Understanding The Game
A parent and a professional gamer shedding light on how to connect with what occupies the time of most of our children.
I’m an E-Sports player and gaming has been part of my life since the age of six, many of the skills I pride in possessing has been thanks to the games I’ve played. Besides my parents, I consider myself a son of Blizzard and Square Enix. I write this article with the main aim to educate parents to enable them the opportunity to connect and bond with those we cherish most in this world. As a parent myself, this would be the approach I’d take with my kid if he decided to take gaming seriously one day, and how I preferred my parents to approach me when I took my gaming career to the next step. The gaming industry is bigger than both the music and film industry combined. [1] That being said people will always play games. Our company B The Creative House is here to not only support gamers in the region but to educate and promote healthy gaming everywhere. I’ll start by explaining the types of games out there.
Think of a movie but you are literally part of the story where you get to experience the character, be part of their decisions and the stories outcome. It is a much more intimate experience for the player compared to movies, and the industry are making them better and better both visually and the way stories are portrayed. One thing’s for certain, the best is yet to come.
Make a day out of it! It is a story after all. Some games are longer than others. Think of it as a movie or a TV show. Watch your loved ones play, help them in solving some of the riddles or problems they face in the game and as a bonus, you will get an in-depth look at how your little ones think and react to many different scenarios. Now that’s bonding!
Two or more players. It will always have a hint of competitiveness, even if it is a game where you and your teammates are fighting computer monsters. There will always be someone doing better than the others, that’s when the bragging begins. I will only cover FPS games in this article since two of the top 5 games played globally are FPS games.
I’ll briefly explain them visually, so it will be easier for for you to pinpoint them out. If you only see a fist/weapon coming out of the screen it would mean it’s an FPS "First Person Shooter" game you can brag to your kids now that you know the term FPS.
Parent : “Ahhh... I see you prefer FPS games!” Even though most kids would be shocked at the fact that one of their parents knows the term, it will definitely be a great icebreaker. The Average duration of a FPS game is between 5 to 15 minutes depending on the game mode.
There are two ways to connect, one is actually playing the game with them but if you are bad... It may make things worse lol. The other way to connect is to show interest, you can start by asking if it is a single or multiplayer FPS game. If it is a Multiplayer game you can find out how good they are by checking their in-game name and finding out their rank. If your child plays less than two hours a day, you have nothing to worry about. This article is for parents who have kids playing every day non-stop and to have a deeper understanding of why they do it and how to best support them.
Each game has its unique ranking system that you as a parent will need to research to understand their progress better. Simply let us use a basic system of bronze silver, gold, platinum and diamond to explain. Everyone starts at Bronze and has to climb to Diamond to be considered one of the best in the world.
Ask them about their rank every week, see if they improve. “Climbing The Ladder” is another term that will shock your kid that you are familiar with it. Gamers that take their game seriously are always trying to climb the ladder to reach the next tier.Think of it like any sport, it’s the equivalent of being transferred from an amateur club to a professional club. One of the most rewarding and satisfying feelings for a gamer is climbing to the next tier. Each tier a player climbs proves to themselves that they are getting better and now they get to compete with new and better players.
TOP TIER (Less than 0.5% of the players)
If you find out they are in top ranks, in this case it will be diamond, you should be a proud parent only a few number of players reach that level. Which means your child has the potential to take E-sports professionally.
MIDDLE TIER (50% to 70% of the players)
Most players remain in middle tiers even if they are very serious about the game, in this case, it will be between silver, gold, and platinum. If you find out that they are progressing in tiers every week or month encourage them. Ask them what they think they’ll need to improve, a gaming mouse, a more comfortable chair a better connection...etc
LOW TIER (10% to 30% of the players)
If they are at the lowest tier without improving in months. Ask them, why they still play the game? Would be the first question. In my opinion, if your kid remains in the low tier for a long time there are a lot of serious issues that could be the reason. Therefore in this section,I will elaborate the most because this is where your child will most likely need you the most as a parent.
