Over the last couple of years there have been several studies (East Carolina University (US), Imperial College (London), NIA (US Gov), and more) that have suggested that learning something that is totally new can help to stave off Alzheimer’s Disease. The two most popular suggestions have been to either become bilingual or to play video games. It seems as though the two activities are cognitively similar enough that they have the same effect on the human brain
Such activities may protect the brain by establishing “cognitive reserve,” the brain’s ability to operate effectively even when it is damaged or some brain function is disrupted…[and] may help the brain become more adaptable in some mental functions, so it can compensate for declines in other functions. (NIA)
And at this point you might be asking yourself why I am telling you about studies on aging and cognition that you have probably already heard all about when they made the rounds on all of the major video game news outlets way back when. Well the short answer is this. For about the last year I have been trying to get my mother to start gaming. She is not a gamer like Alex’s mom. As a matter of fact I don’t know that before I started this little crusade that the woman had ever even held a controller in her hand and then a couple of visits ago I handed her an older DSi and a copy of a Professor Layton game and she was a bit intrigued. I was prepared to send her packing with her new get up, but being much like her daughter she wanted a 3DS XL so I gave her the game cart and instructions on which handheld to purchase.
The next time that I saw her she proudly showed me that she succeeded in making her purchase but had really gone no further. So we started taking baby steps. We (Pea and I) got her all set up and showed her how to Street Pass. And these were steps that she did to placate the even demanding Wee One (oh the power of grandchildren). I’ll skip the details of subsequent visits where no progress was made and move straight to this Christmas visit.
It all started with Ni No Kuni (doesn’t everything around my house?). One night as I was putting Pea to bed and she chose the Ni No Kuni soundtrack for her bedtime listening (yes, as a matter of fact I am raising a true geek) she asked if she might teach Nana how to play Ni No Kuni the next day. Even though I recognized this as a thinly veiled attempt to get to play even more Ni No Kuni than the 120+ hours that she has already clocked I agreed because I figure that it was a good way to torture for Pea to bond with her grandmother. The following day we fired up Ni No Kuni and played from the last save point of our second play-through (Pea would have none of that starting over from the beginning crap) and played the game. Fortunately (or unfortunately) we were at a point that didn’t call for much fighting at the beginning but had a number of narrative cutscenes and puzzles to solve. After I forced the two of them to call it quits and Pea asked if they could play again the next day and headed off to bed, Nana actually said that she had enjoyed playing and wanted to play again. After a year of my cajoling all it really took was the request of a very lovable and very bossy 5 year old.
And now it seems that Ni No Kuni is indeed the gateway drug. It started with my mom sneaking out into the game room late at night while I was finishing up episode one of the second season of The Walking Dead and asking for some help getting Professor Layton fired up and lingering just a little too long and continued with her all too readily agreeing to pick up a controller and play co-op Super Mario 3D World (which is an AWESOME game with great co-op) for 2 hours when she was supposed to be playing “magic princess fighting the bad guys tea party” in full costume with her all too imaginative granddaughter. And tonight I knew that it might be time for an intervention when she agreed to play just one more trial in Ni No Kuni.
Playing games may just be a bit of a bonding experience for all of us this holiday season. In a time when family members can really start to wear on each other’s nerves maybe video games are going to be the answer to familial harmony…at least for some of us. Pea will enjoy teaching Nana the intricacies of JRPGs and platformers (and really seems to enjoy blaming failed levels in co-op Mario on Nana the N00b) and does a good job of reminding me that I don’t get mad at her when she screws up so maybe I should cut Nana some slack too even though we’ve playing the same course for 45 minutes (N.B. there is no Luigi “play through this and save my ass function” in this version of the game. It’s do or die as far as I can tell.) And maybe, just maybe, this whole family gaming thing will help Nana to realize/admit that maybe she doesn’t know everything.
So long story short, I’m not saying that a few days or weeks of playing video games is really going to bring perfect familial harmony between the older generations, but it might just smooth out some of the rough patches.
