Episode 3 | New Dad Gaming

[0:12] this is new dad gaming a show about gaming fatherhood and new fathers trying to figure out their gaming lives my name is trevor and i have a three month old

[0:22] my name is gavin i have a seven week old my name is jeff i have a five-year-old and a year old

[0:30] still winning the numbers game one of these weeks i imagine someone’s gonna come back come from behind and beat you on that we’ll see

[0:38] my daughter science fair when she creates a singularity and travels through time nice yeah so gentlemen off the top uh

[0:48] how was your week in gaming and fatherhood don’t rush in hold on

[0:56] gavin you want to take i thought he specifically asked you no was it me i know forever his open forum

[1:04] in that sense no here i’ll go go ahead jeff hey hey gavin stop talking hey jeff how you doing man uh weekend gaming uh well it’s a month

[1:14] into school right so the kids are getting sick um so obviously my kids are sick kids are sick it’s month end just wait just wait

[1:25] guys you’ll catch everything um no kids are sick so it’s kind of crazy during the day but the best part is is they get knocked out at night

[1:34] uh either through street fatigue or just drugs um so it’s an early bedtime they’re usually

[1:41] sleep by seven and uh i get to do my thing this match of rocket league is brought to you by

[1:49] benadryl yeah so be i can just imagine too like it just coincides perfectly when you get a new game like man this game looks

[1:56] awesome yeah yeah man my lad you look really sick tonight i’m just gonna let me just up that niggle there for you pal let’s uh i

[2:03] gotta get you well maybe that’s why there’s so many fall releases well clearly the kids will be sick so

[2:14] let’s just take them back to busy places you know that was i actually legitimately got that advice from not so

[2:21] much advice but just a subtle nod saying you know children’s tylenol works wonders for a good night’s sleep

[2:32] wink wink i’ll attest

[2:41] do you know what’s great fabric softener for your swaddle blankets chloroform wow man episode three we’re getting into

[2:50] some pretty dark territory horrible things no i think like what i like about kids in gaming right now and that balance is just uh

[2:59] i don’t know you just when they when they go for their nap that’s like sweet like you get in those little bits i i think it doesn’t cater

[3:06] well for marathon play sessions but um you know you’re able to find those nice little pockets of time because at least with younger ones like babies they they

[3:14] talk around pretty quick like their their battery only holds so much of a charge and then they’re like okay i need to

[3:20] sleep for like at least half an hour so you do get those little windows of opportunity to do the thing that you wanted to do whether it’s house mature

[3:27] or you know a quick little gaming session or you know read a bit of book like you have those moments you can kind of judge on how

[3:34] groggy they are based on like what size a window you have and what sort of activity you can partake in yeah i had trouble with that balance

[3:42] though when um especially when my baby was coming up when during the first month for sure where he goes down finally and there’s just so

[3:51] much such a mountain of work to take care of as far as dishes clothes shower like and more than anything like

[3:58] just sleep like kid goes down this is a precious hour that i might be able to sleep so

[4:05] that’s okay i think also dude like we we’ve been kind of uh playing like tag team with a lot of responsibilities too so if one person’s

[4:13] holding the baby that’s when the other person’s off doing like some dishes they’re doing this or doing that and that seems to help a bit too when the

[4:19] baby does finally get a chance to have a solid arrest when you get opportunities to do things like watch a movie or something um or i

[4:27] get a chance to play a game or whatnot um but yeah i totally agree when you do get but it’s like earlier in the day they’re having their little pocket naps

[4:35] that’s when you get the stuff done or some leisure activities and then later at the day when they get those little moments of sleep that’s when you’re like

[4:42] okay now i get to get to try because i still have my old circadian rhythm before the baby was born and it’s hard to break that

[4:49] kind of like as much as i’d like to have a nap at 11 30 a.m like it’s kind of hard you know i’m up i’m full of caffeine

[4:57] my body’s kind of set for the day so i don’t know you guys are kind of lucky you guys still have the two on one defense so you can just take it a note

[5:06] and two on two i don’t different ball game man i don’t know yeah yeah

[5:12] the adults are currently outweighing the infants so numbers battle of attrition you know

[5:24] i just keep keep suggesting like look we’ll just bring in a couple extra parents and well it makes you wonder why it kind of

[5:33] makes you understand why you see a lot of families with multi-generational households and it’s like

[5:40] you know you kind of get it you’re like okay now i understand why there’s like three generations of people underneath this

[5:47] one roof even though it’s like there’s zero privacy and you know everybody’s in each other’s business all the time um there is that sort of strength in

[5:56] numbers when it comes to uh you know the older crowd dealing with the younger crowd and trying to juggle all the responsibilities

[6:04] yeah that’s like i found myself thinking about that a lot where it’s like not that not to complain about just like

[6:11] is it supposed to be this hard like this is unbelievably hard i think a lot of it though comes from like so way back in the day and you know

[6:20] i don’t care to theorize too much on this but ultimately like way back in the day it was tribes so it’s you and this group of people

[6:27] nomading it around yeah so everyone’s together and then even as early as let’s say like 200 years ago like you were probably living in a house with as you

[6:36] said gavin like a couple generations of folks so dishes like food

[6:42] just 20 minutes to not hold the baby was very possible but now in our huge modern rush to be independent and living so far away from each other which is

[6:52] wonderful and exciting but now it just means that you are just on your own you got even with the two on one it’s so much different you gotta wonder

[7:00] you know was it necessarily supposed to be this way and does that mean now is that a big reason why it’s so

[7:07] difficult or it feels so difficult sometimes because we’ve isolated modern world is you

[7:14] know think uh modern human beings are kind of gotten a little soft at times too is like you see what sort of workload uh people used to be able to

[7:24] endure and then you compare that to the style of workload so i think like our our cognitive endurance is higher um but like our physical endurance to just

[7:33] handling chores is different than like you know people working on farms like even as a full family it might be just

[7:40] multi-generational but you still have like people handling a lot of work in one given day uh we also have a lot of

[7:46] distractions that take minutes out of the day and then that sort of like drops in a bucket so like all these modern conveniences

[7:53] also require a lot of maintenance so you know the average amount of time you spend in a year like um

[8:01] like sending out a tweet or even just updating firmware on your phone uh all those little things like those are hours that you know previous

[8:10] generations never had to really like those hours would have just gone towards whatever tasks were needed at the time so i think we’re kind of pulled every

[8:18] which way by all these modern wonders um which sometimes don’t exactly make our lives easier sometimes they actually make our lives more distracted

[8:27] and it prevents us from being able to have as much time as we need to tackle uh items that we should be able to tackle

[8:36] i guess that kind of ties us back into gaming in the sense of like juggling that sort of

