My thoughts on gaming…

November 26, 2014| Jason Michael Reynolds|6 Minutes
November 26, 2014|By Jason Michael Reynolds|6 Minutes

My thoughts on gaming…

I know there are a lot of parents out there who feel that video games are detrimental to children. They shorten attention spans, lower IQ’s, “screen suck” the life out of our kids, cause strife, stress, and division.

I get it. I really do. But there is also the other side of the coin.

It can also be where socially awkward kids feel socially accepted, or be an ice breaker for new friends.

For me, video games helped me bond with my friends when I was growing up. Honestly, I think boys (and guys in general) feel a certain camaraderie when they play video games together. ie. putting their heads together when trying to “beat” a game they have been working on for a long time, or playing a sports game against eachother. And it is the same for many girls as well.

Oftentimes that “camaraderie” would break down into fighting about the game, but the same can be said about fighting about basketball, or boardgames, or anything really. My parents disciplined us for fighting about ANYTHING.

But gaming often inspires teamwork and encourages friendships as well.

I used to trade video games with my friends, much like other kids traded baseball cards or “pogs” (remember those??),  I had a Sega Genesis, and my neighbor had a Super Nintendo. One time, we even traded gaming systems for a time.

I remember actually being “scared” of one level in “The Legend of Zelda” because one of the bad guys could grab your character and make him start from the beginning (negating all the work you had done to that point). I would ask my dad to help me with a specific room.

And then one day, my Dad started his own “Zelda” character. I used to get so excited seeing how far he had gotten. I still remember when he told me he had gotten to “Ganon.” But the final boss had killed him and he didn’t know how to beat him.

I used to make my dad play this room for me. If the bad guys get you, they make you start the level over.

So, I did some research (Nintendo Power magazine) and my dad and I figured it out together.
It is still a fond memory for me.

Gaming was also one way I could connect with older kids and older members of my family. My older cousins used to live with us when I was in grade school. There isn’t much else for a 6th grader to bond with a high school Junior (except for occasional Nerts tournaments).

So we would play video games together.

Later on in life, video games would become an integral part of how my wife and I got married.

There was a highly addictive, highly fun game called Super Puzzle Fighter (a competitive puzzle game) that we all loved to play. And even when Mama and I weren’t doing too well as a couple (not even on speaking terms), my roommate could always get Mama to:

1. go snowboarding with him and all my friends and
2. stay after they got back from snowboarding to play Super Puzzle fighter together.

Later on, I realized how much of a GEM I found with Mama. While many other women would force their significant others to either cut back their gaming time, or simply not game while they were around, Mama would pick up a controller and join in.

As a matter of fact, Mama started her own “Legend of Zelda” game on my computer. One day, I decided to ‘beat’ the game with her character. When she came back the next day and saw that I had beaten the game with her character, she was NOT HAPPY about it (Zelda saves the state of your game from the last time you played). She didn’t get to play the remaining content.

Mama used to play video games with me and my friends back in college.

After I beat the game using her character, Mama has since named every subsequent character “DONTPLAYME”

After we were married, Mama began working night shifts as a nurse and I worked from home as a graphic designer. When Mama had her days off (nights off), she had to keep her same sleep schedule. And since I could work from home, I turned my sleep schedule around as well so we could spend time together. And what did we do?

Well, there’s not a lot of places open. We played video games together. Those were our “date nights.”

Until we had kids. Kids change everything. 🙂

I still have my original Nintendo, and my Sega Genesis, to go with an N64, a Playstation, and a Wii.

We only use the Wii. I don’t even have to limit the time for Jonny as he gets pretty bored of it pretty quickly.

But I digress.

Jonny likes to play video games on my phone sometimes. And there are some things he can’t figure out with those games. And I will help him…

…just like my Dad helped me.