Steamy Summer
Who doesn’t partake in a Steam Sale summer? I mean as a gaming dad I remember the Steam sales being much more lucrative than today, but it’s still a great chance to pick up some hidden gems.
That being said, I won’t be adding to my backlog, but rather consider games that my kids might want. Or better yet, get some games that we will both enjoy and talk about. Some ones I have in mind are City Skylines (for the Sim City aspect), oldies like Age of Empires or even dabble in some Civilization.
Yes, those examples mentioned are some pretty hard games for any kid under 10, but it’s more about learning mechanics, introducing math, strategy and decision-making, while having a bit of fun.. and no nuking foes with Gandhi.
Unlimited screen time?
Came across this article with a fellow dad and his interesting perspective on screen time and his family. He takes the angle that games are teaching kids about various subjects that they may not encounter in everyday life and that parents should educate themselves on what video games have to offer.
There’s also mention of the age restrictions on games as rated by ESRB. I agree that those ratings are only meant as a guide, and that every parent should inspect the game to understand what their child will experience.
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/dad-says-video-games-good-1626621
Emotional controller
Having kids can be an awful lot for any parent. You will quickly learn that difficulty increases as kids grow, and like any good video game, you need to prepare, harness and craft the right equipment for the quest. Well, it looks like a startup in the United States is looking into creating another tool for your parental toolbox that looks at how kids cope and deal with emotional distress. As a new dad that games, this kind of idea of involving games as therapy is very interesting and hope to see it develop and grow in the future!
More Fears and Tears? Mightier Creates An Emotional Playground For Children
Becoming a Google prodigy
Came across this story about a young kid that had developed an App Store top 10 by the age of 13. He was supporting his family with the app income, and started developing more and more apps. However, not every success story is without its faults. His grades started slipping and has mentioned that he had stopped ‘being a kid’ at one point. The New Dads wish him well; he sounds like a smart cookie and can help or engage a lot of people out there.
https://www.redbull.com/us-en/wonderkid-google-gaming-social-network
Fortnite and $100,000,000
If you were ever somewhat serious about esports, now is the time to jump in. Epic going all in and offering $100,000,000 in prize money for the 2018-2019 competitive Fortnite play.
Dad reflexes aren’t up to snuff within this game, so the attention will be turned to the kids to make up for it!
Easy (dad) mode enabled.
Back in the day, a hard game was something to conquer; something to practice, to strategize, to solve.
Nowadays, that goes out the window.
Fatherhood put extreme time constraints on gaming with the little responsibility that rolls into your world; and to have a game be so difficult that it takes your time and patience, it’ll be a game that ends up in your backlog, incomplete. Games should offer easy modes without punishment as well. Far too often, games will only have the best ending or the best gear available when you select the harder difficulty levels.
And now here’s someone who’s not necessarily a dad, but someone just as busy as one, and finds his gaming time is better served on easy mode.
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/games/2018/05/i-play-video-games-easy-mode-here-s-why