Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Welcome to Pixel Parenting, the podcast where we explore how to raise kids in a world full of screens using science and curiosity. Today's episode is about what it's really like to grow up with video games from the inside. Today, we're not talking to a researcher or from a researcher's perspective, but from someone who's lifted. We will learn how video games can shape emotional regulation, friendship, and even career paths. You'll hear how a childhood filled with video games helped today's guest navigate adhd, build resilience, and discover a love for storytelling and design. We also get into how her parents set boundaries and sometimes didn't, how she stayed safe online, and how families can make video games a bonding experience rather than a battle. So I'm very excited to welcome Allie Williams to Pixel Parenting. Allie is a recent graduate of Miami University in Ohio, where she majored in games and simulations with a focus in game studies. And she also studied neuroscience.
But what makes her story really special isn't just what she studied, it's why she studied it. For Allie, video games have been more than entertainment. They've been a lifeline. From helping her manage ADHD focus in school to building friendships and confidence, games have shaped how she learns, how she connects with others, and even what she wants to create in the future.
She's passionate about designing stories that matter, games that make you feel, reflect, and go.
I hope that parents will appreciate hearing from someone who grew up with games, learned from them, and now wants to give back. Allie, welcome to Pixel Parenting. Thank you, Allie, for being here. I am very excited about this conversation and this new perspective on the podcast. So can you tell us a little bit about what you studied and why? What got you there?
[00:02:02] Speaker B: So I went to Miami University in Ohio and I was originally studying game design. It was called Games of Simulation with a focus in game studies, which is more on the game design side.
And I had also co majored, which is kind of like a double major in neuroscience, and I came out of it with a minor in neuroscience.
And, but I did that because of how much how originally I wanted to study games from a neuroscience perspective because I, I found when I was younger I found out about neuroscience through games and psychology through games is that I was watching the, the YouTube channel Game Theory, and they had a video on, on why Candy Crush is so addicting. And that's how I learned about, that's how I learned about neurotransmitters and dopamine.
And, and that was very fascinating to me. And then I Also learned about how psychology and design overlap in ways that are beneficial through the channel. Extra credit.
They had a video on affordances, which is still one of my favorite design tricks where the. An affordance is essentially a mental shortcut.
So when you go up to a door that has a horizontal bar on it, you. You're. That is usually a push door, while a. While a door with a vertical bar is a pull door.
And that in and of itself is an affordance.
Since you are used to that being the case, your main, your brain usually associates the correct action.
And that is used in design all the time. And it can be used in art and for like in the backgrounds of paintings when you can't put in the extreme detail and things like, for example, if you just have a bunch of like green squares on a floor, you. That doesn't mean anything. But as soon as you put in an overturned cash register next to it, suddenly it's cash.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: How does it relate to your experience finding out about the affordances it related to?
[00:04:30] Speaker B: It made me very interested in design in particular and how to communicate things to the player. And it made me very interested and started making me look around the games that I was playing about what are the ways that they are showing me where to go.
And it made me fascinated on how to communicate with the player without words and you know, how much of words are actually needed and what can be communicated without words.
And.
And that's where a lot of psychology comes in, where understanding how brains work, understanding the way that we come to conclusions can really help with design.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: Interesting. How old were you when you found all these out?
[00:05:17] Speaker B: Middle school.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: Wow. Okay. So you started looking at games from that perspective.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: That was actually all of this. This led to my eighth grade project, actually my eighth. We had a big science fair and we were allowed to do anything as long as it relate to science. And so I put. So my project was about the psychology behind games and I talked about color theory and affordances and how music can change the, the tone.
And I also talked about PF Skinner and the Skinner box to talk about addiction.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: And did you use all this information to manage your gaming or how were you using it or were you using it for. To design, you know, to create as a creator.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: I didn't start the creation process until, really mostly until college.
I thought I was, I. I saw myself much more as an, as a science person. I thought I was. I. I struggled more in the arts and creative side of things all up, all through grade school.
But then I was in college, freshman Year I was at, I was first at a school where I was studying undergrad as in cognitive neuroscience and I wanted to study games as well. And the college didn't have that.
