Latest video games + kids = MTB threat?

[Tree Magnet]

I have noticed that the latest round of free video games seems to be completely different than those in the past. Games like Overwatch and Fortnight are free, fast, fun, and provide an immersive experience that appeals to kids of all ages. I was just at a meeting overseas and every parent in the room that had a kid had he same problem with their kid being ‘addicted’ to the game. It was the same story for Germany, UK, Asia, and every state represented in the US.

 

My question to this motley crew is do you think that this represents a threat to mountain biking? Seriously. When these kids should be out breaking bones and building jumps out of scrap wood, they are battling some 35 yo Swedish dude living in his parents basement on their stupid phones.

 

I have kids, grew up with video games, and choose to spend as much of my free time outside that I can. This sounds like a well represented demographic on this board so I’m floating this out there looking for some wisdom.

 

Especially interested in what Al thinks? Am I being a grumpy old man? The accessibility of these new games just makes them so much more pervasive that it seems different.

 

Discuss.

 

Btw - move to a different section if it fits there better.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Chief]

We had no choice but to get outside. There was very little to keep me in the house. When I was a kid cartoons were only Saturday until like 10:00 AM, no video games although my buddy had an original pong console but rarely played it. We had more fun building forts, riding bikes, playing jail break or just exploring places in the woods we had never been to. Parenting has changed so much from those times. My parents would tell me to get the hell out of the house and play outside don't bother me! In the summer I would leave my house at 7:30 in the morning and be gone until it got dark. Now parents are afraid to let their kids do anything without supervision. Hell we didn't know what supervision was we learned our lessons the hard way. Surprised I survived sometimes. Did a lot of stupid things when I was a kid. I learned to ride a two wheeler with no training wheels at 4 years old. That was my first taste of freedom and I loved it, been riding ever since.

[The Tip]

30 minutes ago, Chief said:

 although my buddy had an original pong console 

You had access to a video game? Luxury! Well when I was a kid...

But seriously, things are changing, and not always for the better.

[throet]

40 minutes ago, Chief said:

We had no choice but to get outside. There was very little to keep me in the house. When I was a kid cartoons were only Saturday until like 10:00 AM, no video games although my buddy had an original pong console but rarely played it. We had more fun building forts, riding bikes, playing jail break or just exploring places in the woods we had never been to. Parenting has changed so much from those times. My parents would tell me to get the hell out of the house and play outside don't bother me! In the summer I would leave my house at 7:30 in the morning and be gone until it got dark. Now parents are afraid to let their kids do anything without supervision. Hell we didn't know what supervision was we learned our lessons the hard way. Surprised I survived sometimes. Did a lot of stupid things when I was a kid. I learned to ride a two wheeler with no training wheels at 4 years old. That was my first taste of freedom and I loved it, been riding ever since.

The only electronic game my brother and I had when we were kids was the vibrating football field that you plugged in and then flipped the switch to execute your plays. You'd spend 10 minutes lining up your players at the line of scrimmage and then hope that they would actually move forward instead of going around in circles. Would get bored quickly and proceed outside to play real football - tackle with no pads or helmets. End zones were often driveways.    

[Yosmithy]

one of our favorite video games was to sneak out to the commodities shed at night and see how many rats we could shoot when we turned the lights on and they would scatter.

 I actually feel bad for how kids these days have to be so over protected from society.

Edited September 22, 2018 by Yosmithy

[throet]

20 minutes ago, The Tip said:

You had access to a video game? Luxury! Well when I was a kid...

But seriously, things are changing, and not always for the better.

And if you wanted to steal music, you had to figure out a way to slip a 12" LP under your sweatshirt and sneak out of the store unnoticed. 

[ATXZJ]

Should probably start with the parents first

https://www-esquire-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.esquire.com/lifestyle/sex/amp23279319/fortnite-video-game-causing-divorces/?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQECAFYAQ%3D%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.esquire.com%2Flifestyle%2Fsex%2Fa23279319%2Ffortnite-video-game-causing-divorces%2F

 

We have teenage girls so gaming is not an issue and for the most part, neither is social media. It's a complete anomaly and I give my wife full credit for that. We do have issues with binge watching of Netflix. Over the summer, I'd leave for work and come home and theyre still on the couch watching TV in the same f@cking clothes. Keep in mind we just moved to a house with a full country club, gym,pool, restaurant, etc. They could hang out at the  the pool and order cheeseburgers on our tab. Nope, still on the couch. As chief said, all I wanted to do was run the streets as a kid and look for kicks. Now, kids just want to live vicariously.

 

That was until I put the router on a timer 🤣

[Schrute]

Honestly I struggle with this but times are changing and that's just the reality of things. Basically this question comes down to parenting. Are games bad? No. Are letting your kids do nothing a whole entire summer break or weekend playing video games bad? Probably. Games accomplish all kinds of things these days for kids. They offer unique opportunities for imaginary play, technical skills, shit...even leadership skills depending on the game/kid. I don't even think it's a debatable topic. As parents it is OUR responsibility to limit how much screen time our kids are getting. Games are not the problems, parenting is. In fact that is the problem with a lot of things these days. 

I also want to add that for a lot of us games weren't even an option because they weren't around or they weren't advanced enough to keep interest. So while we're able to say all I wanted to do was build forts and run around and etc. we also have to be accepting of the fact that we didn't have to choose between a super immersed world that allowed us to role play our wildest dreams, or go sweat outside. For most kids that's a hard choice to make. That's where the parents role comes in.

Edited September 22, 2018 by Schrute

[Yosmithy]

I'm not a parent, but I ask this of those that are. If you have say a 10-12 old kid that actually wanted to go out and ride their bike, would you let them go take off for the day to go play on the trails, park, etc?

