During Thursdays class we discussed some peoples experiences with gaming with their parents and how they have perceived as. As a kid growing up my parents would have an heavy emphasis on limited time playing videogames. My parents were not exactly against the types of games I was playing but just video gaming in general. They deemed it too addicting. My parents were not opposed playing video games at a social setting so I would often play with my younger brother. Some of the games I would play were mario kart, wii sports and Mario party. They were just opposed gaming by myself with my “online friends” or by myself.
When I told them about attending Critical video game studies, they were quite surprised, and quite supportive in the most sense. Normally, when I would buy video games even money by parents would get especially upset claiming it was a “waste of money” or “do you know how many people are starving and you are buying video games”. For this class I informed them that I would buy all the games myself but my parents insisted on paying for them. My guess is that in pursuit of an academic setting they are not opposed.
I guess the main takeaway I have is that my parents are not super supportive on me gaming but they accept it as a hobby of mine. Nonetheless, for this class, it really opened up my eyes to the casualness of gaming. In retrospective, I guess I was always competitive and gamed a lot as a kid hence could be called a “gamer”. However, there are lots of people who do not pursue the term gamer as seriously as me. People can play more casually and not hours on a video game weekly.
Another aspect that this class has showed me is that video games can also be analyzed and studied. I had no idea that people could study video games for a living or even as a hobby. I am not talking about the people who do game reviews like IGN. But people who write papers and textual analysis for academic purposes. I guess what I am trying to say is that there is a whole element to video games rather than just playing it. Lots of efforts and time are spent behind it. Great class would highly recommend it in the future.
Very interesting read! I find it interesting that I always find myself having to defend CVGS more-so from my academic peers than my family members.
Totally agree, I think the world is still transitioning from completely being able to embrace video games and their benefits to culture and society as a whole. I remember when people started following video games whenever their favorite artist or influencer would vouch for it. The second wave was when video games started showcasing how lucrative they could be with the emergence of twitch streamers. Especially with how thins are going now with this metaverse, I think the world will gain a much higher tolerance or video games.