Searched through a lot of schools. Eventually came to found just to find a school that let me do both. That's how I went to Miami and that's when I really started creating.
And that's.
And just more and more I realized how much more I enjoyed creating more than the science side. But I still as a career, I still love the science, I still think it's fantastic.
But I do think that creating is at the very least where I'm start, is going to start my path. Maybe not where I end it, but.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: Interesting.
So can you describe how video games have personally shaped your life? Like it looks like they have a big impact.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Well, obviously, you know, they led me to, you know, they helped me learn a lot and obviously they helped me with my whole career. And like my brother is also a good example of that. He is studying computer science and he was into games like me and he also studied game design. But his school that he's going to didn't have focuses like mine, so he had to learn art as well. And he did not like it.
And so he switched to just computer science. And now he doesn't necessarily plan on going into making games, he just likes computer science.
So trying to pursue games did allow him to find something that he really enjoyed, even if it isn't games.
And for me it's helped me with friends, it's helped me with my mental health. It's helped me learn a lot like with friends. I joined several. I joined the video game club in high school, which I'm in a discord with them and we still talk every day.
And I joined the one of the gaming clubs and college and made some great friends through that.
And I also. And games have been a great way to be to hang out with each other. In seventh grade, two of my best friends and I every single day after school we played Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U for, for like one to two hours for the entire school year.
And, and it was, and it was super fun. We had a great time with it.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: You played in person, right?
[00:09:07] Speaker B: No, we didn't.
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Okay. How did. Okay. In remote. Each one in your house. Okay.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: Yeah, we would all be in our house and we would, we would message each other over on Skype in between since we didn't have a way to video call we at the time we would just message each other on over Over Skype in between races.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: When we talked before you, you mentioned that you, you were diagnosed with ADHD and that you wouldn't mind talking about that and how games helped you manage or cope with it.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Yes, there has been ways that, that it has helped and there has been some ways that it's hurt. There's been ways where I can over. Over hyper fixate on games and, and do that now. I think that that's. People are guilty of that regardless of having ADHD or being neurodivergent in general.
And of course everything I say could apply to more than just people with adhd. There have been times when I have been heavily distracted by my games and. But there have been other times when I have used it as a way to help refresh my brain because there's a lot of days when my brain just doesn't want to work, doesn't want to learn and using games can help me refresh it because it's like it runs out of steam and it doesn't want to keep going. So I can take a break and games are my number one way of relaxing.
I've tried relaxing in other ways and so far it's just. I can relax in other ways, but so far this is just the best one.
It is the. Gives me the most relaxation and makes me feel the most recharged.
And, and there's been times when, for example, I was. During that eighth, when I was studying for that eighth grade project, I was struggling to get myself to do all the research I needed to do.
And so I came up with this little system for myself while playing Shovel Knight.
And Shovel Knight is a game that you die a lot in.
So I made a deal with myself. Basically every three times that I died I would read through two more articles and it wasn't a set timer because sometimes I could just have a really good run.
But, and there were times when it lasted it only took me five minutes to die three times.
But it really helped me get through the research portion because it was a nice break. It felt like it wasn't like cut short because it was just a full run.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: So you, you found a self regulation system for yourself that you were okay following, right? Did you do that more in more occasions with other projects or in life in general? How did you manage self regulation?
[00:12:05] Speaker B: It's, I've tried it in other ways and, and it's, it's both and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. For example, I tried it with the game Cuphead where you also die a lot But I was so, but like that game is so easy to get lost and trying and trying again that it wasn't as easy to quit.
So sometimes it in it but then there's been other times when like during college when I was struggling to get myself to do work, I would say okay, I'm gonna have Baldur's Gate 3 in the background.
And since I'd already played it once, I didn't need to playful pay full attention to it. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go into a battle and then in between turns I'm gonna go and do. I'm gonna be doing some work and sometimes honestly just having the game running in the background for some reason I would just do my work and forget that I had the game in the background.
And it's. I can't explain it but it's.
