When Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two U.S. Representatives, invited the players to play the games with them on Twitch in a match of Among Us, several boomers rolled their eyes. Most people did as they said, excluding Millennials, Gen Z, younger Gen Xers, and those who give attention to those generations.
What is Gaming Culture?
Gaming culture is a world in which people enjoy playing video games and form communities with various people who understand the appeal of gaming.
Most people think of ‘players’ as odd youth in men. Further, characterize them with hoodies hunched down in basements playing violent video games who venture out to shoot up schools and generate many of them on the streets gaming. That’s only been the case in a couple of random situations. Still, the myth has persisted, probably in response to the psychological professionals who have expounded very bulkily on the motion that video games wreck young brains.
But just like any other culture, it’s a group of people who perform various life activities and come together and share their passion for games. Gamers have customs unique to their gameplay, like being proud of their accomplishments and having fun. Moreover, it includes working together to beat the enemies and generate social groups that understand and, in various ways, police themselves to create safe places to come together.
Nothing unusual about the games, especially when you think about gaming culture in terms and conditions of how civilizations evolve. Global communities, shared values, solidarity, and more concepts are currently at play to help this movement take hold of the game.
How Has the Gaming Culture Evolved?
Gaming culture today has gone so far beyond the basement. War games still dominate video game units. Different avenues, including e-Sports competitions, Minecraft servers utilized by schools to teach teamwork, science, and math, and streaming services such as Twitch, have evolved to create communities where recent generations of children learn to work with one another and build genuine friendships both ways online as well as in person.
With the Congress women’s savvy foray into the culture to encourage election among the younger generation, gaming culture effectively stepped into the forefront as a force that is here to be a stick. Gamers responded in staggering numbers to the call, happy to be recognized but, most importantly, ready to play and show the rest of the world how quick and straightforward it is to apply gaming societal mores to a larger society in general.
Watching AOC and Omar play helped people realize that a simple game of murder, task management, and voting could be pure, simple fun. What could be more natural during a pandemic than people coming together online in a fun environment when they can’t do it in person at a sporting event or movie theater?
Post-pandemic, the joys, and shared gaming experiences will continue to bind people together. In one evening, today’s authentic gaming culture was exposed by the hundreds of thousands of crowd who joined to enjoy life and apply essential gaming opinions of teamwork, careful thought, and hard work to defeat an enemy. If you think these generations need to use these same skills in real life, you want to give them more credit for thinking for themselves.
How to Keep Kids Safe When Gaming?
While online dangers exist, more and more parents are discovering that embracing gaming can be instructional, informative, and even entertaining for families. Some research indicates that video gaming can improve cognitive function in the brain regions responsible for spatial orientation, memory formation, strategic planning, and fine motor skills.
Just like barring kids from watching TV doesn’t stop them from sneaking in forbidden shows or growing up to become avid TV watchers, it’s essential to work with children to set limits on time or find games that help them learn the skills you feel are appropriate for the real world. Every child is different; your parental judgment should always be the final decision.
Here are some tips we’ve learned about video games and kids:
- Ask your kids to show you where the ‘report player’ button is and find it together if they don’t know.
- Discuss the situations where players should be reported and reward your kids when they tell you about a player they said. You’re not raising a snitch; you’re raising a child who can defend themselves and recognize a toxic situation when they see it.
- Watch your kids play the game. Most kids will be pleasantly surprised that you’re interested and will happily show you the ins and outs of the game.
- Play the game yourself. Your kids will enjoy watching you and likely be happy to give you plenty of tips as you do.
- Buy them games that teach cooperation and teamwork. Minecraft, Lego Worlds, Animal Crossing, and similar games all do this and can be played either independently or with others.
- Give older kids some leeway to play games that might seem scary; don’t automatically dismiss the game they want. Among Us, for example, involves murder and is exploding in popularity. We didn’t want to let our kids play until we finally played it ourselves and understood that the overall concepts it taught weren’t harmful (or gory).
Gaming culture is here to stay, and today’s kids will not escape it, nor do they want to. The parenting trick to learn is how to remain involved, understand how it impacts your child, and when to dial it up or down for your family.
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