[8:44] this is a leisure activity um but like we’re already pretty uh you know our dance card’s pretty full so

[8:52] to speak so it’s like do we have that much time a lot towards it or even that that much in regards to resources in general so

[9:02] and kind of present to i know if you guys have started to feel it but and even go beyond the guilt of um you know i could this is time i could

[9:12] be spending with my child let’s assume they’re like sleeping or something yeah but just the guilt of you know i spent this time learning a language

[9:20] or practicing math or something like just something like putting it towards the skill hours i spent on like the bethesda game and then like i think of

[9:29] what sort of thing i could have learned how to do languages in there there you go

[9:49] yeah you do feel that sort of sounds like was it what have this time been better spent and especially now when you have a kid and that sort of you know

[9:56] uh casting the cradle and silver spoon sort of thing like you’re like i i don’t

[10:02] want to like i want to have some time for myself i want to be able to enjoy things that i enjoy

[10:09] um but i also don’t want to miss out on on something special like a laugh or or something adorable um so yeah it is it is rough because you

[10:20] don’t want to skip that but you know the baby’s sound sleep you know you’re not really going to miss much except for some tossing and turning

[10:27] and you know maybe a couple other little noises and that’s about it yeah i think it’s a weird phobia not

[10:35] phobia i think a misunderstanding of the medium still that exists a bit where if you said to somebody

[10:42] you know in in all my spare hours i read books like i read read read read or even with something like movies like i love cinema i love watching movies

[10:51] there’s a certain almost respect that’s given to that and even if you think about the books like if you’re mostly reading like say fantasy books

[10:57] and there’s still that notion that like well it’s reading so you’re really improving yourself you’re getting much better and there’s no

[11:06] so you know i spent 50 hours reading um rereading lord of the rings or something that i expect like reading

[11:13] these fantasy books and people are like oh wow reading that’s intelligent great on you as opposed to i played

[11:19] 50 hours of this game and they’re like oh that’s a what a waste of your life like why are you playing why are you playing these children’s things

[11:26] is ultimately for me that i just think the difference between sometimes some of the books that you do read and some of the

[11:32] movies you would watch as opposed to this interactive medium like it’s just leisure it’s just very varying degrees of leisure but there’s

[11:39] just this stigmatism’s still attached to gaming where it’s not really seen as um

[11:47] anything beneficial to your person and i don’t want to try to claim that it’s it’s just it’s just a less respectable leisure activity as opposed to a book or

[11:55] a movie yeah well i think the uh the social reputation for gaming versus

[12:04] the the evolution in what gaming has become the evolution has grown faster than the perception so like a vast majority of

[12:12] society still looks at gaming as being something as simplistic as a round of tom or pac-man they don’t see the

[12:20] larger narrative games or the the fact of like a lot of games have to do with a lot of organizational skills and resource management skills

[12:28] and strategic thinking um they just look at it as something like

[12:34] playing air hockey but digital um so i think that could be yeah that’s it could be where that stems from because i

[12:42] do agree there is sort of that that sense and whether it’s even just self-placed or whether it’s a society thing or a combination

[12:49] there is that sort of idea of like yeah you know if if i i could be playing this really really like i’d be playing the last of

[12:57] us which is a very very nice narrative uh well put together game very serious game very adult game um or i could sit and like you could

[13:06] tell somebody that you did that or you sat and you read like a whole bunch of like uh drugstore dime novels and they would still think that reading all those

[13:16] trashy dime novels was a better use of your time or a more intelligent grown-up use of your time because you were doing a task

[13:23] in school and not a task that you would do after school in the arcade yeah and some of it could be you know marketing as well right you see all the

[13:30] commercials marketed towards you know 12 year olds 15 year olds and they put all that out there the call of duties are out and that’s what

[13:37] everyone thinks about they don’t think of you know now you’re getting movie producers coming into games like del toro and kojima collaborating on pt

[13:45] right which is an awesome demo but you see that kind of cross you know it doesn’t go the other way where games are made into movies and people just

[13:52] think it’s one big joke because it usually is but again it’s that marketing of it where people do think it’s kind of a

[13:59] leisure joke kind of thing to do whereas books are just they’re kind of known as you know little things of knowledge that you gain and

[14:07] you’ll hold on for the rest of your life as memories and things to apply to the rest of your life but yeah it’s like the standard that books are held to

[14:17] like every book by default is assumed to be war and peace and every game by default is assumed to be a leisure suit larry

[14:25] get a reference yes and like that’s the thing is that we don’t we can’t see past the leisure through larry’s to see the um

[14:34] the skyrims or or the the last of us um and we can’t see past the war and peace

[14:42] uh to see the insert uh witty reference to a book that has absolutely no intellectual value yeah it’s going to be

[14:53] yeah it feels like we’re at a bit of a turning point with that like you said with the movie producers coming in the um

[15:02] what’s the playstation um series with the thief i can’t

[15:09] is it drake’s fortune drake oh yeah yeah uncharted thank you yeah just like the the story and the character development and you know you’ve seen cuts of that

[15:18] where they just take the cinematics in between it and they’re able to put together like a pretty good movie

[15:24] like just for the cinematics in the story except as opposed to just being in past a participant you’re in it and between that last of us and other

[15:32] great items coming out you know ideally we start to see some sort of yeah you know i i don’t think that we need to hang up

[15:40] our boots on this idea that until they respect us then you know our job’s not over it’s really let’s get in here let’s enjoy it but

[15:48] hey their respect is uh unnecessary thing for us to enjoy it um it just depends on how much like even when i go to read

[15:57] like i like reading comics um and i still get weird looks from some extended family because like oh you’re in the comic books still

[16:06] in your 30s and your dad yeah um but you take home a baby yeah exactly they let you leave the hospital with her

[16:14] but then they don’t understand that you know although i really do enjoy reading some of the you know more pop culturey ones or some of the mainstream superhero

[16:25] ones you know there’s also it’s like you know art stiegleman’s mouse and that is most certainly not for kids um

[16:33] so you know they don’t understand the threat that medium has and i think that’s also the problem with games is

[16:40] games is such a wide medium you get games that are more akin to something like uh like a

[16:49] poker game you know like personal uh you you get games that are more akin to an interactive movie like the uncharted

[16:56] series and everything in between so you get some that are very sport oriented you get some that are very card game oriented you get some that are

[17:04] more strategic chess oriented some that are just full-on interactive narratives something between um

[17:11] and you know you you get that sort of adversity in some of these other mediums too but uh yeah sometimes people just focus on

[17:18] one facet of that and uh on towards playing games since it’s usually the lowest common denominator

[17:25] leisure suit larry as if that was just i’ve never heard of that game i don’t

[17:31] know what you’re talking about that’s going on your list never no never played it never don’t know what you’re talking about no you’ll never never find