But it's definitely something that I'm going to keep trying and keep learning.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Everybody has. Yeah everybody needs to find their method that works for them and that allows them to self regulate or, or commit to, to some find some ending or closure in the game before going into some other.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Oh, I did try it again. I did, I did try it again with the game Enter the Gungeon, which is a roguelike game where I wasn't the best. So I died a lot. And that it did work well.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Okay, so you, you basically did it with the dying.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Yeah, because it felt like.
Yeah, because it felt like I was being properly punished for my deaths by going back to my work but I was being reward by doing. Rewarded by doing well. And so it's like I couldn't really be mad by doing my work because it's like well no, I didn't do well so I gotta go back to it.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I totally get it. So you mentioned you video games have helped you with friendships. Can you. And you mentioned some clubs. Can you elaborate a little bit on how you build that friendships while playing video games? And how does has you know, grown into your life?
[00:14:33] Speaker B: Yeah, so I would.
So I've been playing games since I was a little kid and I remember playing. I remember in fifth grade I had a Minecraft server with some friends and we played Minecraft after school together.
And I think there was at one point maybe even maybe around fifth grade when at recess I, I remember us playing, playing pretend as if we were Pokemon and so we would run around as our favorite Pokemon in on the playground and, and I, and like it's. And we. And there's so many good memories. I have from that. And so many memories of having friends come over, of having a good excuse to have friends to come over being like, hey, come over. Let's play some Mario party together.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: And so when you were younger, you played in person or was it when did you like. So this is maybe two questions I'm hearing you played in person in fifth grade and that then switched. And my question is when did you play in person until when and when it switched, how did you manage the online part of it all? You know, parents are very scared and you know, with good reasons about the online.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Right. And so like I. It was usually that anybody who I played with online, I play I met in person first.
And I think that that was the best way to go about it. And to this day that's usually how I go about it.
And I am. And now that I'm an adult, I. I am not opposed to meeting people online. And I'm. And you know, I join different groups for networking and.
But I, But I think that for example we had in early high school because I had the same friends from fifth grade until well till now. And they. But we had Skype, but we only had one server and it was the server with us and, and the. Or we had each other's numbers. And like I didn't have in my phone. I didn't really have much way like it. It's. And now this was before it was as easily accessible to join like public servers and stuff. It was like right before that because in late high school is when I joined Discord, which is the one that I.
Discord is great. I love it. My friends and I, you know, that's how we. How we talk every day.
And like I'm using it to network. I'm in game jams on it and.
And it's how when I was in school in Ohio, I stayed connected with my friends in Tennessee. But the problem is the public servers.
And I think that's one thing that I think that if, if you want. I think that it is good for your kids to want to play online with their friends.
I think that it's a way that they can get closer together. They can form good memories. They can also learn good competitiveness. They can be how to. How to be a good loser. And also teamwork, however, is. Is that I think like the best way to go about it is sticking is just while they're young make it so that they only have. They only interact with these like they only had the phone numbers or usernames of the people that they've met on, on in person.
And, and if they have discord, if they have a server, make sure it's a private server with only their friends.
And, and just maybe check every now check the servers every so often, make sure they haven't joined any others.
And, and then, and one thing that I have and then like in they can. And also if you don't want them to play online games yet, they don't have to. There are hundreds and hundreds of fantastic single player games or cooperative games that you don't have to play online. You can just play with your friend, your family or have people come over to your house to play.
And, and so if, if you're, if you're worried, if they're worried about them playing with people online and voice chats, there's a lot of places where you can just turn off the voice chats, turn off the chat, the text chats.
In fact, I've only recently started join like doing voice chat stuff because I wanted to avoid that. I, and for the mo. And for the most part I just turned it off and I was able to avoid a lot of, I think I was able to avoid a lot of insults and toxicity and now I did experience some even in Minecraft when I was in public service in Minecraft I did have a little bit, but it wasn't anything extreme. It was like one person saying I was a dumb blonde but you know, it was clearly another child. So like.
[00:19:31] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, well that's. Today it's, that's hard to tell either. Yeah, it wasn't, it was.
Didn't affect you emotionally from what I hear. Correct?
