I write my 4-year-old son is recovering from the trauma of wandering off a cliff and dying! His avatar that is!
His granddad, my dad, has got him hooked on World of Warcraft (WOW), an online fantasy role-play game. Small Boy is 'Piggy Mon' and Small Girl is 'Lyonessuz'.
Grandad left the room for a second and Small Boy climbed a tree ( as boys do) and dropped off a cliff, cue much crying and devastation until Granddad brought him back to life!
There is a life lesson right there! All without leaving his seat!
This activity is keeping in the family tradition; I was inducted (brainwashed!) into Dungeons and Dragons and Tunnels and Trolls at the tender age of 9! It was a major past time in our house and all the neighbours kids would be round to play and dice roll through various situations.
My brother still has not let me forget that my Elf Legolas threw a spear without looking and stuck him in the back! That's 26 years ago!
It was normal to me to have talk of Trolls and Orcs and this was while Peter Jackson was still doing homework and dreaming!
On going to university in a different country away from my family I knew exactly what to do on fresher's week and I headed to the Fantasy Role Play Soc… only to find it was populated by spotty males in denim, their eyes lighting up at the thought of a female member!
Turning on my heel I tried the Science Fiction society, this at least had female members! However the first meeting descended rapidly into a testosterone fueled argument along the lines of " How many Dicks have you got?"
Philip K Dick that is!
I kid you not!
So sadly my role-playing fantasy and science fiction has been kept firmly behind home doors until now! My dad and younger brother are hooked and meet up online in WOW to interact and 'play together'.
I have resisted because I have the funny feeling I too will be hooked!
As a quick rule of thumb watch this,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU
if it makes you laugh then you are a natural gamer and or may have played in the past!
if you mutter "nerds" or " utter twaddle" then don't worry this world is not for you, you are obviously well balanced holding down a good job and providing for dependents!
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