Multi-Generational Gaming

 One of the things I enjoy as a teacher is the ability to have some long stretches of time off. It helps to make up for all the extra time I have to put in at home when school is in. An activity I love doing is playing video games with my boys. They all have different things they like to play, so it gives some variety. 

Today as I was playing Fortnite with my 16 year old, I was thinking about how video games have evolved. As a kid, I was there when Pong came out. My dad was an early adopter of home video games. Well, at least when it came to Pong. He did love some good arcade time though. 

This afternoon we played duo no-build and duo arena modes. One of the things my son pointed out, we have gotten our game communication down pretty good. I saw that as a victory in itself. Being able to communicate with teenagers is already difficult at times. Speaking of victories, the best we did was a second place finish. Most of them were in the top 15 though. 

It has been an interesting video game journey thus far. Although I really miss the traditional arcade, gaming is still an activity that has carried forward with me. Seriously, I miss Street Fighter, Mortal Combat, Pac-Man, Galaga, Dragon’s Layer, Spy Hunter, and some good pinball. 

As I am writing this, I started thinking about how long this gaming connection goes between our generations. My dad started with Pong in the late 1970s and it has been with me in some form or other since then. As kids, we never had consoles at home, but our friends did. My dad thought it was better money to spend it on a home pc. We did find ourselves playing games on the computer. That of course led to the great deal of PC gaming I did and my love of Real-Time Strategy games. 

Calculating the math on how long this has been going on, figures out to be 43 years. I find it amazing that an activity many passed off as something that would eventually die, has connected us across our generations. 

Do you have an activity that has crossed multiple generations? Feel free to share.