[17:40] a save file of leisure suit larry

[17:48] no just be like yeah so those embarrassing things is like hey you remember this game we just hit larry like no no

[17:55] never i know hours trying to figure out uh the cd key to try to get it installed off my friend’s computer

[18:07] the yes a thing i would like to bring up to you gents i recently celebrated a birthday and that’s what i’d like to eat

[18:15] i did it i did it i survived a year but my wife gave me what could only be described as one of the most amazing gifts as far as

[18:26] i’m gonna take the baby just have it have a day and do what you like which was amazing nice there was a nap involved there was

[18:37] just a walk involved and of course there was video games involved and so and

[18:43] in playing it three things came up that i kind of took note of and i’d love to get your thoughts on each uh the point the first was it came time

[18:52] like oh my goodness i get this i’m gonna be able to have a real gaming session like just sit down hunker down have a great time

[18:59] what the hell do i play i got this list of all these games i have this beautiful little moment as far as like this one day what the heck do i

[19:12] am i supposed to play like i don’t want to waste it and it just it paralyzed me as far as i wanted earth to play like how have you

[19:20] guys had a similar experience of staring down when in having a moment of time finally to play something just staring down the list and not being

[19:29] able to choose like what am i what would be what is my game right now that i have the time yeah i’ve had a couple situations like

[19:38] that where it’s um kind of like the backlog right there’s i have such a backlog of games that um when i get you know a couple

[19:47] hours to myself to do something i don’t want to treat i used to treat it like work right so how what game can i play to get the most out

[19:56] of my time and i felt that when i did that it was more about running through the motions trying to get done with that game to

[20:04] move on to the next so i can complete something and look for the light at the end of the tunnel but

[20:09] uh i found that if i dive into a game that i actually really like and really sink my teeth into and can play a couple hours and set it

[20:18] down and wait for the next gaming session that’s the best way to play it for me that’s what’s worked for me um

[20:25] if i go through like i used to do with ps plus you get like a free game every month and you just uh like rack up games games games and i would play a little

[20:34] bit of each never finish any of them and then feel guilty that i haven’t gone back and experienced some of the story right because you’re just

[20:42] you play a little bit i can’t do anymore sorry i’m just there’s too many i can’t this i need to make the most of my time let’s play a little bit of everything

[20:49] like a little buffet and then i can fill those hours with a little sample yeah so i don’t know i kind of got off that streak and focus on just one game and

[21:00] try and complete it if it’s going to take me three to six months then it takes me three to six months and i just

[21:06] turn a blind eye to all the other spoilers that are out there for the other games that are that are coming out but i don’t know i found it’s it’s hard

[21:13] when you have a whole blank canvas for your day and you don’t you don’t really know what to what to get into so i think it’s different for everybody but what

[21:21] worked best for me was what do i like most what what what am i going to get into it’s usually an rpg and try and experience that story the

[21:29] the way it’s meant to be experienced so that’s what i’ve had yeah i would agree like i’ve had similar situations where it’s like that

[21:38] it’s the haunting backlog you have a list um usually the one that i always just stare at like a just an impossible summit is my steam

[21:48] library because they have sails and brutal apparently have no willpower and yeah i get all these games i’m like oh

[21:59] i’ve always wanted to play that oh it’s only five bucks all right cool and i’ll get it and then um it will just sit in the library not

[22:06] even installed and i’m like oh yeah and i just look at it and sometimes all even before the baby uh there’d be

[22:14] moments where it was like okay like my wife wants to watch something on tv um and it might be something that i have absolutely no interest in so it’s like

[22:21] okay you watch something on tv i’m still in the same room but i’m gonna go on a computer and play something on steam and

[22:29] uh then i just stared and like i could see i’m like okay i gotta be an hour maybe two and i just see like the clock kicking away like i can tear up this

[22:39] list and then here’s the kicker i’m not sure what happens to you guys but um you sometimes will revert back to a game that you’ve already like played to death

[22:50] and it’s like you’re just uh you’re like i don’t want to play at all to play on this day and then all of a sudden you realize that 20

[22:56] 20 minutes into like a second play through fallout you’re like what am i doing like i’ve already beat this game why am i playing it again and it’s like

[23:05] i don’t need to play anymore burnout like it’s fine i’m done experienced it i know what it’s like i’m happy

[23:12] awesome let’s try something new and there’s all these new games that just you know fresh factory seals haven’t been touched

[23:19] and all this unexplored territory and narrative and then you just fall back into just like i’m gonna play some more of this because i don’t know i can’t

[23:27] make decisions it’s like going to a buffet and be like i guess i’ll just get some french fries like there’s no one

[23:35] guess i’ll just have water that’s okay the bread that’s at the table in some water so i think man that’s like that is what

[23:43] hearing you describe that just really kind of brings the light like that’s what that’s what hearthstone was to me for these past couple weeks probably

[23:50] last month really like i don’t think i’ve really had not dove into anything else but it’s just

[23:56] because i know what it is i’m enjoying the challenge and i would look at the list and it’s just like man i could i could try to get

[24:04] into one of these but maybe i don’t like it and then i’ve lost some time and this other one like i know that i’m into and i’m chasing some things in it so

[24:12] yeah i’ll just i’ll just keep playing with that one i’ll just keep playing with that one yeah there’s also that fear of like when

[24:18] you start something new it’s like you need a longer play session for that first round yeah you know to just get to figure out

[24:25] and get your bearings like it’s really hard to do 20 minutes like most tutorials are longer than some of the play sessions

[24:31] that you get as a parent so just to figure out like the game mechanics and to familiarize yourself

[24:38] with the controls and have them feel intuitive you need more time in one sitting than sometimes the playthrough that you have that date

[24:46] can a lot yeah and i find sometimes that’s a hurdle as well where it’s like oh i really want to

[24:51] try this game but i just i really don’t have the time to crack into it and it’s like that cracking into it is almost like a more involved play session then

[25:00] like i’ll throw this on for a little bit yeah i think um like that stopped me for quite some time

[25:08] the game um i decided on and there’s a lot more points on it but i don’t want to get too much into it yet i ended up playing

[25:16] uh gotham city or origins batman gotham city origins what’s exactly that title

[25:24] what was i playing both times what was the game oh man i’m so bad with names and words right now with this lack of sleep i

[25:33] think it’s like batman gotham city origins like it’s the first one was him in arkham asylum

[25:40] the next one was kind of sequel gotham city i think i think arkham city yep and this one’s batman let’s just say origins okay now

[25:49] the one like where like it’s his first story it’s so it’s not the latest one which is uh arkham knight it’s the one before

[25:57] that great game but like i played having played previous batman games and this series specifically i knew

