Video gaming rant

[Phil Thien]

I see a lot of kids (and now adults) spending so much time playing video games that other things in their lives gravely suffer.

I know one kid that dropped out of college last year because he spent so much time on his XBOX or PlayStation or whatever that his grades suffered and he was asked to leave. Gaming console was a "going to college" gift from grandparents!!! Huh?

So when a neighbor asked me about a $2000 gaming PC for his middle school kid, I told him I thought he was out-of-his-mind to buy something like that for a thirteen year old kid, that thirteen year old kids should not be in their rooms for hours at a time playing video games.

And he (neighbor) looked at me like I was from another planet.

I cannot tell you the # of parents that have told me their kids want to be "professional video game testers" or "tournament video game players." I just have to roll my eyes. Are these people really that naïve?

I'm often asked what they should suggest their kids do instead of play games, and I typically suggest that learning to code is a worthwhile endeavor. That it is a creative outlet, can lead to [very] gainful employment, yada yada yada. And then I will usually get the response like, "oh little Timmy isn't real good in math, I don't think he'd be able to do that."

100% of people that tell me they're using video games to launch some sort of a career are either still just playing video games 2-3 years later, or working at GameStop.

"The video game industry: Training our future Wal*Mart employees."

[David Weaver]

If video games were substituted for internet AND TV (as in you didn't do either of those) for a few hours a day, it wouldn't be a big deal. But it's in addition to everything. Back in my day (20-25 years ago), they did give you a chance to experience some competition, but we grew out of them mid-college, you just had other aspirations and lost interest.

Most of my friends no longer play them and haven't for years, but there is the oddball here or there where my wife will complain about a friend's husband who's got a couple of kids and who doesn't want to do anything but play video games all day.

They'll never be a large factor in my house - not because of me (though I'd meter them), but because of my wife, who barely barely even lets my daughter watch TV. There's no way she'll allow video games, and it's not like I care to take up sides so that'll be the rule for the kids.

[Stephen Musial]

My 9 year old son plays Minecraft and Clash of Clans. I play both as well. Minecraft can be good or bad depending on how the person plays it -you spend your time fighting with other people or you spend your time building your world the way you want it. It exercises the brain, teaches spatial relationship as well as pre-planning, planning, and construction. He decides what he wants to build, then how he's going to go about building it, builds it and then we figure out the problems and he rebuilds it. He can then invite friends in and they explore, team up, work on tactics and have fun while doing it.

Those same processes have carried over into school - he gets and assignment, decides what he's going to do, how he's going to do it, does it, and then goes back and looks for flaws/problems and corrects them. His teacher has even told us that she's seen a marked difference in the way he goes about doing things now - much more analytical and confident.

Clash of Clans is more or less the same but you also get to send in Archers, Barbarians, Giants, Dragons to destroy and pillage. If you take the game seriously, you learn offense and defense, how to look for weaknesses and how to develop a plan of attack (literally). It's also a great stress reliever and just plain fun.

[Mike Lassiter]

We got my oldest Grandson the Halo edition Xbox system Christmas before last. They have 4 kids and he hogged that system most of the time. I also had gotten the Xbox Live membership that allowed 4 family members to be on it. His grades in school were very good. Honor Roll and Principles List, so this was his reward for that. Afterwards he and friends played online on Xbox life constantly, using headphones and talking and fussing at each other as the played against each other. I found out that they can be in different households and talk to each other thru headsets as they play. Didn't know this at first and thought he was yelling and talking to himself LOL.

Rarely ever came out of his room expect for food, but his school grades didn't falter any. They moved across the road into a large place and cannot get DSL there. ACROSS THE ROAD - front doors about 250 feet apart! Nothing from ATT, Wisper available. Long story there, but since he cannot play with his friends now on Xbox - he seems to go outside and play and ramble around in the yard and woods that surround them. He had been sort of a recluse always in his room when he could get on Xbox life and play with his friends and now he has more interaction with the family. My wife takes them to school in the morning and has remarked that now he isn't as ill with siblings as before; and she bet he was staying up all night on the Xbox playing and wasn't getting enough sleep. Now he is more likeable to be around. I think the video games become a way for parents to keep kids busy and happy and that keeps some peace in the house. When I was growing up we had to play outside and I would stay out in the woods for hours rambling around. Perhaps same result as now - out of the house playing or hid away in room playing.

