GamerParenting: The Family That Frags Together

8/13/2008 7:04 PM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 2

Some years back, Microsoft launched Xbox Live with a line delivered by Puff Daddy/P. Diddy/Sean "Puffy" Combs: "It's good to play together."

Indeed it is.

We keep reading about how gamers are aging, how parents are playing games with their kids, how videogames aren't for social rejects and loners any more. The problem is, all too often, when they say games are getting social they're talking about Internet multiplayer. Now, don't get me wrong, I like to mix it up in Battlefield: Bad Company, Team Fortress 2 and even Grand Theft Auto IV. Xbox Live, multiplayer shooters, MMORPGs, Uno over Live and other online gaming experiences are all bona fide phenomena. But let's face it, aside from some notable exceptions (like playing in a group, a guild or a team of some kind) playing Deathmatch isn't social. It's single-player gaming with simpler motives and more intelligent opponents -- in some cases.

Competitive and cooperative play have been an integral part of gaming since its inception. (The first videogame, even before Pong, was a two-player version of table tennis played on an oscilloscope.) In the old days you could challenge friends to Pong, Atari's arcade Football (where the players were literally Xes and Os) or Gauntlet, one of the first co-operative four-player quarter-eating machines. My friends and I worked together in Ikari Warriors and Smash TV and against each other in Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. We fought side-by-side in arcade gun games, and when we were at home or in the dorms, it was all about competitive sports games. There's a real joy in cooperative play, which is why it makes me sad it's so rare.

The new Kung Fu Panda game joins Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Boom Blox, and other great kid-friendly titles in offering four-player support. But I'm still mystified that otherwise awesome games like LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones are limited to two players. This is fine if both children are of equal age and ability, but a four-player mode would let the parent (or parents) play with them; as a guide to handle the hard parts or just as another participant in the fun.

Burnout Paradise offers rich multiplayer but I don't want to drive with the kinds of people I find online. The city is gorgeous and on the Xbox 360 the co-op split-screen in Burnout Revenge worked just fine. The ability to drive around at will, meeting up and racing through the virtual city without an explicit goal might prove to be more fun than beating Gr33tzM0nkee in a Road Rage race.

Like many Americans, I have a nuclear family. In this small brick house we have a dog, a cat, a boy, a girl, a man and a woman. We all like videogames -- save the dog and cat who are more into board games. I firmly believe that the family that plays together, stays together, yet all too often too many of us are sitting on the couch not playing. If I can use one Wii remote to play Bowling with four players in Wii Sports, then why is Wii Play limited to two players?