The Gaming Generation Gap

Their is a generation gap. It's always existed in one form or another. "You call that Elvis guy a singer? Now Rudy Vallee, that was a singer!" So it's patently false to say it's a recent development. It simply takes different forms.

For myself and my kids, it's in the video games we play. Theirs are all action packed, running around, role playing games with lots of flash and dazzle and sound. Mine are, well, video poker, with nothing at stake except pretend chips earned which have no actual value.

Pacing is everything for all video games. Theirs are, as I've said, running and shooting or racing around in carts as colors and all sorts of images fly by. With online poker, every player gets dealt two cards and then waits patiently for the next deal. Then we take our turns raising, calling, or folding - always patiently - until the next round is done. Then more cards are dealt and more things - patient things, I stress - happen, until someone wins. Absolutely no chance of seizures in video poker, I guarantee you.

Of course, there is action in my games. The background of the poker room changes with the seasons. Currently there's a Christmas train meandering about a simple oval track on a table behind the dealer. It's taking its time, and not difficult at all to spot, such as an enemy hidden behind a boulder would be in the kids' games. So while they're running around defending their turf amidst the flash and brilliance of their games, I sit at mine thinking: "Look! A choo-choo! And you can see the smoke puffing out of the stack on the locomotive!

The generation gap yet exists.