Merging Media and the Market

     “Life’s a game, all you have to do, is know how to play it”

If my husband and I ever decided have children there is only one aspect of raising them that I know is going to problematic: video games.  My husband grew up with his choice of video game consoles and how often he played them.  On the other hand, my parents didn’t allow us to own video game consoles as long as we lived in their house.  After I went off to college, I still never felt the need to own any of these gaming consoles. I’m not against gaming; rather I enjoy playing them on occasion.  Unfortunately, my husband can’t just play Xbox 360 on occasion.

The fact that he can’t seem to find an Xbox 360/work/life balance is truly upsetting to me.  This apparent gaming addiction makes me think that my parents were ingenious in not allowing us children to own these consoles.  But gaming has come a long way since I was a child, such gaming is now revolutionizing the way children learn and interact with each other thanks to new media.  Researchers are even saying that gaming may even be beneficial for children. 

Along with this gaming revolution has come opportunity for educators and advertisers alike; allowing them to communication with the hard-to-reach younger generations in an extremely engaging and effective way.  However, most adults in America are unsure of whether new media and gaming are a good combination.  Some argue that in game advertising exploits children and these games derives them of physical activity and ‘real’ social interaction.  Personally, I’m not thrilled with some of the language that I hear out of other gamers through Xbox 360 Live.  Parents need to ensure that their children’s social interaction through gaming is age appropriate.  Because, from what I’ve heard this social interaction can easily be a negative experience: and while you can monitor gamer’s in-game experience; you can’t monitor how they speak to each other during live game play. 

Basically, researchers would have to come up with some extremely compelling evidence that gaming is more beneficial that not in order for me to be OK with my children spending hours every day playing video games.  Yet, I’m kind of stuck on this matter because my husband loves his Xbox 360 and I can’t tell him what to do: Since it’s inevitable that gaming consoles are in my household, I’m not sure what will happen once we have children.  I’m sure it will be an epic battle of learning to grow with new media for all involved. 

Arin