Notes

Families who Play together Stay Together

My dad is a fan of fishing, hunting, and fighting fires. I love reading, thinking and not putting myself through too much. Although we may not have a lot in common, we play lots of games together. He is a fan of military shooters because he is bored with the slow-moving, story-driven games I play on my own. I was not going to follow his lead at the fire station, and he wasn't going to read Kant alongside me. Instead, we have bonded over virtual battlefields.



That's not something exclusive to me and my family. Like my own father, Steven struggles to find things that he has in common with his children. One of his daughters is dancer. Another is in the band. As the girls have grown older playing video games has brought the family closer together.



He added, "I've been a gamer since I was a kid and my daughters are the ones who only recently started picking up." i'm the great wizard "About six or seven years ago I got my oldest daughter a computer and she and I began playing games together and against one another, and it gradually evolved from there. Steven and his daughters Maya and Nicole were getting ready for Torchlight 2 at QuakeCon in Dallas. "We used to have one room [at home] that all the computers were in," Steven told me when I asked whether they played a variety of games as a unit. "We would sit in the room and play for hours."



They play many games together, such as Borderlands and The Secret World, though Steven informed me that both he and Maya who is 11, currently have an affinity for Minecraft. The evidence suggests that Minecraft is an actual Lego set The two work together and create together. "I actually am a fan of Minecraft. We'll log on to an online server and create things together and other things."



It's not just about the games. Their home is also a place for technology. Nicole's relatives arranged to get Nicole the part she needed for the brand new computer. Her father also built it with her. They've learned to install hardware in the same way that kids learn to change a flat tire on the car. "I try to show them that this is what you need to do when building a computer' so that way they are able to complete things by themselves," Steven said. "I tried to make them as self-sufficient as possible."



While you may enjoy spending time with your family at home, it's not enough to guarantee good family time. Sometimes life gets in the way and you have to go on a trip in order be able to spend time with your family. Where do you go when your family is already exploring magical kingdoms (albeit virtual)?



Steven's family picked QuakeCon because it is held in their state. Marketed as the world's largest free LAN event, the Bethesda-hosted convention tends to attract thousands of people to Dallas. "It forces us to concentrate on being together," Steven said. "And it's also enjoyable to go away and get out and look and see what other people are doing and to see what new games are being released ... It's something we all love doing and it's not too expensive.



They don't have to go it alone. QuakeCon is a group activity similar to families that camp with their friends. Steven and his daughters attended with a group of friends, including Nicole's friend Sean. "His dad and I have become good friends," Steven said. "I would invite Sean and him to our house for mini LAN gatherings. I would invite three to four of my friends and my daughters would join me. It will be a great time in the house. For the past few years, QuakeCon has been another activity to do with the family.



"I don't know that it was the family sitting down at dinner and saying, 'We ought to go!'" Sean 17-year-old Sean said to me. He was still playing games in the Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) area of QuakeCon while his mother, father, and brother, 7-year-old Reid, were elsewhere. "It was more my dad and me saying"This is kick A, we need to do this and the other two sort of got dragged along. We're all close to Steven's family and we all play together so they suggested that we all join together.



For these people who want to book a hotel for a weekend of video games is one of the most natural activities in the world. And why shouldn't it be? Anyone who is younger than 18 today was born into a world where video games are a regular activity for millions. It's been quite a while since video games were something parents were aware of. Instead, they're something adults love to play with their kids.



Steven's oldest daughter, who is attending college near home, will be going to college. However, he hopes that QuakeCon can be a reason for the entire family to come together and play games for the weekend. "I've got at least six or seven years with my youngest daughter," he stated. "But yes, we'll go on for as long as is possible," he said.



What matters for now is they're enjoying their time together right now. "The primary reason we're here is to take an escape. To just sit and play video games and just kind of hang out. Time with Daddy." Britton Peele is a writer for hire based out of Texas. His work has been featured on GameSpot, GamesRadar and The Dallas Morning News. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrittonPeele.


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