[00:19:40] Speaker B: No, it, it didn't. And, but it's just a, but that's just a good example how even these kid games, you know, the kids can be mean to each other. It's, it's just important to keep an eye on that. And I think one of the most important things about kids games that I've seen is to make sure that they don't act, make sure that they know not to access any external links that had come from those games because that's, that's where a lot of problems that I've seen comes from kids accessing external links.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Yep, yep, A hundred percent.
Gotta be super careful, especially with the open public servers. I agree with you of the first meeting in person and then online, that's fine. But yeah, you gotta manage that too and you know, make it private and nobody else can access, you know, and all the safety measures around it 100% so I'm curious, what did your parents say about you know, all this? What, what was your family approach on, on this whole screen time and gaming or what was your parents roles?
[00:20:39] Speaker B: So my dad is who introduced us to games and I was and so he, the, the main approach was the idea that as long as we got our homework done, then we could play games.
And now there were times that my parents allowed a few a little bit of wiggle room. For example, when I was playing Mario Kart, we, we all did immediately after school. So that way we all made sure that we, we didn't like have to wait on each other and we would know when we would all be online. And my parents rule was at max two hours that as long as, as soon as we were done, I went and did my, my homework and didn't get distracted, then I was allowed to do that.
And you know, they would take away our games if we didn't do well in class. And like a lot of it was making sure that we, that making sure that we stuck to our promises and stuck to our responsibilities enough that they didn't seem to feel the need to restrict us too much.
As opposed to my friends who, one of my friends had a, had a timer on the, on the wi fi.
So at a certain time of night the, the wifi would turn off on their devices, which is another way of doing.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: Yeah. And yours didn't. So how, how did, did you decide to stop?
[00:21:56] Speaker B: That was something my parents have said that they wish they, they had limited us a little bit more. I, I think that it, it, it turned out okay because I have grown enough of my own interests to make my life well rounded.
Like I love drawing all the time and I recently bought myself a crochet set and, and I have started, you know, exercising, going outdoors. So I, I've been able to as an adult. I, I, I like having variety in my life.
But it is an easy, it is an easy pit to fall down.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: Mm.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: And not all games are as addictive as others. Not all games are made the same.
But it can be something where, you know, where you do need to manage that. And I do think that one part of it is just watching your kids, seeing how much importance and how much emotional like value they put in the games.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: I have a question regarding the types of games. So it's true that there are games that are easy to control than, you know, and build emotional regulation and others.
How did you, how did your parents choose which games you were allowed to play? Or did you choose the Games. How did that work?
[00:23:19] Speaker B: For the most part, I was allowed to choose a lot of them as long as they fell within the correct age rating.
And when I was younger, they always checked them. And as I got older, they. They were less diligent about it again, as long as it was in the correct age range. And there was times that, you know, when I was 12, I was allowed to start playing the Sims, even though it's. Technically, it's rated for teens. But my parents were like, she's good. Or my. Or my brother. And I played Halo when we were eight.
And my dad was fine with that because the main amount of blood in there is purple blood from Aliens.
I didn't even register it as blood, which is the exact same reason why he was fine with it. And so. And then when I was old, old enough to start looking at mature rated games, the rule was, is you basically at this point get an idea of what's allowed and what's not.
And, and so that was. The main part of it, is that they were laying down rules along the way.
And as we. But as we got older and we got used to the rules, there they were. They knew that we knew for the most part what was allowed and what wasn't. And the. And if we wanted a game that either was on the line of that or was outside of that, then we had to bring it to them first.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Yeah. And you did bring it to them.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Yes, I did. I, like, I wanted to play at some point. I wanted to play Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid five, and then. And Hitman, my dad wasn't cool with Metal Gear Solid because of some of the. There was some sexual themes in there.
But Hitman, I was like, listen, there's only like a couple, like, really violent deaths, and I know where they are, so I just got to avoid it. And he was like, all right, that's cool.
And, and the rule. And basically my parents only rarely checked our phones or what games we played because we followed their rules.
The main thing was the. Basically what it was is that their rule was, is as long. As long as you give us. You don't give us a reason to not trust you, we'll trust you.
And I think that really helped my relationship with them. It. It helped. It helped me with wanting to build that trust and, and made me feel good because I felt trusted.
