So I’m watching my 4 year old daughter play golf on the Wii, and she’s playing like a typical 4 year old. She has some understanding of how to hit the ball, but no real skill when it comes to putting or chipping (which should be expected I’m sure). But even so, I see her ready to give the game all the perserverence that it may require of her…and that ends up being not very much at all. BECAUSE…after hitting the ball eight times, the game simply aborts, says “give up” and moves her automatically on to the next hole.
WHAT?!!! Do you guys REMEMBER what it was like to play video games when we were younger? HOURS and HOURS I spent trying to get past one stinkin’ level. And if you died, you had to start ALL OVER again. You got 3 or 4 lives and that was IT. No save points, no extra guy games where you could score 50 new tries…just a few lives and some willpower was all that you were equipped with to conquer the gaming world. (And it was SOOOO exhilirating when we finally conquered wasn’t it?)
Not so anymore! I know it could be over-the-top (but not completely unlike me) to analyze the effects of even this small change in our culture. BUT what are we teaching our kids when we say that we can’t expect them to stick around long enough to fight through a difficult level? Heaven forbid our kids have to experience a few moments of frustration! Actually, the GAME was more impatient than my daughter, because I think she was ready to give it a couple more tries. But it’s like it was saying, “good grief, you stink at this – let’s move on already”. AND it’s not even like it’s trying to HIDE that fact…giant words on the TV screen that say “GIVE UP” are not very subtle. Why not another choice that’s a LITTLE less obvious???
OK so I’m not going to lose sleep on this or anything but I thought it was food for thought. Kids these days. Sheesh.
lol I would have to agree that people forget that a little hard work actually makes the accomplishment that much greater. I can recall feeling awesome after a 24 hour run at super mario 3.