With the video game industry growing at a remarkably fast rate, are gamers growing up as well?

It was early morning, about a week before my birthday, when I held my first gaming console.

I was a stone’s throw to the 5-year-old mark and my parents had just bought me a Nintendo Family computer. I say me, when in reality they bought it for me and my newborn baby brother. In the early 90’s in BF Homes, Parañaque, console video games were rare. I automatically became the neighborhood’s best friend once word got out that I had a video game console — it didn’t matter which. So much so that kids my age I barely even knew would ring the doorbell bright and early on a Sunday morning for a chance to get chummy and maybe get their hands on player 2.

Although the Nintendo Family Computer was released in Japan in 1983, it was still being sold in malls everywhere in the Philippines well into the ’90s. After visiting some relatives outside of Manila and seeing them play the Legend of Kage for the first time, I knew what I wanted for myself that year. I never really bothered with telling my parents what I wanted for gifts. I’ve always felt that gifts are chosen by the giver.

There was something about watching an 8-bit ninja warrior who could somehow swing his entire arm around 360 degrees without tiring that hooked me. Back then, the graphics wowed me. To this day, there’s still a soft spot in my heart that prefers 8-bit games despite the raw power of today’s graphics cards. So, a week before my birthday, I asked my dad if we could get a Famicon.

We arrived in Circuit City in SM Southmall early on a Sunday, practically opening the store ourselves. In typical dad fashion, my father began to strike up small talk with the staff before casually commenting on the high price of these “toys.” Mom didn’t go with us, even though it was her job to conduct the intricate art of haggling down anything we buy — even from a store at the mall. Dad was trying his best Mom impression but was noticeably being less direct about asking for a price cut. In the end, we still paid full price for the console, but dad managed to get me an extra game cartridge. The ad on the store said that buying a Famicon comes with a free cartridge. Dad got me one of those 100-in-1 game cartridges (which only really held 30 unique games. The other “games” were just different levels from the same 30 titles),  and I had my pick of another one.

“Be sure to pick something you and your brother can play together. Nothing too violent, ok kuya,” he reminded me.

At the time, I wasn’t even allowed to touch my brother yet as he had just been born a month before. It was hard for me to factor him into my decision. I carried my first ever video game console gingerly out of the store before I had even held my first ever sibling.

“Legend of Kage. I choose that one.”

Growing Up

Growing up, I learned pretty early on that it was much more fun to play with someone than to play alone. By the time my brother grew up, my parents made a rule that whenever I pull out the Famicom (which eventually became the Sega Megadrive, which eventually became the PlayStation 1), I had to have my little brother beside me. Whenever possible, we had to play at least one two-player game per session.

In a study about gamer statistics in the United States, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) found that in 2014, 32% of gamers play with their family members. It wasn’t just my brother and I that got into games. Our first home computer was a Macintosh set up in my parent’s bedroom. On Friday nights, my brother and I would sit right next to my dad as he played Apeiron for hours. Mom got into the habit as well by playing Duck Hunt with my brother and me on afternoons. While she never really played too much as she had to drop it to attend to the house, every top score had her initials.

Games played a big part in socializing us, growing up. Remember the neighborhood kids I alluded to? In the late ’90s, the act of gatecrashing someone’s house on early weekend mornings to play video games became so commonplace that the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran editorial cartoons about the hordes of juvenile kids literally barging into breakfast tables only to sit down in the lanai, eager to get to playing.

Luckily, our home had a German Shepherd so only a select few tried to jump the gate.

But the few that did get through became some of our best childhood friends. My brother was a shy little boy who never really took to going out and playing patintero and habulan with our neighbors. It was only when other kids would come to us, while playing, that he would voice out his thoughts. Eventually, his shyness became more manageable. Where he would clam up and wait to speak until spoken to, he began to invite friends over to play side-scrolling beat ’em ups.

According to the ESA, a full 62% of gamers play games with others, either in person or online while 47% of gamers play social games, or games that are most enjoyable when played with other people.

On weekends, we would make pillow forts in front of the TV or the computer fully stocked in junk food and fizzy drinks as we took turns to beat this week’s newest game while joined by some of our close friends. Today, most of my brother’s close personal bonds were formed by playing video games to bond and hang out. Even though we live far apart now, we occasionally talk through the gaming platform Steam before a game of Dota 2.

MILLIONS STRONG With millions of player clashing against each other in 5-versus-5 team battles, communication skills become more important than individual prowess.

Imposing Rules

Although our parents never really forbade us from any game titles, they were quick to tell us to avoid the more graphic and age-inappropriate ones of the bunch. I couldn’t get my hands on my own copy of Mortal Kombat until I was 12 and only after repeated tut tuts from my grandmother.

Eventually, our parents trusted us to judge for ourselves if a game was too graphic or violent. When we eventually got our hands on a Sony PlayStation 1, Mom would come with us to pick out video games. Our arrangement was simple: we pick the games, but if she didn’t like it then she wouldn’t pay for it.

In the same study by ESA, 95% of parents pay attention to the content of the games their children play. At first, Mom was concerned that a game that involved shotgun blasts and severed torsos of the undead trying to claw at survivors was a bit too graphic to have around the house. But as she saw my brother and I take turns trying to figure out Resident Evil II’s rotating floor puzzles, she realized that the horror was simply a backdrop for the core gameplay mechanics.

