Gaming is not all doom and gloom for the young
The exploratory format of video games gives children a spirit of adventure and the early wisdom to stomach a string of failures between successes
My son was barely four, when he took to the mouse and started clicking away at PC games. As he grew older, he started investing my money and his time on strategy games like Rise of Nations and Rome: Total War. While I wavered between yielding to his requests for a new game and disapproving of his time squandered in moving around those fictional characters, he learnt to ease my nerves by using what I call schoolgrades diplomacy. In other words, he became skilled at using his good grades at school to ease any conflict in my mind about his daily dose of PC and video games.
It was only after he started to write books at the age of 11 that I realised the pivotal role that games played in stirring his deep love for history. In those ostensibly lost hours in front of the computer screen, he had mastered American history and all the Roman war strategies and tactics. More than the knowledge, he learnt the art of storytelling from the games he played. The narratives of recent video games are more complex, layered and filled with excruciating details. Enter a new breed of narrative designers who craft engaging stories for games, giving the gamer an illusion of choice. Young gamers are not the only ones facing choices.
Every parent whose children have forfeited their playtime to Minecraft, has struggled with the predicament of watching the unhinged joy on the latter’s faces while they diligently break blocks, and not knowing where this habit is headed. There is no easy answer.
Gaming has its dark side. The hazardous excesses of massively multiplayer online games on young minds is well-documented. It is no secret that the adrenaline infused games in general are addictive and laced with health risks. It’s not just about the sedentary
lifestyle it espouses, but also about these habits extending well into their young adult years. This then poses serious questions about the gamers’ employability.
Yet gaming is not all doom and gloom for young gamers. They teach us a thing or two about engagement. There are games like Minecraft with a fan following that brands and TV shows dream of. Its fan following includes super stars like Lady Gaga. Minecraft is a cultural phenomenon that has been adapted by schools as a tool for learning subjects like history and math in new engaging ways. When my son was still living in the parallel Minecraft world, I had often wondered how swathes of 3D blocks could engage millions of 5- to 15-year-old gamers, cutting across national and cultural boundaries.
Its exploratory format gives children a spirit of adventure and the early wisdom to stomach a string of failures between successes — sounds similar to an average day in the life of an entrepreneur. In the Minecraft world, the quests are fraught with risks, mimicking real life that tends to be more chequered than we expect. In the Minecraft world, the children are not afraid to try something new. Perhaps as parents, we should not take away from our children the invaluable real-life experiences of facing challenges. Our protective instincts drive us to try and smoothen all rough patches in their lives. On the contrary, they need the space to try and fail outside of our restrictive preconceived notions.
We ought to understand the games’ underlying motivations that stem from earning rewards, overcoming obstacle, attaining goals and going up the leaderboard. The thrill of achieving a series of levels that are cleverly paced at the right degree of difficulty to keep the player eager and happy, and wanting more.
It is admittedly disturbing to see children hacking the enemy to death in a highly immersive digital setting. Shooter games that transform cute and cuddly teens into trigger-happy gamers, help them develop cognitive skills such as concentration and quick thinking. Their brains become more agile in filtering information. This is why such games are used for military training.
Are game companies trapping children into their digital magic lamp or are they helping to release the creative genie in them. The spectrum of video and online games is broad in terms of an immersive experience. As parents, it is important that we understand the adrenaline-filled world of gaming, to know the difference between games that could add value to their lives and those that could destroy them. We should counsel children to not play risky games such as PUBG that amplify violence; encourage them to strike a balance by combining gaming with other pursuits like reading; be fully conscious of their mental and physical state before they take it too far; and have healthy debates about the ethically ambiguous messages in the games.
While we succumb to their pester power, half-suspecting that the promises to maintain study-gaming balance may be broken several times over, we can take heart that healthy dozes of gaming may do our children some good. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if they had similar adventures and challenges in real life?
As parents, it is important that we understand the adrenaline-filled world of gaming, to know the difference between games that could add value to their lives and those that could destroy them.