femalegamer

My husband and I always joke that we will be introducing our children to gaming early on. By the age of two or three we’ll have taught them to do the daily quests in Warcraft so they can be our little “gold farmers.” Fortunately it’s just our little joke and it will be much longer than that before we allow them to get sucked into any game of that magnitude.

The question is raised though, in a gamer family, when do you introduce your children to gaming? It is obviously happening earlier and earlier thanks to the advent of youth game platforms like Leapfrog and the sort. And yes, it can be a fun way to get children to learn things thanks to the educational nature of many of the games, but I fully believe that relying upon those methods can be damaging.

Attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter, thanks to the plethora of options and the total media sensory overload of this generation. Gone are the days of children spending day upon day playing outdoors, reading books and playing good old pretend.

It needs to be a fine line. Yes, the games can be useful, but they shouldn’t be the sole method by which children grow up.

I look back at the many hours I spent in the car as a little one, reading a book or staring out the window daydreaming. Nowadays, built-in DVD players keep children occupied. It saddens me that parents have to rely upon a television screen to get through a two-hour trip.

And yes, this is coming from someone who could find no better way than to spend an entire weekend playing a game, interspersed only with eating and sleeping.

I don’t think I would hesitate starting our children off young, as long as it is educational and is not the sole source of their entertainment/education. But, I will try my hardest to combine it with a healthy dose of old fashioned fun.

Back in 2005 I would have laughed if you told me people could forge long and lasting relationships via a game. Never, ever would I have believed you! Yet, here I am again, seeing my guild home of the past year crumbling and feeling the lost it entails.

When my husband and I first joined Warcraft, we were welcomed into the top guild on our server, thanks to a real life friend. These people took us under our wing, taught us more about the game than we would have learned on our own and trusted us enough to make us regular raiders (apparently we learned enough from them to not suck). Unfortunately when the first expansion was looming the guild fell apart.

Both my husband and I felt such a huge loss as people were splintering off to different guilds. They were all our friends, who should we try and go with? The guild that is currently splintering was created by some of those, our old time friends. Again, with the splintering, they are not just going to different guilds, many of them are transferring off the server to start fresh.

Some of these people we met in real life, spending a weekend partying it up with. Meeting them in person felt natural, like old friends seeing each other after years’ absence. The only funny twist being we had to introduce ourselves with our “in-game” name and following it up with our real names.

It’s sad to see this “in-game” family fall apart… yet with it springs new opportunities. We too are starting over, with a guild that exceeds our time on the server, and one filled with people, many of whom have been together for nearly 10 years (since the first EQ). This new guild has “splinters” in different games and has given new meaning to family-style guild.

While sad to see what was now break up, we are looking forward to our future.

Hauteness over at Single in L.A. tagged me in one of her recent posts. Seeing As I’ve been absolutlely M.I.A. the past few weeks, thanks to a rather large project I have coming due, I thought I’d take a few moments away from it and post. In the meantime, I promise I will be back full force soon, just a bit overwhelmed!

Here’s the rules:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

Of course, I may tinge my responses with a video game slant….

1. World of Warcraft: 4 70s: Hunter, Mage, Druid (feral) and Warlock. 2 mid-60s: Priest and Rogue. Missing the game terribly and looking forward to getting back into it!

2. Age of Conan: Initially played a Demonologist, but switched characters with my husband, since he was playing a Bear Shaman and I was hired to write a Bear Shaman Class Guide (that would be the large project that’s kept me busy). Looking forward to finishing the guide and heading back to Warcrack.

3. Top 5 First Person Shooters: Half Life 1&2, Deus Ex, No One Lives Forever and Doom 2 (for old times sake!).

4. I’m a keyboard hog. If my husband and I tackle one game together, he rarely gets the controls. I think that’s probably why we went to MMORPGs… both of us can play together on our own computers.

5. Favorite Sims: Pharaoh, Emperor and Zoo Tycoon. I even take Sims to the competitive side. Hubby and I play side by side, and its all about me having the most money, happiest people, most resources or the prettiest setup.

6. Next up: Wii Fit. We’ve got the Wii… just need the Fit and we’re golden.

Tagged:

Entertainment on Parade

GameSource

Vision

New York Governor David Paterson signed a new law into effect Tuesday that will limit video game content for children by restricting the rating system for video games. The law also requires that parental controls be installed on game consoles by 2010 and that age ratings be prominently on game packages.

Now, as far as I can tell, we have a perfectly good rating system for games already, and they are prominently placed on the game boxes. E = Everyone. T = Teen. M = Mature.

What it really comes down to is the parents. Do they let their child buy any game (or buy the games for them) without any research? Do they turn a blind eye when their child has gotten their hands on GTA? Do they set limits on how often their children are playing a game versus going outside or reading a book? We shelter our children from as much as we can in life, video games should be no different.

While I don’t have children yet, I do know that when the time comes, they will likely be inclined toward gaming… seeing as both of their parents are.

