Fathers and Kids Bond Playing Video Games

CNN has an interesting article titled "Fathers and Kids Bond Playing Video Games". The article looks at the bonding experience that emerges when parents play video games with their children. Growing up, my dad would sit down and play video games with my brother and I (he still does when we get together). We've played Myst, Baseball, Football, etc...and when Zelda first came out on the original NES, he drew in all of the hidden screens on the foldout map for me to use.

It will be interesting to see how we (the gamer generation) will interact with our kids given the different technology we grew up with. I certainly would not advocate that playing video games should be the extent of bonding time (as the article alludes to), but parents shouldn't dismiss the relationships and interactions that can occur in video games.

In my dissertation research, I've been reminded of the importance of debriefing a simulation and game. Perhaps this is where parents can most impact the game experience. If parents can serve as the "Debriefer", they can help show kids how the game relates to the real world and what skills can be transferred. I suspect that most kids are adept at making this transfer at some point, but given adults experience in the real world, we should be able to facilitate this transfer.