#182: Child’s Play

My boy has taken to video recording
his game play and adding
commentary over the top.  He’s
seen this on you tube.  Some of
his heroes are dudes who video-
tape themselves playing video
games, who have become
celebrities of sorts; thousands of
viewers can’t get enough of dudes
playing video games filming them-
selves playing video games.

I want to be dismissive of this
kind of entertainment.  I want
to say it’s total bullshit. And yet,
when I hear my boy by himself
in the other room, playing,
commenting on the proceedings
to an imaginary audience with
whom he seems to have a
tremendous rapport, attempting
to capture it all on the iPad
pointing at and recording
the action on the screen, I think, yes.

What did I do as a kid?
I watched Star Trek and then
I pretended I was Captain Kirk
and my stuffed animals were
my crew and my less favored
stuffed animals were bad aliens.
We fought each other in
the hallway. There was dialogue.
There were sound effects.
There was that Star Trek
fight music. I was always
victorious and my legions
of imaginary fans kept coming back
for more. Ultimately, it’s the
same damn thing, isn’t it? Except
I didn’t have a camera on a
stupid smart device.
If I did, you can be sure
I would have captured
every single moment.
And either I am trying to
rationalize my son’s screen
time or I am realizing that,
though the medium is different,
the two activities are
essentially the same,
equally creative, valuable
beyond compare in the endeavor
of every child to become
the person they want to become,
a captain of the Starship Enterprise
or a video game genius with
throngs of adoring viewers.
Who’s to say which of these
pasttimes would have the
greater real-life application?
I could probably say, but for now,
I hesitate.