[26:05] what much exactly gavin was saying i knew how long is gonna take before i got to a point where it’s like okay i i get this now i can just dive

[26:14] i can just sample it i can dive in for 20 minutes and get out and feel great like i knew it’s like i needed

[26:20] an hour like a guaranteed hour two hours so i can get real like just dive in enjoy it and get moving yeah did we just lose gavin i think he

[26:29] yeah i think he’s done it he just did about he’s like that’s it he’s googling what the batman name was i

[26:37] don’t know and it broke his internet even but man if he comes back if he’s had a baby emergency that would be perfect and he just wanted to turn off

[26:45] the camera so he wouldn’t notice that’ll be perfect win the poll again yes you did it but going back to like a new game you do

[26:55] have another problem where like let’s say you you want to start this new game you’ve cleared out the day you have the day to do it you boot up that game and

[27:02] it’s got like 16 patches to install and you’re just wait you’re like now do i really want to do this or like

[27:12] so don’t climb this wall yeah yeah yeah i found that too where you go back to an old an old game or something that you haven’t played for but everybody else

[27:20] has and it’s got all these patches to download and on at least on ps4 the update process is so long so you’re just you’re just not

[27:30] you’re just not committed enough to do it that you just drop the game go back to something else that you know or something that’s already installed right

[27:36] so just imagine like the the look where it’s just like you’re sitting there with a controller like yeah it’s gonna happen it’s downloading one of like 50 like

[27:45] just the slow put down i think i mean one of the things that helped me like you mentioned one thing that helped

[27:51] you one that has kind of helped me as we stall for time as gavin hopefully jumps back on the

[27:59] is just to allow yourself to not finish and yeah because i was playing it you know you’re speaking about great games and i’d heard great things about

[28:07] assassin creed assassin’s creed two i enjoyed the first one never got into the previous ones it was on sale i’m like you know i feel like an assassin’s creed

[28:15] game yeah and it was great like i had a really great time like i was running around like doing the missions it was a great

[28:22] experience but i just i got to a point and i just was not having fun anymore not it wasn’t too much of a grind like things were going okay but it’s just it

[28:31] lost its luster for me i’m like and with the limited time that i have being a dad now

[28:38] i i just couldn’t grind through it where previously i might for just the sake of completion hey we

[28:45] got gavin was your baby crying no my baby wasn’t crying um i had a issue and right now i’m trying to uh

[28:58] for the folks listening on the podcast we’re currently staring at gavin’s desk uh his face is back so the yeah again so you just came back

[29:09] we kind of kept on the same one and i was giving a tip or at least a i think that has helped me was just the allowing myself to not

[29:19] finish a game and it actually kind of goes into a second point that i’d like to ask you both but i was explaining to jeff that i just i was playing

[29:25] assassin’s creed ii um had heard great things about it you know well reviewed game was loving it with great time having a lot of fun

[29:32] but it just got to a point and i just was not loving it anymore i there was a bit of a grind and just you know i’m kind of done with

[29:40] this game and what with the limited time that i have as a father i just said that you know what like if this isn’t enthralling and i’m not loving every

[29:49] minute of it my time is precious enough now that i am just going to drop this game like it maybe i’ll pick it up at some point

[29:56] because i’ll have an assassinating itch but at the moment there’s so many other games and so little time i’m just going to wrap it up and and the

[30:06] thing i’d like to segue that into with the second point from what came of this play session for myself

[30:13] in this batman game origins there is like a thousand riddler packs that you have to pick up

[30:23] and like 20 special suits and 50 side missions whatever and it’s you’re staring at it and asking yourself are you kidding me

[30:33] like like a thousand packs like i don’t have this kind of time are you mad and it goes so counter to the way i used to play games

[30:42] where you know i’d almost call myself a completionist i used to love getting the 100 like find every nook and cranny really get into it and now i’ve just

[30:50] really had to adjust that with my limited time that i have like i just cannot spend that kind of time where a game

[30:59] turns into something not fun just so i can get the hundred percent so have you guys found yourself dropping games and even

[31:07] within games you’re finishing just not like leaving the completion rate super low so you can move on ironically enough yes with assassin’s

[31:17] creed assassin’s creed the game everybody drops uh i i can fight me on that too

[31:23] assassin’s creed black play same thing there was a certain spot where it just like i couldn’t get past this one uh set of forts that were on the coast i’m like

[31:33] i kept dying and it’s like yeah there’s one thing to keep trying but like this is an effort in utility and i don’t have time

[31:40] for it i’m not having fun anymore so it lost my thinking i might get like you know a hankering to be hired again but i

[31:49] not to the sense of really needing to you know feeling like i need to finish it i need to finish it and i’ve i’ve really stopped with the i

[31:56] need 100 percentage and do this and do that like i’ll have fun with it but like there’s no 100 percenting just cause 2. and there won’t be any 100 percenting

[32:07] just cause 3. and i’m fine i’ve made peace with that i’ll play it and have fun that’s it i would like to see like a snapshot of

[32:14] you know when you’re in that those type of games they got crazy amount of side missions and collectibles just a snapshot of like my eight-year-old self

[32:23] flipping to that world map and seeing all the icons you’re like yes it’s like christmas this is amazing and then a snapshot of me now flipping

[32:31] to that same screen you’re just like oh my i’m never this like where’s the next mission i just need to get or just get the story over

[32:40] and and get it done the problem happens is when you have side missions that um help the story or that you miss out

[32:49] on the story or you need a certain weapon for the story that makes it easier that’s where i find that it’s a little bit okay well don’t do that just

[32:57] make it for the other people that have time don’t i just i have to move through it i’m sorry mission mission if it’s that yeah

[33:05] it’s integral to finishing things comfortably yeah yeah cause i mean with origin what’s been what it’s killer which really it

[33:13] just it’s driving and just grinding into me from my old completion days where it every time you pick up a pack it’s

[33:21] like oh you got one of six then you move over here you go oh you got two of six and then you move to another area it’s like all right you got one of 11. i’m

[33:28] like oh like every percent is so low unless i look around but i don’t have time for you

[33:36] it goes back to the days in golden saucer final fantasy 7 getting the golden chocobo that took forever to do and i it was

[33:46] i had the time to do it now there’s no way i have it on the app there’s no way i’m going to do that i’m not going to do that on my ipad even though i don’t have

[33:54] the time it’s it’s not going to happen even though you know where everything is exactly and you know

[34:03] and you know how amazing knights of the round is yes exactly good exactly i’m not going to get there it’s not going to happen

[34:11] i’ve accepted it i’ve there’s like a 12-step program right so we should introduce steps or you just one is acceptance it’s just man like the

[34:21] i’m thinking back man yeah i got that one too and just like each of those chocobo races was so long yeah like that that like