The only times when my mom ever searched my stuff was when she was like, hearing from another mom friend is like, oh, no, I caught my child doing this. And so she would check our Stuff to make sure that we weren't doing anything wrong and typically came out fine.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: And yeah, trust is so important in a parent child relationship. So was there ever time that you actually came across something in a game or, you know, on a screen that you weren't ready for?
[00:26:06] Speaker B: There were, there was a lot of times when that my parents don't know about still.
That was because I didn't even know.
I, I was a little sheltered, not on purpose. I basically, my parents set down the rules and I followed them really closely for a little too long.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Okay, actually, what does that mean, for a little too long?
[00:26:32] Speaker B: Just that my is that I was discovering things later than my peers. Whenever there was something that was out of my realm of, like, what I was used to, they were like, no, no, no, you precious child. No, don't, don't look into that. And, and so I had friends who helped me out too, who made sure I, like, learned things at a natural pace.
And now looking back, I'm like, oh, gosh, I should not have seen that. But there was a time when I had commented on a YouTube video that was, was by Markiplier. And, you know, I shouldn't have been watching that video.
It wasn't marketed for me. You know, it wasn't marketed for kids, but I ended up on it.
And, and it was a very, very sexualized video, but because I knew nothing about it, I had no idea what I was watching.
And there wasn't anything bad, just sex, Just a lot of overt sexual themes that went totally over my head.
And my dad found the comment and he sat me down and was like, absolutely not.
And, and that's, you know, and he made it click that that was bad.
And from then on out, I avoided that stuff.
And so it's, I think that there's, I think that when it comes to kids finding it, it's, you know, it's really just about, hey, kiddo, this isn't great.
Let's avoid this in the future.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: So the fact that your parents like you said that you followed the rules for too long, do you think that was actually good for you, or would you rather not have followed the rules?
[00:28:14] Speaker B: It's hard to say, but I like how I ended up.
I mean, I, I, I think, I think either way.
And it's also, I was a kid, you know, didn't, you know, I didn't need to know about gore. I didn't need to know about sexual stuff. And, you know, it's only when you're, when you're 18, when that starts becoming relevant. And so I don't think it really matters that much.
I don't think kids should be locked in a padded cell and, you know, until they're 18.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: But there are developmental stages that you need to know, like move with. Right? So, yeah, yeah.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: There's a chance that the way that I see things and think of things might have been, might be different because I think, like, I experienced certain media later than my peers.
Violence was the big one, where if it. Where my friends. That was the one that my friends protected me from the most.
I was interested in a lot of mystery games, but they would tell me, hey, this mystery game is way too bloody for you, because you haven't been experiencing that.
[00:29:21] Speaker A: Okay, so your parents did not allow violent games.
[00:29:23] Speaker B: It depended. It was. It was basically how graphic it was.
Like, I was allowed to play Hitman, but Hitman doesn't like, show like, open wounds or.
Or anything like that. And your target just kind of goes down.
You just kind of collapses on the floor. So. So, like, that's the kind of violence where it's like, yeah, you're showing weapons and killing, but it's not graphic.
And so as a teenager, they're like, yeah, that's fine.
We know that, you know, it's bad to kill people, so.
And. And this is fiction.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: Okay, so it was before then, before the teenage years, that that was more violence, was maybe more restricted, right?
[00:30:08] Speaker B: Yeah, it was. It was very restricted, which, you know, I think was appropriate.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: So you mentioned your dad introduced video games. Did you. Did you coplay with him? And what.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Yes.
So that is. That is in.
Right to this day, that is what we do as our big thing.
And I have such a close relationship with my dad partially because of that.
And I remember when I was so little, I remember watching my dad play World of Warcraft on his computer. And then.
And then another time, he had bought Microsoft Flight Simulator and he bought all the bells and whistles.
It had, like, the steering wheel, the levers, the buttons, the pedals. And he set it up on his desk and he.
He got my twin brother and me, and he would sit us down on his. On his lap and let us use the wheel while he did all the levers and everything that we were too. Too small for.
And we would play his games. And like when we were in. Around probably around 11 or so, or maybe a little older is when all of us play. Is that all of like, my brother and I got into Skyrim and my dad was really happy to. To Share his fondness of Skyrim with us.
