Can you believe it? Summer is right around the corner. Time to start thinking about our kids’ summer activities. Summer camp, Little League and, much to some of our chagrin, video games.
My kid loves video games. It started with Super Mario Brothers. Then came the Minecraft era. Now he is obsessed with Overwatch on X-Box One that allows you to play online. I occasionally watch him play, noting his amazing dexterity and rapt attention while winning battles against a cast of crazy fictional characters I can neither name nor explain.
Left to his own devices, he can literally spend an entire day playing this game. Sometimes we adults lament how much our kids play video games, sacrificing the warm fresh air of a spring or summer day; but watching him takes me back 30 or so years to the days of Atari 2600.
I remember when games like Pac Man, Defender, and Missile Command came out, my friends and I would also waste days playing, even though the sun was high in the sky, waiting in queue to get our chance to best the last highest score.
Now, the technology has changed. Now he is developing friends in ways we hadn’t considered back in the early 80s. He can create private groups with his friends from school. As he plays, I can hear him laughing and sometimes screaming in excitement. It’s actually really cool.
When our kids are playing video games, they are often talking to friends about more than just the game but also their lives. My, how things change and are oddly the same.
Summer, here we come!
I am Joe Flynn, and that’s my perspective.