Even as Resident Evil became the new must-have game for my age group, my dad insisted that my brother and I only play it with him present in the room, usually as he tended to his fish. This eventually became a mini-tradition in our family: Mom and Dad became backseat drivers for whatever game my brother and I were playing, despite assuring us that they were actually cleaning the aquarium/vacuuming the carpet/doing taxes.

In America, 55% of parents believe that game play helps the family spend time together while 56% of parents say video games are a positive part of their kid’s life. It’s hard for me to disagree with the numbers as my family life and early memories were dominated by the games we played as a family.

As we grew older, my parents steadily bought more educational games for my brother and me to use. Call me a nerd, but there was a point in my life where I had more fun reading the encyclopedia on Age of Empires II. Playing the campaign mode meant listening to more historical tidbits that may or may not have helped in my HEKASI (Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika) exams.

Everyone is Invited

The first time my girlfriend brought up her love for video games, I knew that I found my Player 1.

As it turns out, while I may have dabbled more into competitive gaming — obsessively pouring hours in DotA and StarCraft back in the day — she had a more instinctual love for games. Years of competitive play made dissecting mechanics in games second nature to me; to her, finding out the most fun way to win and becoming great at doing that was her top priority.

In true gamer fashion, she would would inevitably research everything that she could about the game after a period of “feeling out” its strategies. Although she would never admit to it, she’s probably the most competitive gamer I know.

If you aren’t used to it by now, I’m about to hit you with some statistics. 48% of the total gaming demographic are female gamers. Sure, one can argue that games like “Candy Crush” shouldn’t count, but the debate about who is a gamer has always felt like a trap to me.

Regardless of whoever began drawing lines in the sand between between guys and gals, “real” gamers and “fake” gamers, and between us versus them, a far greater majority share my same view: that games have a profound effect in developing individual human potential and strengthening family and friendly bonds.

I prefer to personally disentangle the political and social tugs and instead welcome everyone into the fold. Gaming is not anyone’s personal fiefdom so why are we squabbling about our claims to it?

Even the arbitrary divisions between game titles that separate fans are well and truly stupid to me. I am a confessed Dota 2 fan. It’s nothing I can help, it’s just been a big part of my life growing up. But since trying out League of Legends to truly understand it (you can’t be an editor of something you know zero about), I still get the occasional odd looks from my Dota playing buddies.

RISING TIDES League of Legends is the world’s largest game, grossing about $1 billion in 2014 — and 2014 isn’t even done yet. But its success is thanks in large part to the boom of the MOBA genre as a whole. Its success in turn has given rise to new titles that push the boundaries of the genre. Rising tides raise all ships.

Games have afforded some life-long bonds. While the competition is there, the rush of us-versus-them ends when the objectives are claimed. I find no compelling reason why this should extend itself across fandoms, even genders. I know I’m a smart person with many interests. Why should I choose to like just one game and exclude all others, exactly?

Looking Ahead

As I look back to my roots as a gamer, I feel a a sense of giddy excitement mixed with anxious dread at the future of the gaming industry.

The average age of game players in the US is 31 years old. In the same study, the average age of game purchasers in America is 35 years old. On average, the number of years gamers have been playing is close to 14 years.

A quick look into my Facebook feed shows me that friends and classmates are settling down, getting married and raising children. In a few short years, our own gaming demographic in the Philippines will look a lot like the United States. These are the same people; the same kids who, like myself, grew up playing video games and understanding them for their utility and artistic merits instead of the sensationalized hazards they are portrayed to have.

Even now, more children even younger than I was are more at home in the digital space than most people my age. The only responsible thing to do would be to understand a worldwide industry to guide them for the future. The gamers of today are the parents of tomorrow.

We are at the crest of a global gaming industry boom and it will be impossible to deny that eSports and video games are becoming a vital part of the culture of a generation. Even as the global recession crushed economic markets in the middle 2000s, video games and other hobby markets proved resilient enough that they were some of the first industries to not only to bounce back from the global credit crunch, but in some ways even ride it relatively unscathed. That’s remarkable seriousness coming from an industry once regarded as a “child’s pastime” — our pastime.

CRASH PROOF. Despite the economic downturns of the middle 2000s, the gaming industry managed to come out on top, trending upwards in the worst years to cap at $15.4 billion in combined dollar sales in 2013.

In my lifetime, I have seen my hobby become a serious global market. What began as a simple toy to share with my newborn baby brother has become a major industry with burgeoning assets, capturing the single most attractive consumer demographic and becoming a legitimate cultural and artistic centerpiece that unites people across the world — even people living under the same roof. While I am uncertain of what the future holds, I only know that my own children will benefit from my understanding of a powerful medium of leisure, instruction, learning and love.

Looking back to my personal history of games has given me a look into its future. I can’t wait to have my own 5-year-old; I was a 5-year-old gamer and today I still am.

“Dad, what’s the Legend of Kage?”
“It’s one of my favorite games, son. Do you want to play?”
“I don’t know, it feels bulky and heavier than my phone. How do I play it?”
“Here, son, let me show you.”

Featured Image: Photography by Thiago Marques

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