Whit Andrews

My son wants a PC game. We have tried so long to help his creativity and intelligence develop in other ways, including, particularly, sports and art and music and language and all the things things that mattered so much to us when we were kids. Now we have to decide whether computer-aided creature design and simulation needs to be added to the list. Below is an (edited) version of the summary I wrote to help me think about whether it is Time For Him To Have A Computer Game.

What interests me — the reason I posted this here — is that I find myself thinking about Spore in ways I never had to think about anything except maybe a DVD or a movie before. Even those I didn’t have to think about with this kind of depth. There, the question was — will he see someone doing something to someone or something that is not appropriate, where he will not be able to separate the fact that a story has a villain and he should not behave the way a villain does? Now, the question is, can he behave as a villain in a way that is believable without himself wishing to be a villain — or, really, fulfilling that desire — in real life?

I think he can. I trust him.

Summary

Spore appears to be age-appropriate for Joe in the actions he can take and what he would see happen. It’s not a shoot’em up or twitch game, and I have no concerns about the associated (mostly silly) violence. However, the digital rights management is a concern, and user reviews stating the game is unstable are a particular concern. The ~$50 price is not unreasonable.

On balance, I think it’s worth a try. The decision to not include video games probably needs to change to control and guidance.

Reasoning

I must admit I was shocked to see the negative user reviews for Spore. The Sims and SimCity are both hugely successful franchises. No matter what comes next, Spore does not look like it is set to be a major franchise with a long future, which is unfortunate. The critics like Spore a lot more than the users do. I think they see the visuals as being more important than what users typically think of as the “gameplay,” the actual ongoing hour-after-hour engagement with the same.

Users pull out telling little flaws, like the fact that picking from a variety of different “mouths” for a creature does not necessarily convey a real advantage for the creature when it comes to competition or battle with other creatures. I found that kind of thing frustrating, too, in games – but I was much older when I did. The older you get, the more I think you tend to reduce the game to its constituent intellectual elements, and take away the visuals, no matter how pretty they are – which is how one ends up playing bridge instead of Uno. Joe’s still really young. He’s not necessarily going to come at this with the same kind of expectations.

Joe’s going to play video games more and more at other kids’ houses. He played at A—’s, and he played at D—-’s. The sad fact is, some kids his age are probably already playing Grand Theft Auto and Halo. I wish we could have stood by our plan of simply not allowing video games, but a number of factors are telling me that’s a mistake.

I feel like video games can be habit-forming, and I think anyone who’s watched poorly-adjusted kids intensely focus on them would agree. On the other hand, video games aren’t the last addictive/habit-forming thing Joe’s going to face, obviously. I had thought we could protect him from those sensations, but maybe now is the time to help him with those lessons.

I read a book called Everything Bad Is Good For You. It makes the point that passive entertainment, like books and videos and music, teaches our minds to react in certain ways that are powerful and valuable. Forcing our imagination to fill in the pieces in books, in particular, expands our thinking. But TV shows like LOST have demonstrated the power of allowing people to establish a framework that they then participate in. Riven and Myst were both deeply engaging, and I am trying to understand how a child can participate in a creative universe like that.

I asked Joe about why he likes the game multiple times. He said he really, really enjoys the creature creator. I asked him why he felt he couldn’t do that without a computer – why couldn’t he draw pictures of the creatures and write down stories about them? He said that he doesn’t have the ability to generate limbs and make them move or dance on the screen. I’m sure that’s true, and I know I felt the same way at the same age. He also said – and I think this is believable, too – that he wants to be able to set the creatures in motion, and see how they perform against other creatures. Without the competition, he said, the chance to create is meaningless. Again, all this is normal.

I don’t think I’m rationalizing here – or, at least, it’s not all I’m doing. We’ve reached a moment where our culture is changing dramatically, and Joe wants to be part of the next generation, not ours. (He doesn’t see it quite that chillingly, but that’s what it is.) He is expected to type his reports in second grade. His friends and he color together, and draw pictures – but he also wants to assemble creatures on a screen. He’s deeply invested in Pokemon creatures, with all their complexity, and is demonstrating the ability to master understanding about them.

There are better games for him, I think. (World of Goo looks like fun.) But this is also about helping him have things he can share with other kids. I was all about Greek Gods, Norse Gods, Roman Gods (I thought they were lame). All that made me a dork. He’s picked Pokemon because he sees that as being more socially acceptable. Spore, to a lesser degree, represents a similar dynamic, as A—- and D—– have it already. Here are some of the sites where I did research to think about this:

Age appropriate issues

Spore is targeted at ages 10+. The rating addresses animated blood, comic mischief and fantasy violence. This is the review from the ESRB: “SPORE is a simulation game in which players guide a species through different stages of evolution from its beginnings as a single cell organism to development as space-exploring creatures. Players can modify and customize their creatures by adapting various traits such as wings, horns, or feet. Biological traits are gained through interactions and battles — represented by turn-based combat — with other rival species. Combat can include raiding and attacking non-threatening creatures/tribes with spears, launching nuclear missiles on rival cities, or engaging in laser fire with spaceships and planets. Creatures occasionally emit colored puffs/plumes of blood when defeated or consumed. Certain species occasionally throw-up food.” [Joe says his species will not boot at any time.]

GameSpot reviews and video

In general, the GameSpot review points to the fact that gameplay is really simple. “Again, the gameplay itself is pretty simple: You wander around exploring for other creatures and advance through the stage by either befriending other nests or conquering them…”

Joe emphasizes he does not care for the space stage and that he would not be likely to play that. I think time might prove that he would enjoy that stage as well, but I promised him I would make the point that for now, the space stage is not something that interests him.

Here is a GameSpot video that discusses the creature creation aspects, which Joe says are great fun.

Here is a GameSpot video that demonstrates the creature creator.

Here is a video on GameSpot that reviews the game in good detail:

Cnet

Cnet gives it a generally positive review, but the users there don’t. Cnet, like GameSpot, says that the best part of the game is the creature creation. They make reference to the fact that there is the ability to draw creatures from the “Sporepedia” when one plays. Unfortunately (in my opinion), there’s no competitive play against other online players, but that’s probably just as well, since that would bring with it the requirement that people play at the same time, and create all sorts of bedtime and other timing issues.

The users’ reviews on Cnet essentially argue two things: One, that the game is too simple. As I noted above, I don’t think that’s necessarily that big a detriment for a young player with relatively little experience in gameplay. The other is more potentially frustrating – the digital rights management apparently makes multiple installations of the game problematic.

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