Humans in general, if they are not good at something they tend to move on to something else. If someone plays a game that he or she is bad at, they could be playing for the wrong reasons. Maybe they have no friends and this is their only form of communication or human interaction. If that is the case, you need to communicate with them right away and learn more about their lives and maybe seek professional help.
You can never game professionally if you can’t learn to control your anger, especially in team games. Another term gamers use is “Flaming” Which is when another player in your team makes a mistake that in most cases causes you to lose the game. You start flaming them by telling them how bad they are, a lot of curse words are usually used and insults. Every gamer has flamed at least once in their life, especially in competitive play. As you climb the ladder you learn that if someone plays bad, insulting them will not benefit the team one bit. The fact is it will make them play a lot worse and you will end up losing more games than winning.That being said some gamers remain in low tiers for a long period due to them focusing on flaming rather than teamwork if your kid is a flamer you need to educate them.
Some developers create games that you fall in love with for many different reasons could be the visuals, the music, the story, the characters...etc. In some cases, it could be that all their friends play this particular game and they don’t want to feel left out and that they enjoy playing it even if they are bad. In this rare case, you can guide them by watching other professional players play to learn from and improve their game style.
I’ve always had one rule if you are doing anything more than 6 hours a day you need to be earning from it one way or another. If your child is earning a living through gaming or another job. Let them indulge in the joy that is gaming. Although teach them how to do it right. Game use and game abuse are two different things.
The games I competed in would take an average of 20-50 minutes per game as well as most E-Sports games.Pre-game preparation is where the players are matched, discuss strategy and pick their characters. This process usually takes 5-15 minutes depending on the game. During that time, I would always get up from my chair to stretch, do 5-10 push-ups break eye contact with the screen and massage my hands. Most of the top players in the world exercise for at least an hour a day because it improves their gameplay [2]
The biggest complaint you hear from parents to their kids that game is, “Don’t sit in front of the screen all day and experience the outside world” The funny thing is nearly all jobs today requires a person to spend most of their time in front of some type of screen whether it’s a pc laptop or mobile. I agree that it is unhealthy to sit in front of a screen for hours without a break. Any job that requires a person to sit in front of a screen for hours on end needs to be approached the correct way. One of the great things about E-Sport games though is that the average time for one game to end is 20-45 minutes. A player can have a break of 5 to 15 minutes per game. Now let me explain to the parents reading this, how I would describe E-Sports as a job to my parents and I would like to know if your child had an opportunity to partake in this career path would you want them to pursue it?
Dear Mom & Dad,
I wake up doing what I love every day, people praise me and cheer out my name not only for my mind but my ability to execute complex thoughts using the tools I have. I get paid and treated as an athlete. Every day I’m competing with the brightest logical minds in the world. I’m a modern chess player, unlike chess, I don’t have the privilege of time to think of my next move. My time is different! All my decisions are calculated in milliseconds and these endless decisions followed by calculated executions will decide the outcome of just one game... I bring my mind, my dexterity and my imagination to every battle I fight, there are no casualties in the battles I seek, with each game I play I experience an adrenaline rush, a level of connection and a type of growth unlike anywhere else. Once the smoke settles and the battle ends... I’ve just had one of the most fun and rewarding experiences a person could ask for... I want to be in E-Sports.
No matter what type of competitive game one plays, the gaming community always agrees on one thing, each game aims to make us have fun and for that, I will end this article with the most used terms in the world of gaming that we can all agree on GG HF.
Thank you for taking the time to read. I hope this article helps you connect more with your little ones, teenagers, adults/kids-at-heart. If you enjoyed the read and want to be informed on the next article that will help you shed light on the beautiful world that is gaming, subscribe to my blog. Special thanks to all the photographers that I've used their work to enhance the readers experience. If you enjoyed any of the images used in this article please find the link to the Artist's profile below.
Accreditation links:
https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/53481