[34:29] i don’t know that we have to explain it to everybody but final fantasy 7 you had to raise chocobos race them raise their rank mate

[34:37] them and then it was slightly better but ultimately as far as my memory would serve it’s something the effect of like feels like mate 2 chocobos race that

[34:46] chocobo like a hundred times yeah made it again erased that one like a hundred times and just repeat for a year

[34:56] and it wasn’t a quick race it wasn’t not a quick race it was like a two three minute race each time and that could be the quintessential

[35:05] grind of a game as far as like when we were driving we were coming up that’s the and i think the older you get the less

[35:12] patience we have for ron what is the time man like your kid goes to sleep you get 30 minutes four chocobo races

[35:23] well now it’s just micro transaction that right okay i’ll spend the nine bucks yeah

[35:29] just pay for it just get it over well it’s funny too when you think of like the micro transactions to complete this thing

[35:36] it’s like how much if if you were to just equate how much your time is worth per hour yeah how many hours it would take to do this thing

[35:45] like even if you paid yourself like two dollars an hour it would still be cheaper to buy the

[35:53] thing yeah i want you to pause on that thought and i just want you to say exactly that

[36:00] again because i want a segue on that but there’s just one last point that came out from the batman game just to finish up the loop

[36:06] so the the only other part that came out of it was i was having trouble with and i’m not

[36:13] too proud to admit it but i was just having terrible time with the boss i think it was deathstroke he’s pretty early on

[36:19] oh i heard about that one being just that’s it it’s annoying it’s it’s a dumb fight like you know it’s not because like i feel

[36:27] i’m so terribly bad at this game but it’s just like they made it annoying and way too long unnecessarily long but anyways like but one thing i found now

[36:35] with gaming too is i’m so much faster to go online and just find the answer to something because the way that i’ve equated it

[36:43] lately is that okay i could figure this out but for me to figure it out that’s gonna cost me four to six hours

[36:53] of trial and error mistakes like just try everything under the book and finally i’ll get it

[36:59] or with my limited game time that i have now i’ll just go online and find the answer so i can progress and i did that

[37:06] with deathstroke it’s like how do you beat this guy i don’t want to sit here for another like i’d want to waste another three hours on him

[37:12] they didn’t take me that long but i want to spend three hours let me qualify myself a bit but i don’t want to spend three hours on him

[37:20] i have a lot of game to get through and very little time are you guys finding yourselves going to guides or

[37:28] cheat not cheats necessarily but like how to walk throughs anything just to avoid some of those very grinds that we just spoke about

[37:37] i have yeah there’s been plenty of times where i’ve like on the couch pause the game set the controller down picked up the tablet

[37:44] opened up a frequently asked questions forum figured it out zoomed in on the map set the tablet back on my lap picked up

[37:53] the controller and opened up the map in the game and oh okay there it is set a waypoint and go right to that point it’s like i just

[38:01] like looking under baskets is not fun gameplay for me anymore it was at one point i used to love just turn over

[38:08] every stone see if you can find the thing but it’s essentially a digital easter egg hunt it’s like that’s cool but it’s not progressing things for me

[38:15] um it’s not what i crave in games anymore so you know why uh

[38:23] why why have that take up valuable time yeah i i have the same thing like uh with a game like uh metal gear ground zeroes that i’ve been playing the past

[38:34] couple weeks there are some instances where you can only get a certain mission by completing cert certain objectives and they don’t say

[38:42] what those are that you just kind of have to go around and find out for yourself there’s no way i’m doing that there’s i’m sorry i’m going on the game

[38:50] packs or whatever watching a youtube video on how to at least get the one mission that i just want to play i just want to have access to

[38:58] um so it’s i i’m in the same boat i’ll be quicker to go online and and figure out how i can play the game i want versus trying to solve it on my own and

[39:11] being happy with that i it’s just there’s no time there’s no time to do that anymore

[39:17] it’s almost like the younger generation is going to be hosting all it’s like one generation provides the

[39:24] tips and hints for the previous generation to continue pass down some sort of book like here’s something after them it’s like a circle

[39:33] and it’s like one generation feeds like how to play hints and tips to the generation ahead of them and just like yeah

[39:43] but i feel in my youth not spending more time on forums putting in tips and hints

[39:50] because i feel like i might have been able to help like a dad gamer back when i was in my youth so you’re all take no give that’s like yes

[40:00] because the i’m the selfish man you gotta wonder like now that with that access like the fact the

[40:10] everybody coming up now will have full access to the wealth of everybody’s knowledge right in their hands through their

[40:16] phones or whatever else does that kind of change some parts of gameplay where it was something that we had to grind

[40:23] out or talk to a friend of a friend or yeah basically just spend the 10 hours to figure out oh that was a secret

[40:30] that’s how you get in there if you can figure out at all whereas now sure you can do that if it’s

[40:37] that somehow gives you the type of pleasure you want but if otherwise like with answers that are so easily and readily available

[40:44] like you could you can talk you can actually with your voice ask your phone for the answer and it will repeat it back and

[40:51] tell you because i kind of you got to wonder how that changes the gameplay experience for kids coming up like are they going to have the patience

[40:57] for it and then will game design change because of it like there’s no like what’s the point of that specific secret as opposed to something

[41:05] like an achievement where if you can kill 10 people in a row then you get this as opposed to find these seven points because

[41:13] this whatever.com has just well here’s the map here’s the seven points easy even in our generation like we were

[41:24] in our own childhood gaming experience um there was nintendo power you know there were gaming magazines or pc gamer uh

[41:33] there were magazines out there that would give you like a map and there were times where i’d be playing the game on my pc and i’d

[41:39] have an issue with pc gamer open up next to me um to help me out um so you know there was game genie back in

[41:47] the day where you could actually augment the game itself um i think it really just comes down to i

[41:55] think the users will dictate their own i’m not i’m not a pleasure like i think the players who don’t want that help won’t seek it out

[42:05] um as soon as you start seeking out the help then obviously you want it so you can’t complain that it’s there and you can’t blame the game for

[42:12] um being able to be solved by using set health because it’s not like the game did it for you they didn’t force your

[42:20] hand to seek this out so it’s you kind of have to take responsibility for your own actions in that regard and i think people will

[42:27] and i think some games themselves too right like the length of it they’ll just make it overly obtuse or whatever as a like a puzzle

[42:37] that you there’s no way you come up with the solution but in order to pad their game they have people running around trying

[42:44] to solve it and that lengthens the overall time for you know so on their reviews and stuff they have an 80-hour game versus a

[42:52] 20-hour game get a better box yeah so it’s uh i don’t i don’t know i i find i find some of the the issues with a lot

