Why it is important to play and play video games together with your children

Since the days of the Wii – we were in 2006 – parents have no longer had any excuses. That is, since a console was born with a controller in the reassuring shape of a remote control that used the movement of the hand to interact with the screen. Previously, various pretexts and justifications could be put forward such as: “I’m not used to playing with the JoyPad, there are too many buttons”, “I can’t see the screen well and I don’t know where to look”; or worse: “My fingers are too big and I can’t use the tablet well.”

For the first time with the Wii everyone, even grandfathers and grandmothers, approached video games, because everyone knows how to imitate the movement of a tennis racket or simulate steering the wheel of a car. And in fact that Nintendo invention was a global and resounding success precisely because it broadened the audience of gamers. Then, with the beginning of the Fortnite era, something broke. It’s as if a generational “honeymoon” had been abruptly interrupted. Teenagers have found their games, their worlds, closed and exclusive like the door of their bedroom. Adults – not all but many – have been able to start doing what they have mostly always done: judging young people from top to bottom. Often going into detail about how they spend their time when they want to have fun.

It’s not a judgement, it’s a fact. Studying the statistics of those who interview families on their digital habits reveals a greater gap between fathers, mothers and children. While there has never been common ground inside smartphones, a point of contact could be found on the home television. But also on that of laptops if desired. And yet nothing.

Despite the appeals of psychologists and neuroscientists, sharing play time is no longer perceived as a meeting place. The sofa, two controllers in hand and eyes focused on the screen is a familiar romance from times gone by. That photograph of fathers and sons discussing the strategy to be adopted and at the same time superficially exchanging opinions on things such as when watching television has faded over time. Yet, the videogame industry that is more attentive to the 12-16 age group has given it its all. For example, introducing the possibility for less strong fathers to get help from the minor with various tricks such as literally “jumping” onto their child’s back and letting him or her do everything. Psychologists will find a lot of food for thought in this image. But it worked. Especially for the less skilled.

In any case, despite a boom in so-called cooperative games designed for parents and children in the last two years, the titles that have achieved the most commercial success are something that cannot be approached for those over 50. I’ll try to be more detailed: if we exclude Fc24 (l (formerly Fifa, i.e. the best-selling football simulator played in the world) which however has the limit of being boring played with two people on the same screen in cooperative mode – especially if dad is poor as often happens – we find Elden Ring at the top of the rankings which requires a predisposition to suffering and extraordinary patience, and the usual Fortnite, Dota, Lol or Cod. We are talking about first and third person shooters which can be complicated for those who do not have more than trained reflexes. So let’s talk about a handful of titles that mark a “gaming divide” between fathers and sons. Nonetheless, the fault lies solely with us, with us parents. And not of the market, of the video game industry and of “young people who are no longer like they used to be”.