Ghost Dad

I spent a little time playing Ghost Recon: Future Solider on the PS3 last night.  From what I've seen, the game is solid, similar to SOCOM but more interesting and with some better game modes.  It's a nice break from the first-person, running and gunning of the last few Call of Duty games.  I sampled a bit of the campaign, and played only two multiplayer matches, so I cannot go into a ton of detail here, but from the little I have sampled there is a lot of potential, especially when it comes to character/weapon customization.  Anyone looking for a good firefight should grab a copy of this game!  If you play on PSN, feel free to add me - drunkenribeye - to your friends list.  I could use a good lobby!

Having said that . . . I've found myself cutting back on my video game playing (not that I was playing a lot to begin with, since I do have a family and a life), because I started to notice that my six year-old was trying to spend more and more time playing video games at the house.  At first, I would limit it to about 25 minutes a day, and give him a bit more whenever he was really good about playing quietly, helping with chores around the house, etc.  Pretty soon, though, my wife and I began letting him play games while we did work around the house, because it was a nice way to keep him occupied and out of our hair!  As it turns out, the six year-old has a bit of an "addiction" problem, just like I used to have: "Hmmm . . . it's four in the morning, and I really should go to bed, but I bet I can get one more good round of team deathmatch in.  Let's do it!"  The more gaming he did, the more he wanted, and it started to affect him at school.  He told me it was hard to do his work in school, because he just kept thinking about playing DC Universe online, or Marvel Super Hero Squad. 

Playing video games was NOT the only reason he was being a bit of a clown at school, obviously.  My son is a bit of an entertainer, so part of his problem was simply him being a showoff.  I don't mind that - schools shouldn't suck the personalities out of these kids and make them boring little robots.  As long as he isn't being rude, I can handle him being one of the funny kids in class.  Even so, he still has to find a way to get his work done, and if daydreaming about video games was part of the problem, it's time to admit that it was a bad idea to let him play them at this age, which means little or no video gaming . . . for anyone in the house.  If I'm going to tell my son playing video games is only okay on the weekends, and in very tiny doses, I have to model that behavior.  I cannot be one of those "Do what I say, not what I do" kind of parents.  It's hypocritical, selfish, and by the way: it doesn't work. 

So I'm still a gamer, but I'll be hard to find on PSN during the day.   If you see me online late at night, especially on the weekends, give me an invite and be prepared to stay up a while!