Not a Game

Since the 1970s,

video games have been part of the way we play.

Being individually,

in groups, involving mental or physical activity.

For leisure, to win or to learn,

they haven't stopped evolving.

Today, parents and children are facing enormous challenges

in a world in which the Internet has changed the way we communicate,

the way we relate to each other.

A world in which video games are changing the way we play.

We didn't know what we were heading into.

So you're looking to see things that might be dangerous.

His obsession is to find a gap to play.

You don't want your child to read books 12 hours a day.

You don't want your child to climb trees all day either.

They were born, like The Matrix, to a world that's connected.

Children need to have their own leisure.

The problem is, how much is enough?

We can't regulate something that we don't understand.

This is the way world is now.

They don't want to know there is a girl playing.

Running or kicking a football.

Makes you feel you're there.

All he wanted

was be able to succeed in this virtual world.

- -Esports is esports and gaming is gaming.

Society always has a problem with a new medium.

Why don't we learn from that?

The shift from mechanical and analog technology

to digital electronics

has created a revolution that is changing the way we live our lives

like never before.

It started in the '40s and '50s,

when scientists developed the first computers.

Some of these computers were able to play games like chess, checkers or OXO,

a noughts and crosses game developed by British Professor Alexander Douglas.

In 1958, William Higinbotham created Tennis for Two,

a game on an oscilloscope, an analog computer,

which anticipated later video games like Pong.

Spacewalk is a space combat video game,

developed at MIT in 1962.

It is considered the first video game

because it could be played on many computer installations.

Video games didn't become commercially available until Pong.

We had the Arcades first, then it transitioned to home consoles.

The Magnavox Odyssey was the actual first home console.

Families who are content to let television do its thing

often find themselves at its mercy for their choice of entertainment,

while people who want television to do their thing

entertain themselves with Odyssey, the electronic game of the future.

And then we started to get all the Pongs, and then the Ataris.

Then computers started to kind of take over.

You got Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System,

and then Sega Master System in the early '80s.

That was a real revolution, everybody could play these games at home.

You didn't have to go to an arcade.

The transition from playing on your own or locally

went with technology.

Back in the early SEGA days, you had the…

the add-on that would let you connect to the Internet and play with people.

We made MUD. It wasn't quite as…

all-encompassing a reality that we wanted

because the computers weren't strong enough.

As technology progressed, as Internet became more standard in homes

with PlayStation Network and Xbox Live and a lot of the computer play,

they started to really find servers and waiting rooms

where everyone's connecting through an online Internet

and you could find other people to play with.

It was revolutionary.

Now, you didn't have to know someone to play with.

You could finally start to just wait for a game,

wait for someone to play.

With the arrival of Internet and fast connections at home,

the amount of time children and young people

spend on digital and online gaming has increased.

Some parents have struggled to make this digital transition.

and understand the needs and interests of their children,

the way they play,

what makes them happy.

-The new world they live in. - What the fuck?

The development of online gaming,

alongside the development of social media as well,

has allowed this kind of gamer culture and mixed with

the larger kind of trends towards fandom,

towards participatory media, people creating their own content,

is making the games online and allowing the communities to coalesce online.

You can see on YouTube, on Twitch,

on all of these platforms the ways people are using video games

to influence a world that reaches far beyond what they expect.

Younger people connect better with video games,

I loved playing video games since I was a kid.

It gave me a chance to also talk about other things

and talk about my day

and connect with this audience in a different way

than I did with my blogging channel.

I used to be a casual gamer, but then I stopped.

I focused more on comedy, on making sketches, videos.

I wanted to start with a passion, something completely new.

You put the heating on, silly sod!

I know, damn it!

Why did you put the heating on? It makes no fucking sense!

My goodness!

God damn it! Now she starts to say…

You will hit the floor!

God!

I noticed, when children play video games and you interrupt them,

an aggressive streak comes out.

There's an unusual reaction, not typical of that person you know.

There is often more going on in the kids' lives.

The excessive gaming is a symptom, not the problem itself.

- -

I mean, you guys are so…!

My God…

Why?

Why?

I threw the controller, it bounced,

a button, the L1, went under the table,

and the controller got broken,

and it seems something inside is broken,

and, when you move it like this,

it sounds like maracas,

like there's something broken inside.

When I tell him to stop, he says, "No, wait."

That "wait" can be half an hour, one hour? It's never enough for him.

So, when I manage to stop him, he's very nervous.

And he gets angry and goes to his room.

My mom's okay with me playing them,

but she didn't want me to play too much.

She didn't think of their appeal because she didn't grew up with video games.

It wasn't part of her time.

We didn't see any harm in it.

While I was so young, I couldn't have,

but my parents didn't either. We didn't know…

um, that it could be harmful to me.

My dad said, "stop playing." In my mind, "I had to play."

You don't understand.

His obsession is to find a gap to play.

We don't let him play on weekdays because he has to study a lot.

My mum says it's very bad,

but, if I don't play on weekdays, I want to play at the weekend.

It's not necessarily about putting the blame on the kids

or on the parents.

It's about recognizing the environments in which kids are.

Family life has changed a lot because of technology

and family life has changed a lot because of how kids

entertain themselves.

Parents get concerned

because they're surrounded by information saying this might be dangerous,

how much time they play,

how these games are affecting their social life or their life at home.

They could be an element of moral panic about what they're doing.

If you look back historically, there was a panic about girls reading novels,

you know, back in the '70s and '80s

because they spent time in that, and it wasn't good.

But there is an important difference with gaming, the social interaction.

You read a novel, you listen to the radio…

it's one directional.

This is communication.

And that can raise an additional element

because parents may be uncomfortable. They don't know what their…

child is seeing, but also who they're speaking to or meeting online.

And that concern is real.

How do your parents keep you safe?

My mommy says…

don't run with scissors.

They keep me safe away from spiders.

She always looks under the bed.

I have knee and elbow pads, and a helmet.

There's no such thing as a vampire who steals your clothes.

My mom makes me wear a seat belt.

Before you cross the road you have to hold my hand first.

I could get hit by a car.

It would hurt.

My mom makes me wear gum shield in hockey

because my teeth are very important.

I have to hold the hand when we are queuing

because people might take me.

Stranger danger!

How do your parents keep you safe online?

Mmm.

I don't really know.

We want to educate parents and professionals

as well as the industry to empower them to keep children safe online.

Children might come across inappropriate content on there.

It might be too mature for their age.

There's the risk of online bullying,

often children communicate with each other on there,

and they might be excluded from different group chats.

They might see negative things about them online.

They might come across abusive language as well.

When you're researching bullying, much data is collected on questionnaires.

It's not on the day, not the event.

That causes difficulties.

Accountability's an issue. It's an issue for parents?

Is it the Internet provider? The app developer?

Who is accountable?

It's not as simple as just turning off your phone, not going online.

That's telling a young person not to communicate.

They've grown up with the Internet. They first played with mom's phone

or on a PlayStation, which is continually connected to the Internet.