I have dreamed for a long time about sharing my lifelong love of videogames with my own children. I discovered videogames around age 8, and in addition to being a lot of fun, I really feel like they have helped shape the way I approach problems in life.
It’s about iterative learning. It’s OK to fail while you’re learning. It’s expected that you won’t get it 100% correct the first time. Just keep at it, and you will figure out how to get past each obstacle, one after the other. It also turns out that you can often get through a problem in different ways.
Over time, I hope to introduce my kids to a lot of the amazing experiences I’ve had over the years; Civilization, Final Fantasy 7, Madden, and of course Moria. In the same way that they need to have seen Star Wars, Bill & Ted’s, and Say Anything, they need to understand tech trees, cutscenes, how to read pass coverage, and not to mess with sleeping Dragons (not “big D” ones anyway).
The kids are still pretty little. When I put a controller in their hands, I can tell that it’s still a bit too big for them to comfortably handle. So I’ve been waiting. Patiently.
Until now.
Brett really enjoyed playing Mario Kart last night. It was his first “serious” console gaming session.
I played with him a little over the weekend, but he was having trouble controlling the car. He came up to me last night, pointed at a screenshot on the box, and said “I want to play *that* track, Daddy”. I said “Brett, I have to explain this game to you. They only open up certain tracks at a time. You have to race and beat the ones that are open, and then they open more. If the one you want is already open, then I can put you on it. But if it’s not, you have to open it before you can race it.”
And that was it.
He picked up the controller, and suddenly, instead of wandering all over the place, he was finishing every single race. He isn’t placing yet. That’s not the point. The point is, he has a goal. And now that he has a goal, he knows what needs to be done to achieve it. And he’s having *fun* with it.
He went through 2 full Grand Prix race circuits and finished all 8 courses with minimal guidance from me or anyone (I admit I had to do the bouncing mushroom section, not really a “racing” thing as much as a “Mario” thing). After the first lap of the first race, it was never in question whether he’d complete the races, it was just a matter of time.
He had so much fun with the game. And I had so much fun hanging out with him. I’ve been waiting so long for this moment, and now it’s here and it’s as good as I was hoping it would be.
That’s my boy, Brett. A Mario Karter, just like his old Dad.
FTW!