Screenshot of a scene in Counter Strike {image source}
During my university years when I was an undergraduate, I used to be a gamer and my favorite games were Half-Life: Opposing Force and Counter Strike. I played for hours during the day and night. The internet was shit and slow and draggy. We had dial-up back then… to those young kiddies reading this now or in the future (lol), dial-up is… was… the opposite to broadband, and you used to dial through to your service provider and the modem would make the sound of a fax machine dialing out…. “eeeeeeeeeeek eeek eek eek”
Anywho… When I was playing online games I would connect with total strangers – mostly men – and kick their arses… when they found out that I was a ‘girl’ some of them whooped me or booed me but continued playing, whereas the mean evil sons of bitches who couldn’t handle getting smacked down by a woman would boot me out of the game. Some typed abuse, but I would disable chat eventually. Then some clever person invented the ability to use VOIP during games (voice over IP walkie talkie style)… and I took that on… so the abuse became verbal.
But I was a tough chick and knew not to take threats too seriously. Most were in America, and didn’t have a local army to send to kill me. I avoided Australian servers for that reason. This all happened when I was studying media/multimedia and one of my units focused on online gaming and chatting. So I learned about online privacy and young people. We read journal articles about teens committing suicides due to online abuse during gaming sessions. Some starved to death due to addiction and ignoring their meals. Others developed mental illness and so on and on.
When I met my now husband, gaming was one of our common loves. We used to play games quite often together, and on many occasions we’d hook the computers so we could play against each other. Games then also included Unreal Tournament and Quake II. The Scientist would sit in one room and I in the other… and from across the hallway we’d yell out things such as:
You’re cheating!
Wait, I was respawning! (when a player dies then reappears moments later while the game continues)
Where the F@CK did you come from? I — you— oh F@CK!
I quit!
I want to play Quake…!
No, I want to play Unreal Tournament… ALONE!
No, I want to play Blue Shift, F@CK off!
and we’d probably continue if his mother hadn’t shouted “You guys, dinner is ready.”
Then we parted because I had to go home back to my sponsor so I could complete my work contract. The Scientist stayed in Australia and waited for me. During our long-distance courting, he continued to play games while I worked my arse off to keep my mind busy so I didn’t feel so lonely. So I lost interest in gaming while he continued. And I think he was hoping that when I come back we’d get back into our old routine.
Unfortunately I didn’t get back into gaming as much as before and now he wants to kill me, in real life. So, my husband is still into gaming – he plays every other night after Curly’s gone to bed and while I blog. It’s his escape from our stressful life. He wants me to get back into the game! I told him – maybe, some day, when I’m bored. But that definitely when Curly is old enough he’ll join in.
But seriously, I would love to get back into it… not for my husband, but for the fun we used to have. That feeling is – unfortunately – not back yet. Perhaps one day I’ll love games again. For now, I’ll try and decide about where gaming fits into our son’s life. I think it would be good for him to learn to play but I wouldn’t dream of him becoming an addict. He is still learning to man his Vtech V.Smile V-Motion Active Learning System games and soon we’ll start him off with a Wii. He also has the iPad which he loves when in a good mood.
But knowing how addictive games can get, I hope our knowledge can help us control how deep Curly gets into gaming when the time comes. We would need to do some research on gaming and autism, for sure! I’ve read before that games can assist children with autism while they could also become a problem if badly monitored (as with any other children who don’t have autism).
Do your kids play games (on the PC or console)? How old were they when they started playing proper games (not the educational games) and what are your tips on controlling their use of the games?
If your child has autism, do they play these types of games I mentioned?