And then one of my best stories is when I was 12, when right before we turned 12, my brother and I were trying a bunch of free MMOs or massive multiplayer online games, which are. And we were trying a bunch of free ones, and they all sucked because they were free. And. But my brother and I were like, we really want to play one. We're like, dad, we want to play one with you. And so we had tried all these free ones, trying to see which one we could play with dad. And then our birthday came up when we were having a birthday dinner and my dad put on the table two World of Warcraft subscriptions.
And he told us that our birthday gift was that he bought the whole family subscriptions.
And so the four of us all started playing World of Warcraft together. My brother and I both played damage dealing classes. My dad played a tank and my mom played healer.
And so the four of us as a family would do raids together. That's so fun.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: And you were, you were 12 back then.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: 12. And I was.
And that was such a fun summer. That's what we did for a good chunk of the summer.
My mom didn't like. My mom was a super into games. She was very happy how it made the rest of us happy.
And she was. And she loved. And she loved seeing us light up when we talked to her about it. So she, she talked to it about us a lot.
But my mom wasn't much of a gamer, so my dad, in between his work meetings, because they both work from home, my dad would be leveling up her character to keep. To make sure she stayed caught up with us.
And so while I went off to college, dad and I played a lot of grounded together and we had. And we. We've nearly finished it and we are so excited that the sequel's coming out.
And it was so nice because I was feeling really homesick and this was a way to, instead of just a call, do something with my dad when I was away.
And right now, my brother and I got him on Monster Hunter.
And he's been coming up to me being like, hey, Allie, you. You want to play some Monster Hunter with me tonight?
And it's.
And it. And so it's been a great way to connect with each other. Great way to do things when we're far away. And, and we've had a lot of laughs, a lot of good memories. My brother and I, we.
My brother and I, we would have hated each other if it wasn't for the fact that we bond over video games.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: It's interesting how games can bring people together that wouldn't have come together otherwise. So let's switch gears a little bit. What's something surprising you're learning, you've learned in your studies that changed the way you see games or tech in like everyday life.
[00:34:14] Speaker B: The.
It's really just like how each layer of game design comes together and you know, and as well as how the management all goes behind the scene now that I have made a game and put it out there and you really don't know how much goes into it until you do it yourself. Even with me, who had been very interested in games, still didn't realize how much it took until I made one.
And it's, it's fascinating to see how there are so many ways to be a part of games where you can do art, you can do music, you can do programming, you can do, you can do, you could do writing, you can. Or you can go even, even smaller where you can be specifically for sound design, you can be, you can be a director, you could be a producer, you can, you could be a social media manager.
And there are so many avenues to explore with it that for a lot of people, if you have an interest in games, you can be a part of it.
[00:35:28] Speaker A: It is a really complex product with lots of types of artists in it, right? Yeah.
And are there any ideas from your studies that you think or ideas or facts or like thoughts that you think parents or educators should know about in the video game industry?
[00:35:53] Speaker B: There are a, I mean, a big part of it is just how we go about it.
And there are a lot of people that go about it with the idea of, the idea of, you know, making the next big thing and making money.
But a big reason why I'm a part of this industry is because of the concept of a lot of people just looking to find the fun.
And I think that's what really. And, and you can see it in a lot of these games where you can just feel that that's what they wanted. They wanted to find what was fun and they stuck with it. And they wanted to give you something that just made you enjoy the whole process.
And that's what makes me so passionate about it, is seeing people's face lights up, light up when they played. My game was the best feeling in the world. We were doing an expo and I took one of my teammates to the side while we, while there were people playing our game and I pointed to the people playing and I said, you hear that?
And they were like, they were shouting and whooping and being like, oh no, no, no, no. Getting so into it.
And I was like, they like it. They're having a good time.
And I was glowing. I.
Because the, it was. The game was my idea and I had been working on helping with the mechanics. I had been leading the project and to see that outcome, it is the best feeling in the world. And I found so many games with so much heart in them.
That's what brought me to the entertainment industry is just seeing people put their hearts into things and being like, I want that, I want to do that.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I see what you say. What about educational games? Because before this interview we spoke about it and actually you mentioned that you had learned a lot from games. What do you think about educational games? They're not that fun maybe, but we'd love your thoughts on that.
