Image: Laser Romance blog
The Laser Romance blog recently posted a story by Justin Richardson about a father and son who play all sorts of video games together. The gaming took off after Colby was diagnosed with whooping cough, and spent time in the I.C.U. as a young child. The doctors told Colby’s parents he had to stay inactive for the next few months. The son, Colby, soon discovered Half Life sitting on his father’s lap, moving the mouse while his father, Jeff worked the keyboard. They went on to play Diablo, Team Fortress, Tribes and more together. Most parents do have questions about how to “moderate” our child’s online play and how to judge if it’s safe or not. But Jeff says he doesn’t feel the need to act like a moderator dad, because his son understands the difference between real life and the online world.
Me [JR]: But these are still real people and they can still say hurtful things, right?
Jeff: He’s a well rounded kid and he’s been taught well. I don’t worry about him in situations where somebody is being a d-bag on a server because he’s been around enough gamers that are the good guys. We’ve been really lucky in our clan and we’ve had a lot of guys who watched out for him even when I wasn’t around. And so as he’s grown up he’s learned not to be one of those jerks and knows how to deal with the guys that are.
Jeff goes on to mention later that several of the guys in their Team Fortress Classic clan actually came to stay at their house. That changed his wife’s opinion about what kind of people play these games online.
Richardson then makes a great point: that is the definition of a good gaming community. A place where gamers take care of other gamers, show them the rules, the game-play, the ways of the force, if you will. In this case, it was a father and his son gaming together. Organically incorporating our children into our gaming: I like it! And regarding online safety, the idea is to know what your child is doing online. As Jeff the dad says, “But a lot of the time he spends online now he spends with a lot of his real life buddies from school. I figure those guys will start clanning together one of these days. So I don’t worry as much because I know most of the kids he’s on with.” So knowledge is safety, geek moms and geek dads. Don’t make me quote Yoda again!
One other important point is that when Cody pwns his father in a video game, he doesn’t want to challenge his dad’s authority in real life.
Jeff: Nah, he’s a good kid but I can straighten that . . . out in a hurry. Can’t I?
Colby: Yeah.
Now that’s a parenting and gaming relationship anyone would be proud to have. Check out this new gaming paradigm at Laser Romance.
