I'm not going to have my own children, but rather live vicariously through my friend's kids. I'm just glad I'll get to be the cool uncle who lets her stay up late and play video games and eat pizza with. :D
This article is great. Now, I'm 21 and a ways off from raising a litter of my own, but I often think about the next generation of American/the world's youth and how they will grow up (and find everyday and commonplace) tech that those even my age found revolutionary. MP3s, HD, Next gen gaming, the internets, they will have it from birth, while we had to mess around with all that for a while.
That was beautiful.
I was kind of raised by a gamer. My dad played Asteroids and Missile Command when he was in high school. He owns an XBox now, but he doesn't really play any more.