I took the boys (Harry & Ben) to Avcon yesterday. None of us had ever been there before, and were quite unprepared for what we encountered! Being a family of enthusiastic gamers, we though 'we'll totally fit in for sure!'. Ummm, hello! We started to doubt our confidence when faced with grown men in mario & luigi costumes, human pixels and storm troopers looking so amazingly true to form that we got a bit nervous..
Despite our apparent underdressing, we had a ball! The boys both loved it, especially the Indie games room. It was funny taking them around to all the various developers to try out their new games, most of them unlaunched to the market. The boys just got in there and figured out how to play them. Cluey they are! One of the developers even asked me how old they were, and was quite impressed with how good Harry was at his game. Benny boy was great too. Good on you my little gamers!
I watched a TED talk by Jane McGonigal some time ago about how gaming can make a better world, and despite the fact that quite obviously gaming is not immediately practical, I think there is definitely some truth in what she talks about. If you've got a spare 20 minutes, it's an interesting and thought provoking talk. I agree that gamers are developing excellent skills at, well, SOMETHING. We just need to find a way to harness that SOMETHING and make it useful. After all, we all want 'epic wins' in real life don't we?
Anyway, that's my little AVCON wrap-up. Looking forward to next year already, and I think next time, instead of just getting our game on, we might even rustle up a costume or two!!
