Virescent

Last week I was invited to a LadyGeek session @ The Saatchi Gallery, London to discuss Women & Gaming – specifically the mother’s role and attitude towards gaming and the family as the “gatekeeper” of the lounge.. which worringly made me think of Ghostbusters. We also had a videokinect link up with Kudo Tsunoda, Creative Director of Xbox, and the opportunity to try out the latest Xbox Kinect games . . not due to be released until Autumn. Even better, the event being after school hours, I was invited to bring my sons along – cue crazy excitement in our household!!

I casually interviewed mum friends re gaming/ xbox kinect beforehand and crowdsourced some opinions on Twitter. The results were overwhelmingly positive towards Xbox Kinect. The mums wouldn’t have chosen the XBox themselves as the cost would have put them off initially in comparison to other gaming systems so the XBox had arrived courtesy of Dad/ Kids vote. However once the Xbox had taken up residence in the family home they were now changing opinions – as one mum expressed it “My order of preference for activities at home goes like this:

no.1 Be outside doing something, no.2 Be inside making something, no.3 Go on the Xbox, no.4 Watch TV as a final resort, whereas previously TV and computer games were on a par for last resort.”

Interesting.

Our role as parents is to equip our children with the life skills they need to survive once they leave the family unit and the majority of parents would agree that being physical outside, making stuff/ crafts, attending school, socialising with real people in the real world, learning about healthy food etc all fit this bill. But, we struggle with describing gaming and TV as activities which are “useful” to our children and generally, struggle to convince our children that they should spend less time gaming/watching TV and more time being active and/ or creative, learning from the myriad of opportunities which are available to our extremely fortunate offspring.

In my Twitter conversations it came up that it wasn’t always “gaming” which had negative overtones as far as parents were concerned but more often the content of some of the games. Stereotyping of genders and races were flagged up – too many “perfect” female bodies and also the levels of violence depicted.

So I haven’t really played any computer games recently, apart from a brief flirtation with Angry Birds, the last time I seriously indulged in hours of gaming was a while ago when I was so obsessed I used to dream about Tetris bricks and blocks. I just wanted the top score in the student union, no big deal. And Street Fighter, which was fairly communal. Do I play computer games with my kids? Not since they learnt how to navigate a pc sufficiently well that I didn’t have to keep interfering. Do my kids play computer games? Yes, on my phone, ipad, laptop, friends consoles and gaming systems. Do I check what games they have played? Not always. Have they been exposed to games with ridiculous levels of violence? I’m sure the 11 & 9 year olds have been at friend’s houses. Do I discuss with them that I think the levels of violence in those games are ridiculous? Yes.

Back to the event! We had a good round table discussion with Kudo during which good questions were asked by mums about the levels of “control” avavilable on the XBox. Basically each member of the family can have a different account and different levels of access can be granted to each family member – e.g. no 18 games, no 15 rated films etc AND there is a “time-out” control so kids can play – a time can be agreed e.g 30 mins after which the XBox switches off, no arguments ( you hope!) It’s also possible to access a history to check what was played on, for how long. Sounds good.

My own questions at the event and thoughts around gaming /game content stem from an inspiring TED talk I saw a while ago from Jane McGonigal she wants us to increase our game playing online from 3 billion hours a week to 21 billion hours a week in order to solve some of the huge challenges and obstacles facing humanity over the next century. I love this kind of “out there” thinking. Cooperation, collaboration and inspiration are some of the skills she quotes that gamers learn but also they become, through hours of parctice “virtuosos” in their field… the question is what field? Strikes me as unharnessed, unparalleled opportunity for learning. Apparently the average american child will have spent 10,000 hours gaming by the age of 21.. approx the same amount of time spent in full time education and the same amount of time Malcolm Gladwell, he of Tipping Point fame, claimed that we need (10,000 hours) of study by the age 0f 21 to become a master in our chosen subject. What an opportunity!!! McGonigal cites four attributes which she feels gamers have become masters of: urgent optimism, social fabric, blissful productivity and epic meaning. You’ll have to watch the video to see the full definition but effectively these are all attributes I would like to encourage in my children. She also mentions games she has been involved in creating at the Institute of the Future namely World Without Oil, the important part being that participants in the game kept the “good” habits they picked up during game playing over 3 years afterwards.