I plan on taking a 100 percent interest in the games they want to play. Reading reviews and finding games that are appropriate for them. Yes, it is a little more work, but it’s not like we have to go to the library to research via microfiche. All the info we could possibly need to learn if a game is age appropriate is right at the tips of our fingers and easily accessible with a few clicks of a button.

It may be more work, but isn’t that part of the job and what we sign up for? Isn’t it something we should be doing without a second thought? We shouldn’t have to rely on lawmakers.

Where do you draw the line between too much gaming and not enough life? This is a question I’ve wrestled with over the past 3.5 years (about the time my husband and I got hooked on World of Warcraft). For months on end, I wouldn’t think anything of spending at least 70 hours a week playing the game. Get up, go to work, come home, play until midnight. Friday, play until 2 a.m. or later. Saturday and Sunday, play from the time we awoke to the time we finally crashed at night. My husband, who worked at home, put in even more hours than I did. He never shirked his responsibilities, but he was able to work playing into his schedule more often than not.

It didn’t matter to me since we were playing together - quality couple time.

Every once and a while though, a nagging little thought would enter my mind, “You’re wasting your life away, you need to get out of the house.” It would gnaw away at me until I became a raging nightmare to my husband and he acquiesced. Grudgingly, he’d also put the keyboard down and we’d go out for a few nights in a row: see a move, socialize with friends who had all but forgotten about us, go out for a drink, dinner, even a walk.

Occasionally, we’d both have our fill and take a few weeks off. They were nice and we both appreciated spending our time in the real world. But, ultimately, we’d miss the game and go back. A few months back, we went through one of those periods… the weather was starting to get nice and it felt good to be outside of the house. Right around the time we were getting ready to settle back in with the game, my husband’s computer decided it had its fill of life and met its microchip maker in the sky. We were both furious - we wanted to play, but we were being kept from it. We had to, gasp, find other ways to occupy our time. It’s one thing when we choose to do it, but when it is foisted on us it is totally different.

Surprisingly though, the time it took for him to get a new computer and have it shipped to us was a good thing. I think both of us realized how much life had to offer (not that we really didn’t know, we just needed a swift kick as a reminder). We’ve gotten better at trying to balance our gaming time vs. our “real life” time. There’s too much to miss out on when you’re on your computer seven days a week.

We’re not going to be young forever (okay, at this point neither of us is that young anyway), we don’t want to look back 20 years from now and realize we squandered several years of our lives (what really can be the best years of our lives - semi-young, fairly newly married, couple life with just the average responsibilities and the freedom of not quite yet having children).

Although I know we will be prone to becoming addicted again (Wrath of the Lich King is going to be coming out after all), I’d like to think we’ve learned that there is more to living life than just pixellated epic weapons and “gaming cred.”

Offering Guitar Hero and Rock Band through their console wasn’t enough for the people at Nintendo apparently. Instead, to round out the musical experience, the company showcased its newest game, Wii Music, at the E3 convention.

Wii Music, which will hit stores in time for Christmas, allows players to use the Wii-motes to simulate up to 60 musical instruments. Played solo or with up to three other people, the point of the game is not to match songs/beats/notes like GH or RB, but to move the Wii-motes to your own beat. In doing so, the Wii will generate a tune/beats to match the main song.

Hrm. So, yeah. I’m assuming there must be some sort of challenge in there. Some reason to motivate you to play. I guess I’m just missing what it is. The nice thing about RB or GH is it is a challenge - hitting the beats correctly - “playing” the tune. If the sole motivation is to just “waggle” your Wii-sax in order to create a new layer to an existing tune, I don’t get it.

The company also unveiled a snowboarding game (using the Fit’s balance board) and a new Wii Sports which includes jetskiing, fencing and frisbee throwing.

Editor’s Gripe of the Day: I love the Wii. I love the potential the Wii has to truly push forward the gaming experience. This is the best they’ve come up with???

To me, these games are the equivalent of reforming Led Zepplin and telling them they can only play “Mary had a Little Lamb” - so much potential, but wasted on something silly and mundane.

C’mon guys - push the boundaries!

Several years ago I dreamt of making a living out of my passions: writing, computer games and music. Somehow, within the past six months, I pulled it off. I’m a freelancer, the equivalent of a mercenary… my words go to the highest bidder, or in some cases the bidders that allow me to write about what I love, regardless of if they are the highest bidder.

I’ve blogged about games, obviously, and I’ve written game guides, mostly for World of Warcraft (which was cake since I’d been playing the game for three years). The WoW guides truly were second nature: I knew everything I was going to have to say right from the start. Recently though, I’ve taken on an Age of Conan guide, which has been an interesting experience.

With AoC, while I’ve learned alot already, I am still learning as I go and having to keep notes as I play. It’s an entirely different experience. It actually, gasp, feels like work! And, I can’t complain, really, I’m well aware of this. But still, when I log into the game, I know it is more work than passion.

