Family Gaming

[Martel]

I rooted around a bit, but I couldn't find a thread on this...in any case, I'm sure if there is one, Stangray/Oliviski (delete as appropriate) will be kind enough to kick me and merge this thread with the existing one. xD

Anyways, we hear a lot about this "family gaming" stuff now, particularly from Nintendo, although Sony and Microsoft are also hopping on the bandwagon now (which is why this thread is in the general section and not the Nintendo section - with PlayStation Move and Kinect trying to compete with the Wii, its not just Nintendo's area anymore)

So, answer me these questions:
1) Do your parents or grandparents or anyone in your family of an older generation play video games?
2) What is your opinion on family gaming?

Answering my own questions...


Do your parents or grandparents or anyone in your family of an older generation play video games?
My mother plays video games. It all started when I got Pokemon Yellow, and I then badgered her for about a month to play Pokemon Red...I was a very persistent, very whiny child (I know, not much has changed) and she relented...and then it became nearly impossible for me to play my Gameboy because she was always on it. It was the same with my DS until she got her own for Christmas...although that still left me trying to get mine off her for about four months. She likes playing puzzle games, Pokemon games and Square Enix RPGs in particular.

My biological father has a PSP, but he uses it for watching movies more than he does for playing games. He only got it to annoy me, because he's always moaning about video games being a waste of time, etc etc. My grandmother has my old DS Lite, although I don't know if she plays it, and my Aunt has a Wii and a DS, and her boyfriend has a PS3.

What is your opinion on family gaming?
I'm in two minds about family gaming. Whilst I think its nice that video games are now seen as more for everyone now, rather than just a "teenage" thing, as such. Its helped get rid of a lot of the negative connotations that were attached to video games when I was younger - they make you more violent, cause you to perform badly at school, rot your brain and turn you into a mindless zombie, etc etc - but I don't like how its diluted the industry.

It feels a lot like companies are focusing more on appealing to these new entrants in the market - everyone other than the people who played video games before the current generation was released - than the existing entrants, whose expectations of companies have dropped dramatically, if the length and difficulty of 90% of games released these days is anything to go by...although that is another topic entirely.

Still, looking at the Wii in particular, its extremely hard to find a game that ISN'T aimed at families or people who only play games "casually" and I can see this happening with the 360 and PS3 (or the next generation of consoles) in the future, simply because those who don't play games a lot outnumber those who do, and, of course, all corporations care about these days is money.

Thats just my (tl;dr) opinion on the subject, though.

 

[Rinoalover]

1) Do your parents or grandparents or anyone in your family of an older generation play video games?

My mom has played a few puzzle games. Like Pokemon Puzzle League(<3) but that's it. No one else in my family, of a generation above me, plays video games.


2) What is your opinion on family gaming?
I am all for Family Gaming, as a concept, but in my opinion it would be a little awkward. Video Games are my, and my bother's, sanctuary away from the family. xD

The Wii is too bent on Family Friendly video games. I would like the XBox 360 and PS3 to have more offline multiplayer games, but not stupid games like "Carnival Games" and "Family Game Fun Games For the Whole Family".

I have been disappointed in the last few years in the quility of video games coming out. Only a few have I truly enjoyed. FFXIII, Bayonetta and Deadly Premonition are a few examples of games I have actually enjoyed. There are loads that were just let downs.

 

[Linnaete]

I don't mod this section Martel, but I don't think I've seen a thread on this yet.

- Do your parents or grandparents or anyone in the family of an older generation play video games?

My dad, being an old Nintendo fan was an enthusiastic fan of the old NES and SNES games back in the day. He would commonly fire up the SNES and have a go at the Zelda games or the Megaman games to challenge himself. He's almost a different person now. He was never that impressed when it came to the Wii and has expressed to me how underwhelmed he is towards a lot of the titles nowadays. So, he doesn't actually touch games anymore now. My mother has a DS Lite and may occasionally play around on Professor Layton and even on my old copy of Animal Crossing and a few other titles, and that's basically it. She only reluctantly agreed to tru out Layton beforehand and has fortunately liked it since. My grandparents exhibit no interest in games at all. xD

- What is your opinion on family gaming?

It's one of these things with pros and cons as usual. When the Wii was still a huge novelty and the most exciting thing on the horizon, I was actually quite eager to try it out. I quite liked the idea of getting the family together and try out what the Wii had to offer, and I thought this would be a chance to get my mother to join in as well as she also expressed some fascination in the Wii back then. And I think this was a rather interesting idea from Nintendo, to break into an untapped market and give the idea that video games aren't just (as Martel has said already) violent pastimes for bedroom dwellers destroying society as we know it.

The cons? Well, the Wii could have seen better days, as well as arguably much of the DS's library. Now Sony and Microsoft are trying to get into the playing field as well with their motion control systems. Much of what I see on the Wii are just half-hearted creations purely for a quick buck. The Wii is quickly become saturated with these kind of games that not only does it drive other gamers away from the machine, but it drives away a lot of the developers as well. Mind you though, games like Mario Kart Wii do hold their own as being good quality family games though. With Move and Kinect out, it's not difficult to see that a lot of similar games will begin seeping through into store shelves, though not to the level of that on the Wii.

 

[Valvalis]

1) Other than my dad playing Tetris on the NES with me when I was a kid, before I moved and ended up seeing him less :/, no one in my family (parents/grandparents etc.) plays video games at all. My inlaws have played a few Bowling/Golf games on the Wii that someone else in their side of the family owns, but only as a social thing when everyone is all hanging out together, and it's kind of like that whole "wow, look at this technology!" thing. I tried talking to my mom about a few games' stories from time to time, and I showed her the FFIV DS intro and she seemed impressed by it, but she's more of the "everyone should be outside doing stuff" mindset and I don't think she would ever want to play games seriously, though she would probably like at least some parts of the FF and other RPG stories that I play if they were ever made into a movie or something, as would my dad Can't speak for the inlaws though, because unlike my parents, they're really not into fantasy.

2) I think it's great that "family gaming" is starting to get older family members to realize that all games can't be generalized as brainwashing evils from the big bad corporations. However, the "darkest" sides of the gaming world I doubt are ever presented to these family members through this new trend, because from what I can tell, most of the newer games on systems designed to be family-oriented, like the Wii, are rated E and have minimal serious thematic elements involved. And I think that's really a shame, because it's really backwards when you think about it; families ought to be exposed to dark and disturbing games together because it will help parents understand how their kids feel about it, and vice versa, and the ethics in serious epic stories could be used as great conversation topics to really get family members thinking and exchanging wisdom or ideas with each other. And the exchange of ideas between people on serious subject matters is both healthy and important to society in general.

I am all for Family Gaming, as a concept, but in my opinion it would be a little awkward. Video Games are my, and my bother's, sanctuary away from the family. xD

Personally, however, I do have to agree with this for my own situation. I've had an open exchange of ideas with my parents over the years for serious movies/stories like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and others, and it feels really healthy to do that sometimes; however, as weird as it sounds, I've always felt like I have a very private relationship with the RPGs I've played, and I do like being able to retreat into those universes from time to time without letting anybody else into them

 

[Sullivan0930]

1. My sister has a wii and my stepdad has a ps3. My sister plays the marios alot and my step dad plays FPS a lot. He sticks to Campaigns on Easy because hes pretty slow with the hand eye coordination
2. my take is if they like playing then let them. Doesnt bother me.