[43:03] of the grinding and stuff it’s just it’s padding it’s i don’t want to spend my time running around collecting things that i should have

[43:12] access to a mission to already like i bought your game i want to play that next mission i understand that there’s some sort of you know thread where i

[43:20] need to go around and do something but a lot of them don’t they don’t direct you now because you’re trying to be more of a reality like you’re this

[43:29] character in this world you’re supposed to kind of figure it out for yourself because you take on this persona and you go to it um

[43:37] versus just putting a marker on the map where you know batman would at least tell you where to go right um

[43:43] with a boss you’re trying to figure it out for yourself so you you can get that hand holding but then they kind of let go of that hand and they say all right

[43:49] now it’s your turn it might take you five hours to figure it out and that’s good for us because it makes our game look longer right it makes you look

[43:56] stupid not naming names trevor but even with trophies and achievements i know on the ps4 you can hit a trophy

[44:06] and it has a function right next to it built in the system to search on youtube and it goes and finds it on how to get that trophy so if you’re trophy hunting

[44:15] it’s really easy i’m wondering if they just implement that is the next step in game design where if you stand around for too long

[44:22] it just pops up with a little hint do you know what to do next um search youtube here you go

[44:29] so i don’t know or even worse like if you know oh we see that you’re having trouble scaling that wall well why don’t you have this dlc

[44:38] yeah here’s the easy difficulty for you yeah yeah noob

[44:46] the yeah i’ve heard of some words just actually suggest like would you like to skip this oh i think i love it when a game does

[44:53] that because it makes me just try harder like would you perhaps like to try this on um on medium no i don’t try it on medium hey uh hey buddy um you seem seem

[45:07] like you’re having some trouble there uh you don’t know i want to lower that down a little bit uh

[45:14] little baby you wanna have a baby game who goes up to you and it’s like yeah it looks like that might be a little heavy for you

[45:19] um a couple of those uh couple of those weights off the bar for you now i can do this popping a vein in your

[45:28] head the yeah so okay so i don’t want to circle back then so if you can remember what you had said gavin around

[45:36] so let’s say you want to beat a game and it’s going to let you pay to level up or paid dlc or

[45:44] yeah just like access to new levels and like yeah you can grind it or you can pay it now as new fathers we have some new

[45:51] financial responsibilities to say the least we got some things to buy to keep certain little ones alive so how are you gentlemen dealing with the

[46:03] idea of spending money on games and things for games amongst other responsibilities and things that are more important

[46:11] balancing that with family obligations i’ve always tried to keep my gaming budget kind of lean and mean um i’ll usually wait for sale or whatnot if

[46:22] there’s a game that i’m really excited about or really enthusiastic about then that’s kind of you know i’ve been talking money aside and like i have a

[46:30] little uh you know i’m gonna find myself something nice uh fund

[46:35] um which is usually just a little bit of like christmas money that’s been saved for eight months um

[46:41] and then i will i will splurge full price as far as like paying to win um

[46:48] i would i would pay for like an unlockable uh cosmetic item that if i really liked it you know it’s like oh this suit okay

[46:58] that’s pretty wicked i really want it and it’s not that much and it’s only a cosmetic item so yeah i’ll get that and i don’t want to spend the time grinding

[47:07] to get it because the hours it would take me to do that like if i paid myself like if i figured out what my

[47:14] time is worth and even if i just paid myself two dollars an hour it would still be cheaper to just buy that item

[47:22] instead of grinding for um but that said when a game has a paywall for you to experience it often even at the expense of my own

[47:32] enjoyment of the game i won’t pay because especially if i’ve already paid for the game

[47:38] um i i it’s more of a you know the you you can help the market figure itself out as a consumer

[47:48] by not buying what they’re selling to let them know that you don’t want them um as soon as you start getting it it justifies the action justifies the

[47:57] procedure that they’re doing and then they’re just going to keep doing it and then you’re just helping it

[48:02] happen so i’m really against that sort of thing like if you want if you want two versions of the game one where you grind to get the full version

[48:10] or you can just buy the full version so you can grind for free and see ads and pop-ups all day for the full version or you just pay for

[48:17] it and you’re done and then all the advertisements and grinding goes away and it’s just you play the game and enjoy it as it’s intended to be that’s

[48:23] not as bad but when it’s like if you want that next level you know you might need to pay up then uh i don’t know that’s frustrating

[48:30] yeah i’m with gavin on that like uh if it’s a like a pay to win i just feel cheap and dirty about it it’s just

[48:39] not something i want in my you know that two hours of gaming i don’t want to feel cheap and dirty i will not uh i won’t pay for that

[48:47] just the winning um if it’s like a cosmetic item or a costume or a character that i can play the whole game with again in like a cool

[48:56] new abilities or something yeah sure i’ll plunk down you know 99 cents or whatever it is nothing

[49:06] a story extension or something like an offshoot where it’s not part of the primary game but it’s downloadable content but it’s compartmentalized away

[49:14] from the main game that’s not bad because it’s like oh i want to appendix the experience rather than pay to continue the experience

[49:22] right a good game um a good example of that was infinite second son right so you had this huge game uh open world that was pretty easy to get through

[49:31] probably about 15 hours and then they came out with first light which was a whole new extension of the game it was kind of like a pre prequel in a way but

[49:39] you played a new character new powers and it was like 9.99 to add on to this new experience using the same in-engine game world that’s something i would go

[49:48] for i wouldn’t go for nine dollars to get all the super powers and you go nuts it just hey you feel too overpowered to it’s not fun anymore you take that out

[49:57] of it and the infant this was also really good about that it with um uh was it last light second sun

[50:05] yeah uh with last light it was um a standalone dlc as well so like if you didn’t have the game you might pay an

[50:12] extra five bucks but you can actually get it without having the original game um i think uh far cry 3 and far cry blood dragon the same sort of thing oh

[50:23] blood dragon was awesome everyone should get that game um but yeah and i think also tying into her

[50:30] talk about uh backlog catalogs like when we hit these sort of paywalls where it’s like oh you want to enjoy the game more we’ll get okay for this thing or that

[50:38] thing um immediately we got so many games in on our you know list that we want to play it’s just like okay well i guess

[50:47] i’m done with this one you just walk away it’s they don’t have as much power over us sometimes as they feel and it’s like

[50:53] well then i’m just going to go experience this and be like that yeah like i’ve had like i’m definitely down for some of the

[51:02] i think once or twice a year i’ll buy a game uh sticker price like new just because friends of mine are buying it and it

[51:09] looks really great i like the company i like what they’ve done before i’d like to support this effort that’s fine

[51:16] um oh my goodness i forgot my line of thought oh no but sometimes you don’t buy full price

[51:24] yeah oh this yeah okay sorry they geez wow i’m always always here and i gotta go to bed

