Thanksgiving and videogames

Silversprung's entry about an encounter with a fellow student blogger over Thanksgiving break reminded me of two incidents I had over the break. Since taking this class, everything technology-related reminds me of this class. If I run across an article about videogames or blogging or anything remotely related, I suddenly think of this class. I'm beginning to get a little creeped out by this, it's literally everywhere! I wonder why I didn't notice these things before.

Anyway, onto the first incident. A good friend of mine writes articles for Escapist Magazine, a gaming magazine, and I told him about our class. He got super excited that we were actually learning about ludologists and all the theory behind video games. When I asked him about his thoughts on the gamer and academic divide, he confirmed a lot of what we'd discussed before. He said that in his experience, the more time a person spends gaming, the less time they devote to the theory and critique behind the games. I'd thought that perhaps there could be some kind of harmonious interaction between the two areas, but even he thought I was being naive. Hmm...I still remain hopeful, but I guess reality does make it hard to achieve.

Another incident: Every Thanksgiving, my family and all our relatives go to my aunt's house for dinner. When we were little, all my cousins and I--since we're all about the same age--used to play games together and run around the backyard. We actually spent time together playing. As we got older, though, I noticed that while the adults talked, all my boy cousins would go to the computer room and position themselves in front of the computer playing CS or some other video game. It's become a habit for them for the last few years, and I never really thought much of it. This year, though, as I was in my cousin's gameroom, I hovered over his shoulder for the first time and asked him questions about what he was playing. He was playing WoW, and this was actually the first time I'd seen the game being played, and as he tried to explain what he was doing, I got confused and left. And I realized then why I don't like video games, and consequently why my relationships with my cousins have changed over the years. It's a little sad that we don't all hang out anymore like we used to as cousins, and that they spend all the "family time" poring over games, but I don't think I'm alone in this. But as for my fam, it seems like holiday gathering time involves the boys playing their video games in the gameroom and everyone else eating, talking, merry-making.

It's just interesting thinking about some more of the social effects of videogames...and how it's infiltrated into every nook and cranny, including Thanksgiving dinner.