GamerBoy: The Beginning
I’m the GamerDad, I’m an expert, 10 years professional experience, host of credits, blah, blah, blah. . . I’m also a gaming advocate and because of this most people assume that my kids play games ALL the time. Actually I’m willing to bet my kids play less than the national average and much less than most of my audience’s kids. The reason why has always been because it is my work. Because Linda isn’t much of a gamer (this is changing rapidly). And it is because I don’t like gaming when conversation could be had instead. I’ve been the stay-at-home parent but up until very recently, I didn’t game in front of the kids. I have an office, that’s what it’s for.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been sharing games with my kids, I’ve just refrained for forcing it on them. If they want to game, I figured they’d come to me eventually. Well Henry just did and in a BIG way.
Up until now Henry has been noodling with the Wii Cars games and playing kids games like Cosmic Family. Simple fare. But this summer I gave him New Super Mario Bros. and you could actually see the gamer, wreathed in flame, arising like a phoenix in his eyes. He mastered the controls and got fairly far into the game until – I showed him Mario Party (DS and Wii). From then on he’s become a gamer and his upcoming birthday sees me scrambling to track down as many Mario character plush dolls I can find (see, he wants to play “Mario games” in an offline way). I really can’t tell you how proud I am that it was New Super Mario Bros. that sparked what will undoubtably be a lifelong love affair with gaming. I have more to report on Henry’s progress later on.
Maggie gets it, but I think gaming will be a more casual hobby for her. Wii Bowling and then Cooking Mama have really sparked her interest but she has a problem with the traditional controllers. Like her mom, she’s all thumbs. Meanwhile Henry is doing things with his games that I don’t even know how to do! I think Maggie might need some training. Maybe it’s time for her to play some Super Princess Peach?
(Please note, all gender roles above are my kids choices. Henry likes blue, sports, action and Mario while Maggie loves pink, Hannah Montana, and Princess Peach.)
January 21st, 2009 at 10:42 am
My parents have a weekend only rule for games, So I don’t get to play too often. And i’m terrible at New Super Mario Bros. I can’t get past the stupid snow levels! >:”( )-K
January 21st, 2009 at 10:46 am
I’ve always felt that New Super Mario Bros was one of the best in the series since the SNES days.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:50 am
I’m a gamer. I’m a dad. My son Dylan is a gamer, but he only plays 1hr a day. And then only if he does good in school that day. He loves the Lego games and has gotten attached to Wall-E and Millionaire somtheing-or-other on the DS (It’s like an I-SPy game).
Sometimes I let him watch me play games, but I try to keep it to a minimum. He was watching me play CoD4 at one point and next thing I knew he was running around pretending he was killing bad guys. He doesn’t watch daddy play that anymore.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:52 am
I completely agree – my wife is a non-gamer (occasional family Wii time only), and I believe in a well-balanced life so gaming has to share space with everything else.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:03 pm
My local comic book store has a lot of Nintendo plushes – I believe Santa may have stopped by there when he got Charlotte a Luigi. Let me know if you need me to procure anything. I actually took pictures of all the plushes for someone, but forgot to do the other side of the Nintendo shelf which has more of the characters!
I’m really surprised that it’s Charlotte who is the big gamer. She will basically play anything (as I type she’s playing Jet Set Radio Future), and she’s not even four yet. Sam (now 13) has gaming phases – for long periods of time he won’t play anything except wrestling games, and right now he’s not even doing that. He still made a gamer dad proud though by finishing a couple of games that I’ve never completed myself 🙂
January 21st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Rich N, how would you know whether your son did good in school? In my school, underperforming students get a little thing for some subjects where the teacher must assess their behaviour/puctuality ect after each lesson. Most students don’t have to do this though.
How does your son’s school work? What do you use to judge whether he’s been good at school?
Admittedly, I’m not as active as I should be. I spend more time playing games, browsing the web and watching TV than doing stuff outside.
My parents aren’t gamers. My mum knows nothing and doesn’t really care. My dad doesn’t know anything about gaming either but tries to learn about the hobby and generally take an interest. He knows basic abbreviations (FPS, RPG ect) but nothing really beyond that (he often refers to gaming as “ork murdering”). He doesn’t really understand my gaming hobby. He still views it as purely a kid’s hobby.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Yeah Andrew, let me know if you need help finding any Mario items.
You need to show Henry a good Kirby game, too! Man (boys) can’t live on Mario alone! I recommend Kirby Super Star Ultra on the DS!
And Super Princess Peach is awesome!!!
–Cary
PS: Let us know how gamermom is doing after the rollerskate fall, too.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Some Guy,
My son Dylan has ADHD and is in a special ed class. They have a behavior chart that comes home every day which tells us whether or not he has behaved in class. In his case he has 12 “events” (5 in the morning and 7 in the afternoon) where he can earn a smiley face. If he gets 10 or more (and no note from the teacher) he gets to play DS for an hour. Any less, and no DS. If he gets 10 or more all week, he gets to play Wii on Friday and Saturday.
On the academic side we don’t worry, the little bugger has gotten a 100 (or better) on every spelling test (and never studies) he has taken and only got a 90 once on a Math test because it was timed (preparing them for the standardized tests) and he never got to the last question.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Cary, I’m way behind on this – Henry got into NSMB last summer! I’ll be updating you all on all the games he’s gotten good at in a few upcoming posts. Kirby has indeed had an impact. Henry was VERY relieved to hear that Kirby is a boy. He is right?
The rest of you – if you have stories, tell them! I love that stuff.
(I’ll post about Linda later today)
January 21st, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Rich, that bit about your son reenacting CoD4 sounds exactly like me at a young age. When I was about 4 or 5 my dad used to let me watch him play Quake and let me play it myself, but he pretty much didn’t let me play anything that wasn’t rated E (and not tony hawk) until I was 14 or so. The reason was because I was doing very much the same thing. I’m 15 now and can play pretty much whatever I want though. I’m not sure what made them give up :/. Good for me I guess….
January 21st, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Yes, Kirby is a boy. He’s one tough cream puff!
Toad is a boy, too, but I have a harder time convincing people of that. –Cary
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:29 am
Lol, at “one tough cream puff”. My grandpa used to call me that when I was little. And toad is kind of belivable. doesn’t he wear suspenders or something? I never seem to be able to look past his giant mushroom head lol.