I’m wondering if other people have felt that way. I realize probably not as much from the writing side, but have you ever played a game that felt like more of a chore to get through than fun. Was there a game you played that you didn’t want to continue, but you felt obligated to? Anyway - on that note, I should probably get back to work…

Okay, hand a teenager a video game in which they’re killing monsters, I’m fine (most of the time - there may be some exceptions with both games and certain teenagers). There may be some blood and gore, but I’d like to think that the teenager is able to differentiate between real life (blood and gore = bad) and game life (there’s nothing wrong with a little pixellated blood and guts).

However, a new Wii game, “Pong Toss,” has me up in arms. Sounds innocent, yes? What if you knew that JV Games (under their Frat Party Games line) initially released the game under the title Beer Pong? Now, what if I said this game was rated T for teen (meaning it is acceptable for ages 13 and up)?

After initial concerns, JV changed the name to the more generic Pong Toss and took out all references of booze. Yes, it is a completely sterilized version, technically you’re aiming into pyramid stacked empty red and white plastic cups. However, the only correlation this game has in real life is the drinking game. Even if a child doesn’t realize this at first… you know one of their schoolmates will likely point it out.

Now, I know I can’t say that this game will lead to more teens playing beer pong (the real version). But, when you’re that age - you tend to be a bit more impressionable, curious and approval-seeking. With a game that is set in a much more realistic setting… you’re more likely to try and reproduce it (unlike, say, blowing up a space ship). Yes, underage drinking happens, unfortunately it’s one of those facts of life much like the sky is blue or the Giants are the reigning Super Bowl champs at this very moment. However, we should be discouraging it, something I fear this game is very much not doing.

There have been few points in my life where I out and out disagreed with the concept of a game. This would be one of them.

After two days with the Wii version of Rock Band, I can truly say it is a fun experience.

Never in my life did I imagine I would be singing in front of my husband with reckless abandon! (Normally I’ll sing in the car, but one or the both of us will turn up the volume to drown my voice out).

Yes, we seem to be a female fronted band - I get to sing, he takes drums or guitar. Right now, we’re just going through the game in the hopes of unlocking all the songs for an upcoming weekend at camp (I use the term camp very loosely, camping involves tents… this involves electricity, indoor plumbing and real furniture) with two other couples.

Occasionally we switch it up so I can get accustomed to the instruments. For the most part though, he swears that when he’s drumming he’s paying no attention to my vox… I guess that’s a good thing - though damn I wish he was paying attention to my 34-phrase streak on R.E.M.’s Orange Crush!

The game has a fun selection of songs, although it doesn’t have the ability to download additional tracks like the Xbox. It is still enough for our use - ultimately more for social fun than serious rock star dreams. Within a few days, if we’re feeling particularly musical, there will be a Rock Band “expansion pack” we can pick up to add to our collection (20 new songs).

The various instruments work great and I think they’ve improved the drum kit since the Xbox version. However, I’m not without complaints. For the Wii version, they’ve done away with the band personalization - you don’t get to create “your” band. Yes, you get to come up with a band name, but the bands playing behind the tracks are generic bands. Figuring that we don’t have completely new band members every single song we do… it’s a little annoying. Also, they’ve streamlined the “rise to glory.” There’s no winning fans or unlocking new venues. While it really doesn’t take away from the play experience, I love having silly goals to work toward - this one included.

No matter the complaints, I look forward to the hours of entertainment this game will provide to us and our friends alike. And, in the meantime, we’re going to continue rocking The Fillmore in our bedroom.

Happy gaming!

For a while now, I’ve had a bit of an issue with so-called games for girls. When you wander through a gaming store, you can see the disparity in games… while there are 1,001 adventure, Sim, history and shooter games for guys, sooner or later you come across the titles for gals: Barbie Shopping Extravaganza, My Pretty Pony Stable or
Kitchen Tycoon.

First of all, I find it a bit demeaning… early on when I discovered my love of games, it wasn’t for such titles. I much rather would take my chances at building an Egyptian empire or kicking some Nazi butt. Why is it that the game companies think that ridiculously frivolous games based on cute puppies that need TLC and trying to find the best sale are the only way to appeal to girls?

Granted, bloody shoot-em-ups may not be the right target, I will be the first to admit that. But, it is possible to find a happy medium. Challenge the girls’ way of thinking. If you must make a feminine action adventure, make it a little more thought-provoking than the race to find who stole your chihuahua and rescue him before he misses his puppy pedicure.

At many points throughout the past 20 or so years, we’ve heard laments that more women aren’t entering the math, science and technology fields. I can’t help but feel very genre-specific marketing only propagates this. According to the game companies, our gender can’t handle more than what our stereotype is: shopping, cute and nurturing. Truthfully, when you put out titles that espouse shopping with the ultimate goal of getting that $500 shirt for 75 percent off, girls aren’t going to so fascinated by the graphics that they’re going to think to themselves, “Wow, this is really amazing… I’d love to make a game like this someday. Maybe I should look at becoming a game designer when I grow up.”