[Chris Kennedy]

Several years ago we bought an XBox 360. I have always enjoyed a little video gaming (mainly real-time strategy like Warcraft) and I decided that a console would be nice when someone else needed the computer for legitimate work. We set a rule -- XBox only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and usually for about an hour or so. We relax that rule (a little) when school isn't in session or the weather is particularly nasty and there isn't much else to do.

Chris

[Pat Barry]

[rant]
I cannot tell you the # of parents that have told me their kids want to be "professional video game testers" or "tournament video game players." I just have to roll my eyes. Are these people really that naïve?
Just like the countless scores of kids who want to be professional athletes. If they want to make that happen then they better put in the time, right? Even if we think its unreasonable? Fact is, someone has to do that job, why not them? In fact, whats the difference between that and wanting to be a world class musician or woodworker? Kids need to have a dream to pursue and there are lots of avenues for them to explore.

[David Weaver]

That would be a fine thing to allow kids to think, as long as you inform them that the likelihood of it happening is very low and they should keep that as a dream and not a plan.

I know probably a dozen kids who thought they'd grow up to be video game testers, none of them are video game testers. I knew another half dozen who wanted to be writers, and none of them are writers.

Of the probably two dozen who said they wanted to be engineers, half of them are engineers (the other half are folks who washed out of engineering in college and ended up being secondary ed math teachers or something).

[Phil Thien]

That would be a fine thing to allow kids to think, as long as you inform them that the likelihood of it happening is very low and they should keep that as a dream and not a plan.

I'd go so far as to say that career (video game tester) is a myth perpetuated by video game developers to give the parents of their hooked junkies some sort of hope.

You see ads saying things like "high school diploma required" but then they go on to indicate that applicants must possess experience working w/ various debugging tools and version control/bug-tracking apps.

Here are some typical ads:

https://career4.successfactors.com/career?company=EA&career_job_req_id=35122&career_ns=job_listing&navBarLevel=JOB_SEARCH&jobPipeline=Indeed

http://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=d2dd00c37ebf1342&q=Video+Game+Tester&tk=18m8277d619vi1ll&from=web

http://hire.jobvite.com/CompanyJobs/Careers.aspx?k=Job&c=qpa9Vfwn&j=oiWLYfwH&s=Indeed

They're clearly looking for coders with varying levels of experience, not kids that like to play games.

[Phil Thien]

BTW, it is clear to me that members here don't let their kids play games 24/7. I really have no problem w/ kids playing an hour here and there. Or having their friends over for a night and playing from dusk until dawn.

It is the kids that never ever stop, and their parents that don't put their feet down, that blow my mind.

[David Weaver]

20 years ago, there were some jobs for people who played video games, but at the time, they were 70-80 hours a week (according to the stories on anand tech or tom's hardware, can't remember which) and they were guys playing parts of games pre-alpha or alpha (i'm not a coder, so that might not be the right terminology for early development), and playing a game that's literally filled with bugs and partially developed isn't like playing against your friends on something.

I will agree with the above that the problem solving can be good. It can be gotten elsehwere, though. Whether or not kids will tolerate getting it from elsewhere, I don't know.

Becoming socially backwards or inward focused won't serve the kids well, as much as most of us would not like to believe it, supporting yourself is going to involve more and more soft skills, even for technical jobs - the ability to find business and maintain relationships, etc.

[Moses Yoder]

My wife spends hundreds of hours every week doing counted cross stitch, and I do woodworking and odd jobs around the house. I am planning on building a kitchen but we are going to have to save a couple years, do it in stages. I am not sure how that is any better, or accomplishes any good. Our present kitchen has served us for 13 years, the cross stitch pictures just hang on the wall, and none of the furniture is necessary. It is basically just wasted time.