[51:33] but the like sometimes with the pricing it’s just it’s so and especially now like i’ve always kind of had an issue with it

[51:41] um i could i used to absorb it a little bit better but especially now that i’m a dad and i have you know diapers to buy

[51:48] frankly when the games are coming out and their sticker price starts at 80 bucks like 70 to 90 and it’s just

[51:58] man like i i want to and if you were 50 like i could i could probably squeeze it because i like what you do and this

[52:05] looks really great but man i got i got formula to buy i cannot i think we’re dads and new dads at the same time that the prices are going up

[52:14] like 30 bucks from what they used to be you know and and especially with canada and the our dollar versus the us dollar and then also the new consoles like we

[52:23] have that combination of the new console price hike where everything’s up another 10 bucks then they add on another 10 bucks because it’s

[52:30] you know north of the border even though it’s free trade um just because our dollar is another purchasing power for imports and even though these things are

[52:38] not being imported directly from the states being imported from another country that our dollar has a different relationship with but who cares um

[52:44] manufacturing location is not the issue here it’s the licensing location um but yeah it’s it makes it difficult when when games are as pricey as they

[52:53] are to our benefit though because we’re so slow to finish a game that our backlog actually allows us to watch the game’s

[53:02] shelf price diminish over the period of time that we finally get around to getting that new game so by the time we actually have

[53:10] an opportunity to enjoy it it’s now like you know 30 off because you know it’s so far from its launch

[53:19] date that they need to try to stimulate sales at least there’s that advantage of the dad is that he takes a little bit around

[53:26] the bloody and i’m just wrapping up uh super mario 3 and uh great games coming up i can’t wait

[53:36] you’ll see in there yeah oh jeez i can remember that um man i picked up skyrim game of the year edition on a steam sale for something like 10 bucks

[53:47] um i recently saw that um i remember like i remember watching the reviews for shadow of mordor as it came out like people raved like it

[53:55] looked like this really great game but you know just a little pricey at the time and baby was on the way don’t think i can do it

[54:02] like it’s coming it’s all the way down to something the fact that like 12 bucks including all of the dlc that’s good man i gotta i gotta say i

[54:10] feel some guilt on that though like i i’m just worried a little bit that you’re not supporting the devs and their efforts like it’s

[54:19] triple a it’s a whole it’s a very complicated issue that you know i don’t know that we need to wait into too much but ultimately still i feel that

[54:26] in grabbing everything on the low end when for such bargain prices when it’s been driven down on these steam sales it’s

[54:34] like am i enjoying it but am i speeding the death of some great developers that will prevent give me things in the future but

[54:42] how do i balance that with my need to provide for family and not be ridiculous with a budget like it says weird like uh i don’t know

[54:50] if you guys kind of feel that same like tussle back and forth like that tug of war between desire to support and

[54:58] support the industry versus support your family well i i help alleviate some of that guilt by just knowing in my heart that

[55:05] they have a far bigger problem with piracy than they do with people buying things on sale um and a lot of times when items do go

[55:14] on sale the the company that is putting the item on sale a vast majority of the profit loss is on the distributor

[55:23] and not the studio um so like you know yeah sure getting things full

[55:30] price and supporting these studios is fantastic but at the end of the day too you’re still purchasing the item you’re purchasing it for an actual amount um

[55:38] there’s actually money being exchanged for the goods that they’re providing you and a lot of the things that they look at

[55:45] too is um they look at audience reach as much as they do um total value the total amount of sales as

[55:53] far as price point like oh we did this much in price for sales like yes but we also sold x number of units it’s not x number

[56:02] of dollars generated it’s x number of units distributed so they understand that they now have a larger user base so just by having a sale go on record

[56:12] that’s helping the studio justify to their shareholders that hey we have this many people playing this other game and it

[56:20] allows them to get better investments so you know though you might not be giving them a lot more money you know by the time the studio gets their share but

[56:29] anyways it’s been pretty clean um a lot of that money is being used through other being taken by other people um along that chain so

[56:38] you know i think as long as you are supporting them by having a record of sale and throwing some money they’re away like you’re being a proper customer

[56:47] you’re being a a good customer to them and then that as you said you do buy a few games every so often at full price and

[56:54] they might by buying that game discount on the first time and you really enjoyed it then you might feel like yeah you know what next time they release

[57:02] anything i’m honest because they they did a solid job so you’re more likely to go to them for that once or twice a year that you

[57:09] want to buy a full price game yeah i’m kind of along the same lines as well the only thing that will stop me and i’ll follow um

[57:19] purchase it at sticker price will be if it’s a really involved story so like if it was last of us i bought that um right when it came out just because i

[57:28] was worried of story spoilers so i’m on a lot of gaming forums and stuff and even read it and if there’s just one dude that wants to spoil it for

[57:37] everybody right he’ll say like the last ending steam right and that’s the only thing where i’ll have to jump on it and really try

[57:44] to run through it as best as i can uh when it’s out if i wait too long i i can’t deal with that with a story based game like that being spoiled

[57:54] because then you’re just like well thanks i might as well just watch the whole youtube playthrough of somebody else doing it

[58:00] so i think new new show goal will be to make jeff cry by finally providing spoilers and then jeff what happens in metal gear

[58:08] is oh god this gear is not metal at all it’s plastic it’s too many there’s too many rocket league you’re actually the souls

[58:19] of dead generals here the um yeah this cares like

[58:26] and i think it’s it’s the price because like again like if it comes into the 50 range sticker price it’s up there but okay like i yeah and i

[58:36] can remember i did that for borderlands for the first time with the pre-sequel they released because i played one and i played two

[58:42] and just had a riot like great games pre-sequel came out couple friends of mine bought it and is this

[58:48] yeah i’m going to get in want to play with them and don’t didn’t regret it it was excellent

[58:54] but with uh grand theft auto 5 or 5 latest one yeah that one came out and on pc when i first saw it on steam it was like

[59:03] dollars and it’s like man i really liked four but damn like 89 i cannot hit that price i

[59:11] cannot spend 80 bucks on this experience and especially at that point too like that thing had been out for like a year

[59:18] so it wasn’t even like you got that it wasn’t even feel like a brand new car like it was really something that had been around a few

[59:24] times and but congratulations pc guys now here’s your game yeah now i’ve noticed that just today i saw a

[59:32] discount coming out where it got brought down to like 30 or 40 bucks 40 bucks probably still too much 30 is getting into the range you’re like okay

[59:40] maybe maybe i’ll dip my toes in it finally where it’s really old hat but yeah it’s it’s curious how there’s like history

[59:48] with your personal history with that franchise seems to dictate a bit what you’re willing to spend on it but only to a certain point