[00:37:57] Speaker B: I'm very passionate about how bad a lot of educational games are because now that is not all of them. Absolutely not. There are some fantastic ones out there.
A lot of people went to the educational side to try to advertise to parents and, and there's a lot of games out there that just.
They. They don't, they don't know how to do it. They. They just put a couple silly characters on there, give you points for getting correct answers on a quiz, and that's it.
And I, I played some of those games growing up and I hated it. I didn't retain anything.
But then there is the games that, that did not. That actually incorporated the fun into the game.
And that is when I've actually retained a lot of knowledge.
I have.
I've retained a lot of knowledge from like, like a lot of critical thinking skills I've gained from games from doing these puzzles. I've learned how to solve problems in my own life and I've had, I've learned fun facts from there. Persona 5 had this, had these school sec. These class sections where you're character was in class and had to answer questions about different topics.
And I've retained a good chunk of those topics because it was in between sections of a really fun game. And I've learned a lot about fish from Animal Crossing. As an adult.
I, I would. Because I would be looking for them in the game and I would go out and recognize them. It's like, oh my gosh, wait, I know what a spotted, spotted garden eel is.
And, and it's because I'm having fun. And as someone with adhd, having that fun mixed in with the learning is fantastic. And and so I think it is, is a very, very useful resource to use that fun in combination with learning and critical thinking and growing your brain in general. Or if you can turn a game into an educational moment, I highly recommend it. I think it is a great way to engage kids and to get them interested in learning in a, in a variety of topics.
[00:40:25] Speaker A: Yeah, 100% agree. My, when I went to Rome with my husband that he was very into the total wars, he was pointing me at all these weapons and naming the romance weapons. I'm like, how do you know all these? And he's like, video games. And he knew all about Italian history, Roman history.
And he's like, no, I didn't learn that school. I learned it playing Rome Total War.
[00:40:50] Speaker B: I, I, yeah, there are no, it's, it's so funny to me how those, how those like tactical war games actually come from a lot of history. So that's. I have a friend who is a history buck who, who he, he's, he's very interested in history and so he plays those games all the time.
And, and if as soon as I get a fact wrong about history, oh, he'll tell me.
[00:41:14] Speaker A: It is amazing. And there is a lot of reading in those games and you know, you have to make decisions on those readings. So it's not like the typical game where you can click and just pass the dialogue or whatever. No, you actually need to read it to make the strategic decision. So there is learning in those games and there is fun for those who enjoy strategy games. So it also depends on the kind of player and all of that.
[00:41:34] Speaker B: Yeah, there was one where you played as a immigrant in or in around the time of the suffrage.
So you learned what it was like being a woman in that time and what, and what movements were going on in New York and, and during that time period, there was, and there were ones from, there was one from a, from where you play as a, as a young boy who's trying to get into the newspaper, being a newspaper journalist.
And you. And it's during the time of when America was, was dissatisfied with the British rule. So it was around the time the Boston Tea Party.
And, and I love these games and I learned so much about them and I learned so much about history and, and was indeed. And even though I'm not that interested in history right now, I was a bit because of these games, because they had branching stories, branching decisions, and it was so fascinating to me because it was an interactive story.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: So what, what do you wish more parents understood about games?
[00:42:48] Speaker B: The Main thing is that I wish they would understand is that if you are uncomfortable with a certain aspect of games for your child then they. Then for the most part they just don't have to play that kind of game.
There is a massive variety, more variety than any of us can even possibly imagine.
If you are worried about them with. With them and violence then you can. Then you don't have to. Then you don't have to let them play that.
If you're worried about them playing online like online multiplayer, then you don't have to let them play those games because there is so much out there and so many fights, fun, different games out there that there is more than enough for your. For your child to be able to play games and have this, you know, source of relaxation or socialization or whatever they want to use it as without it.
Without it being the kind of thing you're worried about.
If you search for it, you will find a game that you will be more than happy to let your child play.
[00:43:51] Speaker A: So any games that you recommend to parents looking for.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:43:55] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:43:56] Speaker B: The one that I always go to especially for parents of younger children is Animal Crossing.
