Another reason to love Bungie and Halo 3

 

Something incredibly cute and profound happened this morning and I just had to share…

A little background first…I’m a SAHM, but i’m a WORKING SAHM; meaning, I stay at home with my child, AND I work a full-time job from home. Usually, while i’m earning a paycheck, my 8 yr. old son, Knucklehead, spends his time playing on one of our two Xbox’s with what I like to call his ’summertime Xbox buddies.’

Now, these regular gamer-buddies range in age from 8 to 12 yrs. old. Yes, they are the young kids that so many of us adult gamers complain about. Not because they are vulgar or rude, but because they are loud – and happy – and ask lots of innocent questions during matchmaking – and are blissfully unaware of how their yappiness grinds the nerves of us…mature gamers.

Now, these little ones don’t always make the most ideal teammates on H3, but when a room full of 8-12 yr. olds get into a room together for a little forging – it becomes quite magical.

For example, this morning, i’m upstairs programming away, and suddenly I hear my son say, ‘We’ll put our merchandise over here…’; ‘wait, wait – let’s put the parking lot here…,’  ‘Ok – i’ll work the cash register…,’ ‘what would you like? Ok! Thank you for shopping with us!’

Now, I thought for sure he was playing H3, but his dialogue thoroughly confused me, so i went downstairs to have a look at what he was doing. Sure enough, there he was, controller in hand and headset on head, forging with his little buddies. Only this time, they weren’t seeing how many times they could stick one another with a grenade, counting how many different ways a mongoose can fly up a man-cannon, or chasing each other around on ‘Snowbound.’

No, this time, they were playing in a supermarket that they, (or someone else), had forged out of shipping crates. There was a parking lot and a store front; aisles for products, and a customer service counter; there were even displays for weapons and vehicles. Each child had assigned himself a job: a customer, a cashier, a stock boy, even a merchandiser who’d make displays. 

I sat there for a while – watching and listening to their clever banter, and I realized how much they, (and I), were learning from this experience. They were cooperating, performing job-related tasks, and architecturally designing their own store. They were being kind, asking if anyone needed help, and assisting each other with their purchases.

And i’m left sitting there, totally amazed, not only at how well these children were playing with one another, but wondering why I ever worried about how much time they were spending on a video game in the first place. Watching these young children build something together in this virtual sandbox…cooperating, learning, experimenting, playing…it was very inspiring to see. 

I almost feel bad…no, I DO feel bad, for those parents who listen to the politicians, and parental groups…to those who say that video games are bad for our children. Their kids may never know what it’s like to play in Bungie’s world. They may never know what it’s like to create, to learn, and to role-play online with friends. This technology is truly the wave of our future, and I can only hope that as the gaming industry, and Bungie, grows – that they spend more time reaching out to parents who DON’T game, so that their children will get to make their own virtual supermarkets one day too. <3

- Mommy DX