[59:55] and i think i’m telling you like after that 60 range it really starts to get dicey yeah at least personally like maybe there’s

[1:00:02] throngs of people who love paying that much for it but previously even before i had a kid don’t think so and now that i do

[1:00:08] just i cannot imagine spending that kind of money on a game at this point unfortunately yeah

[1:00:14] it all comes down to like uh entertainment per hour per dollar kind of thing and it’s like

[1:00:22] if you were to get you know x number of movie theater experiences

[1:00:28] out of this game then yeah that’s where it is instead of allocating that household money or in that point just your own personal

[1:00:35] fun money um to that many things then it’s like well yeah especially now since we have kids

[1:00:42] like you know a lot of the diapers and stuff are

[1:00:48] able to be subsidized by the money we’re not spending by going out anymore are you not partying gavin no all the partying i’m just i’m keeping

[1:00:59] it at home well yeah and say goodbye to like collector’s editions who’s gonna hunt down 150 bucks on like well with

[1:01:10] metal gear they have like the full replica of his bionic arm and all the other like that hand looks so

[1:01:16] cool though i know it does no way you have a small if you have like a small place like i used to like the

[1:01:23] collector’s editions but then i’m like you know what i only have i have so much room for collection stuff and i do like to collect stuff as you

[1:01:31] can see behind me i have stuff i collect but like there is a finite amount of actual physical space that i have to put that stuff in so you know when fallout 4

[1:01:41] came out and they had that big hip boy arm brace thing that’s great but i got nowhere to put it and even if i did find somewhere to put it um

[1:01:50] if i did have like guests or when they saw it it’s not the embarrassment factor it’s just that they’d be confused they had no idea what it is whereas like i

[1:01:58] have a pip boy bobble head from the first or from apollo 3 one because the first tackle the series and like that thing people don’t need to

[1:02:06] know the series to enjoy if they look at it they’re like oh that’s funny um it’s just cute little bobble head like

[1:02:12] this weird little guy uh whereas like a vault-tec pip-boy armbrace like unless you play with games nobody’s

[1:02:19] going to know what it is you’re kidding though yes yeah she’s like hanging out on his chest

[1:02:28] and like like why is it not picking up the readings i don’t get it what does the baby need well it’s like i put i put my phone in

[1:02:35] the pip boy but instead of loading up like their app it has like like yo gabba gabba playing rachel

[1:02:44] i should have got the thing oh that’s your chance you’re done oh yeah because it would’ve been right on my arm distracts her while i go huh

[1:02:53] duct tape it’ll be all right oh man now my kid has such a such a desire to look at screens like he

[1:03:03] you turn on anything and just like hit eyes like immediately which feels like he inherits from me

[1:03:09] but man that’s like it’s kind of worrying in a sense like i’m not really sure how much screen time he should be

[1:03:15] getting like i’ve heard i’ve heard some numbers batted around i’m i can’t imagine it’s a real science at this point but for something like you’re not

[1:03:22] supposed to let them see more than two hours at a time if even that and i mean my guy’s like he’s three months old coming

[1:03:28] on four like terrified of thought like exposing them to like tons of television or like screens or like or pip boys you know

[1:03:35] like on your wrist like yeah just strap into it i don’t know i think it’s

[1:03:44] just watching screens and stuff and how many hours of this how many hours of that like it can be kind of hard to judge i think as long as

[1:03:52] i think the problem with watching screens it’s not as much like looking at a screen because yeah it can be hard on the eyes like two of the three of us are

[1:03:59] wearing glasses right now uh let’s be honest jeff needs glasses too yeah

[1:04:06] but i also think it’s because it’s such passive engagement that it’s not stimulating enough so i think with kids that’s kind of why you

[1:04:14] want to avoid the screens it’s not because it’s um not because it’s as unhealthy for them as it is it’s just it’s a lazy

[1:04:21] babysitter kind of thing you know where you could be spending it’s like that what you said earlier about like the quality of time that you have with your

[1:04:28] kids and should you be spending it playing a game and it’s like yeah and it’s the same to be said about when you are with your kids should it be spent

[1:04:35] with them looking at the screen or should they be looking at your face um and interacting with you with physical tangible objects in the real

[1:04:42] world um you know and i think each parent finds their own rhythm their own balance and each kid’s different um but i think

[1:04:49] as long as you make sure that the engagement that the kid has is quality then then you’re good and that that kind of circles back to

[1:04:59] our previous conversation where you know now there’s studies on screen time and how much is good for your kid how much not

[1:05:05] and that’s where kind of video games come into play where it is like a babysitter right you’re kind of versus reading a book to your

[1:05:13] kid which is considered you know you’re sending knowledge to the kid versus putting them into a tv screen while you’re playing a game so it doesn’t seem

[1:05:21] to be said about like are you just pumping the controller in their hands and then going and doing dishes or are the two of you sitting together and

[1:05:28] playing a game together and a game that might require teamwork like a donkey kong or something like that where it’s a platformer system and

[1:05:36] it’s like okay now you boost me up and we got to try to solve this this uh this one problem like like a puzzle platformer and i think like that sort of

[1:05:49] experience of gameplay something together um you know it’s even like you know setting them down to watch a program as

[1:05:55] opposed to watching it with them and laughing with them when a character does something silly um

[1:06:02] but yeah but no you’re right like a lot of times unfortunately some people do kind of believe oh you watch this so that way i can free up myself and do it

[1:06:11] yeah you see baby when solid snake first met ocelot

[1:06:20] right away i just thought about um mario maker like once the kids got enough you know cognitive ability to be able to actually put together a

[1:06:29] bit of a level and then like you play the level against them or like can you beat your kids level you play make one for your kid yeah that could be a lot of

[1:06:36] like there’d be a lot of fun interactive time that way which you know i think i’m looking forward to once

[1:06:42] our little ones grow up i’m sure you know jeff you’ve mentioned your kid being a rock star at

[1:06:49] mario kart already it’s like that uh interactive play with them must be uh right with that game too you can set you know your ghost in it like best lap time

[1:07:00] yeah it can’t be daddy

[1:07:06] yeah there’s gavin on his phone finding all those cheats we were talking about like where are the shortcuts i must it must

[1:07:13] remain dominance yeah yeah beautiful all right gentlemen i think uh a wonderful note to head out on i think you’ll both agree

[1:07:23] so folks again this has been new dad gaming if you would like to get a hold of us you can find us on our website at newdadgaming.com

[1:07:30] ask us any questions or post on the comments we do this show every week and we will see you next week

[1:07:40] my name is trevor and i have a three month old my name is gavin i have a seven week old and i’m jeff i have a two and a half

[1:07:48] year old and a five girl wonderful guys we’ll see you next week later bye