[David Weaver]

Tell my wife that redoing the kitchen is like video games. Maybe that will get me out of it.

You might be able to save some money by taking up video games and slow your wife down a little by convincing her to do bobbin lace.

[Moses Yoder]

What is the point?

287918

[David Weaver]

Enjoyment for your wife, I'd guess.

But she is old enough to decide for herself. Kids don't have mature enough rational judgment to make those decisions entirely on their own.

[Chuck Wintle]

I see a lot of kids (and now adults) spending so much time playing video games that other things in their lives gravely suffer.

I know one kid that dropped out of college last year because he spent so much time on his XBOX or PlayStation or whatever that his grades suffered and he was asked to leave. Gaming console was a "going to college" gift from grandparents!!! Huh?

So when a neighbor asked me about a $2000 gaming PC for his middle school kid, I told him I thought he was out-of-his-mind to buy something like that for a thirteen year old kid, that thirteen year old kids should not be in their rooms for hours at a time playing video games.

And he (neighbor) looked at me like I was from another planet.

I cannot tell you the # of parents that have told me their kids want to be "professional video game testers" or "tournament video game players." I just have to roll my eyes. Are these people really that naïve?

I'm often asked what they should suggest their kids do instead of play games, and I typically suggest that learning to code is a worthwhile endeavor. That it is a creative outlet, can lead to [very] gainful employment, yada yada yada. And then I will usually get the response like, "oh little Timmy isn't real good in math, I don't think he'd be able to do that."

100% of people that tell me they're using video games to launch some sort of a career are either still just playing video games 2-3 years later, or working at GameStop.

"The video game industry: Training our future Wal*Mart employees."


Phil,

If all video games and consoles disappeared tomorrow it could prove to be a good thing for western society. Do kids really need to be inside playing these games?

[Larry Frank]

Unfortunately, it seems to be either the video games or the smart phone. I see so many adults who are absolutely glued to their phones. Here comes the RANT -- I hate it when I am sitting talking with someone and they get a text and immediately start reading it and responding. I get up and leave.

It is unreal that some parents spend so much time and money to give their kids an expensive game console, the games and the online subscription. I guess it frees the parents from actually being parents and doing things with their children. My hats off to the parents who actually monitor what their kids are doing and guide them properly. The kids may not be happy with it but will be better off in the long run.

One of the things that I like about woodworking is it is a problem solving activity as nothing every goes exactly to plan.

I know some people who are in the video game business as programmers. The good high paying jobs go to a very few who are extremely well educated and dedicated. They often work 60-80 hours a week to get the games out on schedule.

[Brian Elfert]

We used to have an extremely overweight kid in the Boy Scout troop. He refused to go to summer camp the first year because he could not be away from his computer for a week. He went to summer camp the second year and he didn't really like it. I think he quit before the third summer camp. He was the one who really needed the physical activity of camping, but we can't force boys to participate. I think he weighed more than any of the adults that went camping.

[Jim Matthews]

someone has to do that job, why not them?
What job? $10 an hour for six months and then what?
It's not training with broad applications.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/03/29/the-tough-life-of-a-games-tester


In fact, whats the difference between that and wanting to be a world class musician or woodworker? Kids need to have a dream to pursue and there are lots of avenues for them to explore.

Are you really comparing button mashing to playing music? Really?

Kids need to pursue dreams that contribute to the rest of us, there are already plenty of consumers.
As an avid fan of the Borderlands franchise I can tell you that it provides exactly zero benefits to the life of me or my family beyond mindless fun.

If you think that advanced skill at playing a game against a computer is on par with woodworking, you're just getting started in your exploration of craft and your own latent talents.
Each unique expression of a capable master of their skill is a new result. How many ways do video games end?

Pursuit of advanced video game studies have the same utility as Film Studies majors; not much, and without demand.