8 Responses to “Ask GamerDad 5/9/08”

1. Mike Anderson
   May 12th, 2008 at 11:25 am

   That’s our GamerDad – taking a few minutes away from wasting his life playing and advocating for games to ruin the lives of America’s teens … 😀

2. Dr. Matt Carlson
   May 12th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

   Hey, hey. I take umbrage at that 37 year old bit….

   I’m 37 (for just a bit longer) and like my job… 🙂

   I do, at times, wish I could play 360 for my job, but being realistic with myself I enjoy this more…

   Of course, maybe it was a subtle dig that I’m not really counted as a friend? 😉

   In any case, it was a great response to the kid… (It would really be nice to see him confront that quote when he’s 37… 🙂

3. Shaequan Robinson
   May 12th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

   So whats the estimate of angry letters at this point?

   As a Teenager(17) I understand where they are coming from but then again I can buy the game( not that i would). I find games like that to be boring. Anyways why would they think that you as a parent would say that its ok for them to have GTA.

4. Dave Alpern
   May 12th, 2008 at 2:00 pm

   I LOVE this line:

   “As far as your parting shot let me tell you kid, all of my 37-year old friends hate their careers, hate going to work, and wish they could play Xbox for a living. Also, since the average age of a gamer is currently around 32 and rising fast, you might just find yourself the only 37-year old you know, with a wife and kids, who doesn’t “waste their time playing Xbox.””

   I thought I was the only guy you know our age who hates their job and career?

5. Colleen Hannon
   May 12th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

   Today, Dave, you’re not alone. Of course, I’m not a guy. 😉

   Way to go get ’em, Andrew. I’ve got several kids at church pissed as all Heck at me because I won’t go to bat for them on this one.

6. Mike Anderson
   May 12th, 2008 at 3:01 pm

   The good news is that it is possible to like your job … even when your older. After two months and already seeing some ‘project politics’ I still love going to work every day in a way I haven’t in more than 10 years …

   I’m still too new in this area, but I certainly poisoned the well back in Masachusetts more than a few times. Everyone knew (home, work, school, etc) where to go for info … and I was honest on both sides.

7. GamerDad
   May 13th, 2008 at 8:22 am

   I’ve gotten about 20 or so letters. Many of them through WhatTheyPlay and some as a result of people reading that CrispyGamer column and coming here. I don’t know what they expect. I guess I could take the radical position and suggest GTA4 is recommendable to the average teen but … well, I wouldn’t be doing my job then. There’s also the part about my not believing it.

   And…

   Sure, I was being hyperbolic there. Most people I know are content, maybe happy, at least resigned to what they do for a living. Also, most people I know seem to like stability, steady paychecks, retirement accounts and vacation time. All of which, I get absolutely none of. It’s a trade off. Sometimes a really difficult one. Other times you’re playing something like Bioshock a week before the general public – and then you get paid to say what you think about it. That’s when the job is aces!

   And Matt, I’d never ding a school teacher for what they do.

   And Mike, happy you like the new job there! How are the kids taking the move?

8. Mike Anderson
   May 13th, 2008 at 10:05 am

   I think that many of these teens translate you saying “I don’t believe that any video game is going to permenantly harm your child” as meaning “there should be no limits on what you let your kids play”. There is a fairly obvious (to a parent anyway 😉 )chasm between the two.

   Also have to reiterate how much I like the take that ‘Grand Theft Childhood’ has in really pushing the situational (i.e. varies by kid) nature of the impact of violent media. They say that the basic question ‘will playing game X make my kid a killer’ is fundamentally flawed and the wrong question. We need to look at more subtle effects. For example, on all of the 7 hour trips back and forth before the move, we noticed that after an extended time playing violent, action games on his DS my older son got more sullen and argumentative than he did playing more ‘gentle’ games. So we began limiting his time on those games during extended drives. Yet we saw nothing like that in my younger son.

   As for my kids on the move, they’re doing great – you know it is good when they only say “we wish we could have brought some of our friends”. Their new schools have great resources, loads of activities, and we have been very busy. Oh, and they got completely new furniture (including queen beds!) and will soon have a complete basement playroom with board games, foosball table with add-on surfaces, and of course, the 27″ TV and Wii.