Middleground Gaming: Read All About IT, Whatever IT May Be <body><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.angelfire.com/sys/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.angelfire.com/sys/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.angelfire.com/sys/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://www.angelfire.com/doc/images/track/ot_noscript.gif?rand=112049" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90§ion=280303"></iframe>  </noscript> <body bgcolor="#000000" text="#679BC7" link="#67B6C7" alink="#FFFFFF" vlink="#FFFFFF"><FONT FACE="Arial"><center><img src="mg_main.jpg"><br><a href="home.html"><img src="home_button.jpg"></a> <a href="about.html"><img src="about_button.jpg"></a> <a href="videogames.html"><img src="vg_button.jpg"></a> <a href="genres.html"><img src="genres_button.jpg"></a> <a href="dictionary.html"><img src="dict_button.jpg"></a> <a href="articles.html"><img src="articles_button.jpg"></a> <a href="links.html"><img src="links_button.jpg"></a><br><br><img src="articles_main.jpg"></center><br><br><b>Your Mama Plays Video Games</b><br>Gaming the Generation Gap<br>by Christina Ignacio<br>11.20.05<br><br><center><img src="yourmama.jpg"></center><br><br>“If I don’t get the new Jak and the new Ratchet and Clank, Christmas is canceled.” <br><br>No child would ever say that Christmas would be canceled, save that precocious little scamp who is too intelligent and eloquent for his own good. This of course would be the same kind of child who would ask that rather than receive presents, his parents should donate money so a third world village can have a well built… But I digress. No child threatened to cancel Christmas last year. No, these immortal words were spoken last November by none other than my mother.<br><br>Oh. bless her heart.<br><br>Meet my mom Lisa. She has been married for over thirty years, ran her first 5K this past fall, has one daughter who graduated college in 1999, one still in college (Mom, Dad, I <i>promise</i> that I will graduate soon,) and is a rabid gamer. And we’re not just talking Tetris. My mom is all about any game where you get to battle bosses, solve puzzles and shoot things. Having a funny little sidekick is a definite plus.<br><br>I have very distinct memories of the first times my mom played a video game by choice and loved it. The first is when my grandpa, her father, was in the hospital. Not the best memory of course, but I do recall we had one of those ginormous grey Gameboys. My mom was hooked on Tetris. She’d play it at the hospital while waiting, she’d play on airplanes and in airports, and she would always call me over when she got the high score so I could see the rocketship blast off. I never got that far. Tetris was not my forte.<br><br>The other distinct memory I have was her playing Super Nintendo. I remember my sister and I really really really wanted one for Christmas. My sister was almost late to her violin lesson when she finally beat Bowzer at the end of Super Mario because she wanted to see the credits. My mom eventually beat Mario also; I think that game is what really got her hooked. However, the memory of her playing SNES is one of her staying up after dinner waiting for my dad to come home from his post-work gym session. She’d play a little known game called Super Adventure Island, spending hours collecting bananas and flinging them like slingshots at low res monsters of some sort.<br><br>Mario was definitely her buddy through and through. We moved on from our trusty Super Nintendo to an N64. My dad worked for the company that made the 3D software for the Super Mario graphics, and naturally, Mom was thrilled when we got one for free that Christmas. Mario lead to the Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time,) which in turn lead to the next Zelda (Majora's Mask,) and the next Mario and Zelda (Wind Waker,) and low and behold, my mom had been gaming for nearly a decade.<br><br>For my eighteenth birthday, my boyfriend at the time bought me a PS2 so I could get my fix of Tony Hawk when I wasn’t at his place. I brought it home that summer and introduced my mom to the joy that was Ratchet and Clank, as well as Jak and Daxter. Needless to say, she was glued to my console. I thought I was never going to get it back—till my sister, who worked for EA at the time, bought a PS2 for my mom with her employee discount. My mom works for an elementary school, so naturally she swaps tips and such with the kids there, but she’s currently bummed that there will be no new games for her to play during winter break. The new Zelda game doesn’t come out for a while, so she has decided to wait on buying a GameCube till the game is ready to be played.<br><br>But seriously. How many parents are like this? I'm certainly not complaining. On the contrary, there is something beautiful about being tired, sad and lonely, away at college, missing your mom's cooking, and having her call you only to announce she discovered a new character in the game she's playing: a rhino called "Rip You A New One."<br><br>According to the ESA (<a href="http://www.theesa.com/facts/parents_games.php">Entertainment Software Association)</a> my mother is among fifty-three percent of parents who game with their children at least once a month. However, their list of parent-child-gaming statistics lacks stats on parents who game sans child. I’ve known for as long as my mother has been attached to the television via a controller that there is no way she could be the only parent who gamed <i>more</i> than her kids. I have been out of the nest for nearly five years now and her gaming habit has only grown since. No way is she the only gamer with grown children. How many are out there? Why do they game? What resources are there for them besides their children? How come there are no special forums for them?<br><br>How come and why indeed. When I Googled “parents who game,” all I found that wasn’t a “parents should be aware of what games their children are playing” article was a lone article about <a href=“links.htmk”>a man who plays MMORPGs with his son.</a><br><br>I don’t know what the future holds for her, or if I will be the same kind of parent she is (an awesome one, might I add.) All I can say is game on Mom. Game on.<br><br><br><br><b>Is Your Parent A Gamer?</b><br>Tell me about it. E-mail me with the subject line "My Mom/Dad Got Game" and I'll publish it here.<br><br><b>Mama Needs A New Game</b><br>The new Zelda isn't coming out in time for Christmas. Have suggestions for what my mom should play?<br>E-mail me with the subject line "Game Suggestions"<br><br><br><br> </center><br><br><br><br><center><a href="home.html"><img src="home_button.jpg"></a><br><br><br>middleground.gaming[at]gmail{dot}com</center> </body> </html>