It is rated E for everyone. I. It is a very. It is an adorable game that is about owning that Animal Crossing New Horizons on the Switch is.
Is about. Is about having an island that you tend to. You make it pretty, you get outfits and you can go fishing or bug catching in which.
And then you can don't or you can get fossils and you can donate these to the museum and the museum will tell you about them and give you real facts about them.
There's Professor Layton which is a DS game that or that I believe is might be on mobile now and that one is rated E10 and up. It is a fantastic six series of six games that that is got amazing critical thinking skills, logic puzzles and a fun easy to follow storyline. Grounded is a. Is one that I mentioned that is a survival. It is a survival game where you play as.
As four teenagers who have been shrunk down to about this big and you have to explore the backyard and. And get yourselves unshrunk. It's rated E10 and up. It is as. As a survival game which is which you know means you have to make sure you eat food, drink water and you. And you typically build.
You build weapons to fight against the bugs and build buildings. It's great for creativity and I think it is a fantastic bonding game.
[00:45:35] Speaker A: So to play together. Yeah, all of these are to play together actually you can.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: You can totally help Your child with the puzzles. Animal Crossing is multiplayer simulators Raid for teen. So I and I do think that it is better for teens just for. Mostly for the. For the level. It's not. I haven't really come across anything like super violent, anything explicit. But there are online maps that people can submit but it's typically pretty safe but that they are amazing for puzzles. I've used that a lot in my daily life and and bonding. It is so fun to go because this is like a. Cheaper than an escape room and you can do them and.
And have good teamwork. I have Civilization Vid Meier Civilization vi which is a strategy war game that. That is. Allows you to learn strategy resource management and it does come with an. It does allow for an interest in history.
As you pick one of the. As you pick one of the major civilizations and.
And you use what they were good at and what. And you learn and you use some and like it includes the buildings that they built.
You learn about real people.
That one is rated E10 and up.
Portal 2 Fantastic one is A. Is problem Sol is a big problem solving one.
It's rated E10 and up. Portal 2 has a multiplayer mode that is great for bonding and especially learning communication. And lastly is blueprints. Now it's rated E. But I do recommend that because the puzzles are a lot more complex and abstract that they. That it's probably better for around a teen but you can also potentially work on it together.
It is a. It really makes you think and really makes you look for the details.
And I am currently 100% obsessed with it.
Cannot stop playing it. And because I'm loving how much it's.
[00:47:43] Speaker A: Working, I will definitely try it. Okay, cool.
Yeah. I will put all these links to these games on the show notes so that the audience can check them out. So we're getting towards the end. So what gives you hope about the future of games for players, families and creators like you?
[00:48:07] Speaker B: So there are more creative games coming out every day. Like even my classmates seeing what they were all capable of was amazing.
And more and more it's becoming more and more common for people to make small games on their own. And it is because. Or just to make parts of games on their own, not even full games.
And it's because people are now becoming less scared.
While it is a daunting task, no matter what they. They don't see it as an impossible task anymore. In fact, a lot of these smaller games coming out are actually kids in high school and that just wanted to create because they just wanted to because it's becoming a thing where it's much more accessible now.
It's not easy, but it's. It's something where if we want to make something for people to experience, be it to tell a story, to make people laugh, to.
To educate them on something that interests us, you can.
[00:49:09] Speaker A: What about any hope for parents? Like, there are all these games coming out, like, now. I feel that there are so many tools available for creation, starting a lot of.
[00:49:20] Speaker B: Of a lot of coding programs, and students are being encouraged to reach out and join projects. And so if your kids get into programming, that's fantastic. Like, maybe they play outside most of the time, but it's a rainy day. Okay, pop on a video game for today.
And even though game addiction is very scary and a very real thing to watch out for, if it is balanced with the rest of their lives, then it is. And then I think that it can be something that can enrich your creativity and critical thinking and just enjoyment.
[00:49:55] Speaker A: Yep. I. And that's a great end for our episode today. So. So thank you, Ali, for sharing with us your story. It's super interesting and fun, too. Thank you, thank you. Thank you for being here.
