Quantcast

Articles

Special Feature: Warrior Woman (Part III)

By Alex Petraglia on Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 12:00 PM EST  

Mom Fifth
Alex: I’d like to sum up everything we’ve done with a brief interview type bit. To begin, if you didn’t have an XBOX 360 already in your home, would you buy one?

Mrs. P: Honestly, no.

Alex: Why not?

Mrs. P: While I have come to appreciate games a great deal more after doing this article, personally, I’d rather go to an indie film or read a compelling book than sit down and play through a videogame.

Alex: There were a few games you liked, though.

Mrs. P: Yeah, and I’d probably play a few now and then if the machine was in the house. But I can’t say I’d be compelled to buy a console for myself.

Alex: Do you think other mothers might share a similar sentiment?

Mrs. P: Yeah, I think so. If they could get their hands on a game they found interesting. Do I see my friend’s playing it? No. But I spoke to your friends when they heard I was doing this article and they thought it was so great. I think maybe if a younger gamer approached his parents or relatives and sat down with them and showed them just how incredible some games are, they might find it all very compelling, like I did.

Alex: What were some of the stumbling blocks?

Mrs. P: I found the whole thing very time consuming. I felt like I needed to relearn the controls to play every new game. I found it to be a frustrating experience all in all. Like Hitman and Oblivion, for instance, I needed to study manual just to get anywhere.

Alex: What about the Arcade Games, weren’t those easier?

Mrs. P: Hexic I liked a lot, but Marble Blast was pretty tough. I think when it comes to winning over this audience, the simpler the better. But I also think spending over $400 is absurd just to play a Mattel card game that goes for $5 in real life, for instance.

Alex: What may make you want to purchase the console or play other games?

Mrs. P: I think the biggest factor would be if I could find a game that I could relate to, containing subject matter that I enjoy. Again, that’s partially why I liked Condemned. I think too often though, the plot is quite insipid. I think strong dramatic elements, like story and visuals and music, would be a bigger draw to older generations than unique gameplay mechanics or what have you.

I think the biggest problem is a simple lack of experience. It seemed like, in a game such as Prey, you knew exactly where to go after looking at a puzzle or roadblock, whereas it’d take me an exorbitant amount of time to move onto the next task or area. And it took me a very long time to develop the ability to move freely in the game and feel comfortable with the controls, to some extent. I could see some people just getting too frustrated to continue, however.

Alex: Do you think that there exists the potential for a gaming market for people your age?

Mrs. P: Yes, probably. But I think there’s currently too much of an emphasis on violence.

Alex: How so?

Mrs. P: I don’t object to violence in games, because that’s part of the art form. But games need to do other things if they want to attract older generations.

Take that online computer game that everyone’s talking about, Third World?

Alex: Second Life?

Mrs. P: Yeah, that incorporates a great deal of creativity on the part of the player. From what I gather, I can see myself getting hooked on something like that. I could so many other people my age doing so as well.

Alex: I think there a lot of recent games that are unique or creative, or games that I consider to be masters of the medium. But I don’t see any of those yet on the 360 and I think that’s maybe why you aren’t getting hooked. But you just did say something I found interesting: “it’s part of the art form.” Do you think gaming is an art form?

Mrs. P: Oh, absolutely. Everything I see is compelling. But the physical interaction of it is… [sighs] I just feel stymied by it. I mean, I’ve seen you play things and I’ve seen videos and it’s incredibly beautiful and I can appreciate it. But I don’t feel comfortable enough with the tools that they give me to make it work.

Alex: From what you know about the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, tell me your thoughts on those and how they might shape gaming, especially for your generation.

Mrs. P: I know that with the Wii, you can move around and go through certain physical actions that are then replicated on the screen. Of course the games themselves are the most important part, but to me, the whole controller concept is phenomenal. It’s like you’re entering another world physically. And sometimes I felt like I was in that other world when I was playing the XBOX; like I was being drawn in. Like, when I was playing Marble Blast, it became dizzying, it felt like you’d actually fall off into space.

But getting back to the Wii, it sorta brings you into another dimension. Of course, I don’t understand the technology that allows the machine to do this, it’s kinda mind boggling I think. But also very intriguing. If I had access to one, I’d certainly want to try it.

I don’t know anything about the PlayStation 3.

Alex: PS3 in a nutshell: it’ll be a next-gen gaming console like the XBOX 360 and have a lot of similar games, like shooting games and racers and what have you, but also act as a media hub, bringing things like upcoming hi-def DVD standards to consumers.

Mrs. P: Depends on a lot of things. Like price, I guess…

Alex: $599.

Mrs. P: [Laughs] Probably not then.

Alex: So ultimately I guess the question remains, was Peter Moore right when he said maybe, and I paraphrase, “your mom will be playing this?”

Mrs. P: Well, technically, your mom was playing this…

Alex: Only because you were coerced into it.

Mrs. P: [Laughs] Well, again, I learned a great deal about gaming and the industry over the weeks we worked on this. There are definitely a handful of titles I enjoyed playing and could see myself returning to. But I don’t know how many mothers would share that sentiment. Truth be told, I hope that some game developers read this piece, consider the comments I’ve made, and somehow incorporate them into their next project in an effort to bring more mothers into the world of gaming. Above all else, I saw the power that the XBOX 360 and videogames in general are capable of. With a few subtle tweaks and design changes, I could definitely see more people my age taking up gaming as a fun little hobby. I truly think that gaming is a platform with limitless potential for creativity. Getting a 50-year old woman to see that was no small feat, but I hope it’s a miracle that’ll be accomplished many times over for many other people in the future.

Alex: Final question, what are we having for dinner?

Mrs. P: Are you kidding? After all that, you expect me to make dinner, too?

Alex: Touché.

Mom Sixth

Related Stories

Comments

Leave a Reply