So here we go, I would agree that I would like my children to be involved in this type of potentially “world changing” gaming, “social” gaming at it’s best.. learning transferable skills which have the potential to have postive real life impact not only on their lives but on the lives on others. And when I put this to Kudo at XBox he responded very positively that “the future games we are planning focus on getting families to play together and creating positive real life social impact”. That’s a future of gaming I am looking forward to and given Kudo’s interaction via video screen with the kids at the event (see photos below) maybe that’s something he will manage to achieve.

Let’s not skirt around the fact that we know we’re being sold to and Microsoft have realised the potential to be gained in making gaming a “good” family activity, instead, let’s be more vocal and guide Microsoft by telling them what games would convince us to buy into their products.. This is what the companies of the future are supposed to be about: listening and creating products consumers want rather than peddling us something we don’t want or need with glam advertising. So if Microsoft want to sit up and listen that has to be a good thing.

After the debate we headed off to play ..obviously the boys had a whale of a time and there was no time limit this time round as they played on the new Stars Wars Kinect game, the new Sports season 2, Forza 4  and more – not due out until the autumn

Not having a “controller” is amazing, one of those “ooh, the future is here” kind of moments. Having your legs measured in “Your Shape, fitness evolved” was slightly odd and I’m afraid @emermccourt and I did relapse into photocopier phenomenon mode at one point. I must also mention that I played on “Gears of War 3″ (see photo below) I thought I should..but after the freedom of Kinect suddenly being forced to twiddle buttons was annoying and as for the level of violence, um, I really wasn’t horrified. Shooting at weird monsters ( some of which I couldn’t tell whether they were my comrades or not, obviously the scuttling large woodlice weren’t but…) and having them explode in blood honestly wasn’t that bad. Though clearly a very addictive game for some (see below) I doubt I’ll spend much more time on it!

So, as for the XBox itself, well, it looks like it’s aiming to be your family portal to the world of electronic entertainment, whether it’s computer games, the latest film releases, tv, music or social media it’s wrapping it all in one accessible package which could be difficult to resist.

My impression days later is that Kinect is truly aiming to be a more interactive family experience which has the potential to introduce kids, and families, to a positive side of gaming. By this I mean it could seek to regain the shared experience of family groups of all ages & sizes playing together and enjoying time together but in a very much 21st Century style as opposed to ( but still to be enjoyed!) playing cards, dominoes,  scrabble, or barn dancing (for example!)  together.. which to the yoof of today may seem old fashioned activities but the sharing, the competition, the challenges and the fun are experiences we want to have with our families as they create harmony and bonding in the longer term. So, parents – get up and play! By all means keep forcing your kids to play cards and scrabble but engage with them in the medium of their time too.

For my own part the XBox can stay. We’ll experiment.. as a family. That’s quite a step for a family which doesn’t have a TV but I’m keen to have greater regulation over my children’s computer gaming experiences, the less YouTube is involved and dodgy pop-ups the better, as far as I am concerned. When they are older – well, that’s up to them but for the time being I am going to get involved and attempt to guide them as well I can. I sat through the new Transformers in 3D with them on Saturday evening and I have to admit I enjoy being forced to do this stuff I wouldn’t actually choose to do, so if they want to laugh at me doing “Dance Central” bring it on!

My thanks to LadyGeek who continue to break down barriers where it comes to stereotypical views of women and technology.

See more  PHOTOS from the event, some are slow mo shots and some great cartoons from @drawnalism

Below are some quotes (to me!) on Twitter from parents.. Dear Microsoft: Please read!!

@emmajell Games shd be Social, challenging, teach how to win & lose, planning, numeracy & literacy,  concentration etc

@emmajell How about Angry Birds with overarm bowling action?

@emmajell it just needs to make clever games, less relentless violence, more problem solving, more story, lots of action and girls will like

@emmajell but the last thing we need is a chick lit approach to gaming. The best games, like best novels and films, will have wide appeal

@emmajell We need to move on from the digital equivalent of guns and doll’s houses.

@emmajell  they all look like Lara Croft #womenstereotypedingaming

@emmajell It’s not about avoiding the wrong games as much as finding the right ones.

@emmajell need some female protagonists. No reason why detective in next LA Noire type game can’t be a woman.

But some still think “@emmajell  These games are corrupting kids at their most sensitive time in life!!”

Very interesting research on Children’s motivations for game playing – plus thoughts on “how to maximize potential benefits and to identify and minimize potential harms” which must be the modern day parent’s mantra