Letters to the Editor: Of Love and Games

In response to “Like Gamer, Like Son” from The Escapist Forum: Great article.

I’m looking forward to hearing these bonding stories from the next generation of gamers, the kids who will grow up not knowing a world devoid of metroids and blue shells.

– Graham

It used to be the same for me, only with my brother 🙂
He loved watching me play the RE games, it freaked him out too!

Some of my fondest memories of hanging out with him consist of me sitting at my computer playing WoW, and him sitting to my right playing my Xbox 360. We would sporadically take turns to say “watch this, this is so awesome!” and involve each other a little in what we were doing. Good times.

– Fragamoo

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In response to “A Multi-Player Family” from The Escapist Forum: The take-away message of this article ISN’T specifically about families and parents, although the makeup frames the point: a “gamer” is someone who plays games. It’s not someone who logs insane hours in Wow or who likes to start flame wars about console choice. People frequently badmouth “casual” games, or “soft” games for kids, but really, if you’re playing a game, playing it frequently, are good at it (or are getting better), and ENJOY playing it, aren’t you a gamer? At any age?

– Scopique

Nice article. On these forums and on loads of others across the net we’ve gone around and around on what quantifies you as a gamer, and how willing we are to let people share that tag, but I think you’re right – however you play games, and whatever those games may be, you’re a gamer. And lets face it, if the people who purchased our very first consoles for us now want a quick round on Rock Band 2 or on pretty much anything on the DS, who are we to say no? 🙂

– Dean Reilly

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In response to “An Over-the-Shoulder Perspective on Gaming” from The Escapist Forum: The article was great, but it made me quite depressed. Growing up as only child and having my parents’ undivided attention (or un-attention for that matter) at all times is a thing, that I’m forever grateful and bitter about at the same time. I liked being by myself, not needing to share everything with a sibling, but somewhere deep inside I know I wanted a brother, and I think I will never forgive my parents for that.

The lack of a brother was most conspicuous in gaming. Although I liked playing the single player games and I did have fun when some friends happened to be over at our place, but every time I looked at competitive games like Street Fighter, FIFA, or the “multiplayer” option in some other game’s menu, I felt a weird emptiness. My parents never cared about video games, only saw my love for them as a puberty thing, a nonsense that didn’t seem to pass when I turned 20, so I never had anyone to share my gaming experiences with, no one to beat me to a pulp in Tekken 3 or play co-op with in any game. For that, I’m forever sad…

– Playbahnosh

I just wanted to say that this article might be my favorite I’ve read on The Escapist. Being the second born of three sons, I had a similar relationship with my older brother. He was very much like the one described in the article growing up. He was the first in our family to get into video games, and I followed. I’d watch him play for hours and wait for my turn. It was some sort of unspoken bond between us.

I guess this article reminded me of myself and my relationship with my brothers, especially my older one. It provided a great context for reflection. This is probably the only article that’s actually made me misty-eyed. It elicited some emotional response from me.

To the author: Well done and thank you.

– apdomke

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In response to “Hard-Wired for Gaming” from The Escapist Forum: It really puts videogames in a different light. We’ve all heard of how games can be used as learning aids (I personally increased my vocabulary through playing a heckuva lot of RPG’s) and therapeutic alternatives (I read that some doctors are using Half-Life mods to help patients who have difficulty with path finding). Not to mention that there are surgeons who play Halo in a regular basis to keep their hands and reflexes great, since some of the non-invasive surgeries use a camera and a set of robotic manipulators (much like a videogame).

Great article. It’s now one of the best I’ve seen in The Escapist.

– Syntax Error

Good article. I found it particularly interesting since my son Ryan has autism. Growing up in a household of gamers (myself, his mum and his twin sister) he has been playing various games since about Pearce’s age, but seems to have different tastes from Pearce. His favourite games are exploration based and he will happily discard his mission in favour of poking around obscure corners of the map.

Does your nephew literally discuss wanting to one day design games? Or is it that he wants to make games right now and this has been interpreted in that way by his family? I ask because my experience has been that autistic children at his age have trouble discussing events in the future unless they’re repeated from known events in the past.

The game Ryan seems to have got the most from is Super Bust-a-Move. To begin with he just made towers of coloured balls for aesthetic reasons. Then he slowly began to understand the rules. I reckon in another couple of months he’ll be beating his sister at the game… which isn’t going to go down well!

– Dom Camus

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In response to “Parents Just Don’t Understand” from The Escapist Forum: Wait a minute there. I’m 46. I’ve played videogames since 1980. Yours isn’t the videogame generation – OURS was. And it’s not a generational gap – some folks (most folks) just don’t like videogames – that’s the same with twenty year-olds as it is with 40 year-olds or 80 year-olds. Everyone my age made a conscious decision to like or dislike videogames – it wasn’t something we simply didn’t have access to – pong was in arcades in the 1970s, console gaming and personal computers that played games were available in 1980. I had a ZX Spectrum PC and an Intellivision when I was a teenager – and MY dad (who was born in 1931) played games on both. So let’s just stop this ‘parents can’t grasp gaming’ nonsense. Maybe yours can’t, but mine could and my daughter has a dad who plays videogames much more than she does.

– Beery

My mother and I both raise one eyebrow when looking at the other’s favorite pastime. She’s a civil war re-enactor who makes and sells period clothing. I’m a pretty avid gamer (tabletop, video, you name it you got it). Both of us have dipped into the other’s hobby on occasion and found it not for us: I spent a summer wearing a corset and hoops to please her, she tried valiantly to beat Donkey Kong Country when I was a kid. I was miserable the entire time I was laced up, she never got past the second level.

Whenver the two of us get into a discussion it becomes clear that we each think the other’s hobby is a waste of time and a huge “gold sink”, that the other’s interest is boring and of no lasting value. Both of our interests are at core experiential… you’re left with precisely the same thing when you’re done with a video game as you are at the end of a successful bicentennial parade: satisfaction.

Sometimes I’m not sure why we can’t admit how alike we are.

– Solipsis