 If you told your kid today to get outside and play, what would they actually be allowed to do?

[ATXZJ]

37 minutes ago, Schrute said:

Honestly I struggle with this but times are changing and that's just the reality of things. Basically this question comes down to parenting.

 

20 minutes ago, Yosmithy said:

 

 If you told your kid today to get outside and play, what would they actually be allowed to do?

There's a lot of truth to that. See a kid out by themselves, and first thing you think is something is wrong. If you're a parent you worry about about being judged or worse yet, reported for sending them out into the wild (which they need). Sad thing is, the streets are WAY safer than they were when we were kids, yet everyone is so terrified of the outside world. Bizarre.

 

On the MTB topic, both my kids were in NICA and the biggest challenge to mountain biking was extracurricular / after school activities. Football marching band is a f@cking cult in texas and devours all of your free time. Thankfully, my oldest quit band after she realized she was getting nothing out of it and doubled down on academics.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by ATXZJ

[MrMentallo]

As an adult who both games and mountain bikes, this is a double whammy. My kid has minimal interest in biking (most of her interest is associated with how much daddy likes it) and maximal interest in gaming and binge-watching anime on Netflix. I tend to limit my gaming until after the kid is in bed and important things to do are finished for the day. I limit her screen time to the number of chores, good grades and good graces she has accumulated. I have also put the router on a timer and have installed firmware on it (DD-WRT) to let me mess with the settings quite a bit to make sure that she doesn't google how to hack it since she has seen me do so (and knows it can be done). I don't necessarily see gaming and attachment to digital life being an impediment to outdoor activities in general because we had distractions also and look at us now. We had comics, tv, gaming (D&D and so on) as activity deterrents and we still did stupid shit on ramps and dirt. As long as you look at things with a macro lens, I don't see our shift to digital entertainment as much of a deterrent to outdoor activity and mountain biking as long as you keep an eye on a healthy lifestyle.

[Chief]

I think our parents looked at TV the same way we view video games and the internet. As pointed out it's our responsibility as parents to help our kids maintain a balance between school, chores and free time. I was always looking for something to stimulate my mind without even realizing it. I started taking mechanical things apart at a very young age. I knew at about ten or eleven years old that I was destined to work with my hands and have done so all my life, but that's the way things were back then. You either did well in school and went on to college to be some sort of "professional" or you worked with your hands. Technology is such a huge part of society today that letting your kids use it and figure it out is not such a bad thing as long as there are set boundaries. Like ATXZJ said the streets are actually a lot safer now then they were back in our day. With everyone now carrying a video camera 24/7 it's a lot harder to get away with nefarious activities. As far as the internet goes that's a lot more dangerous than the streets in my eyes. It's up to the parents to decide what their kids should or shouldn't be doing and to be willing to impose discipline when needed unfortunately I see a lot of parents who could use a little discipline themselves.

[AntonioGG]

3 hours ago, Yosmithy said:

I'm not a parent, but I ask this of those that are. If you have say a 10-12 old kid that actually wanted to go out and ride their bike, would you let them go take off for the day to go play on the trails, park, etc?

 If you told your kid today to get outside and play, what would they actually be allowed to do?

Yes.  We have 11 and 13 yo boys and we let them ride in the neighborhood and park with their friends.  I’m building a pump track in the backyard and a short mtb loop around the house.  We just put a basketball hoop and court in the backyard.  Computer time and tv time are very restricted.  We will be getting a console soon but it will be time limited.  My oldest could do stuff indoors 100% of the time if we let him (reading, legos, and Minecraft).  The youngest has to go outside.  Btw, the youngest absolutely loves riding Peddlers Pass, has no fear and wanted to ride the big gap jumps at Flat Creek Ranch!

 

I am grateful my dad never bought usan Atari.  I did Doom and Wolfenstein and MUDding in college and I spent too much time.  After realizing it was 6am and I’d spent all night playing a game, I quit.

Edited September 22, 2018 by AntonioGG

[TheX]

I was born in '58 so I was outdoors a LOT. I always knew every kid within two blocks.

[mack_turtle]

I was born in 1982, so that puts me at the far-old end of the "millenials." video games were a constant threat to me. i am very addicted to video games when i get my hands on a good one, which is why I don't own a gaming console at my house. If I had an Xbox or whatever the kids are playing these days, I would never leave the house.

I had a ton of Atari 2600 games growing up.  all the other kids had Sega or Nintendo or whatever was new at the time, but my parents wouldn't buy me any of those systems because of some combination of stinginess (we could have afforded new games, but all of my games were from garage sales) and wise forethought. Atari games were never something you could do for hours on end. it was a fun distraction for an hour at best. the games were just so lackluster, slow, and short.

That was good for me because I spent countless hours building trails, treeforts, pedaling everywhere, catching frogs, and exploring the woods. this was in the Midwest, where it's quite cold and foul for a good chunk of the year with snow/ice and mud for weeks when the snow melts. my mom took my brother and me to parks for hiking, sometimes in tall rubber boots, across frozen creeks, searching for interesting icicles and animal tracks. for a few years, I lived in a house that backed up to a farm field, so I spent hours shooting a pellet gun and arrows at targets. when i got bored with that, I rode my scavenged BMX bike on a 5-6 mile look around my rural neighborhood, looking for ledges to jump off of and pretending that my route didn't take me past the house of a girl I liked. middle school!

in high school I moved to Indianapolis to a neighborhood that was home to, by sheer coincidence, the only three kids in my enormous high school who also rode BMX. we rode all the places we were not wanted in the nearby office complex, terrorized downtown, built a dirt jump course that rivals Ninth Street in a vacant lot, and initiated the building of Indy's first public skatepark (which is still next to Major Taylor Velodrome and the BMX race track). I did the same in college and for years prior to getting a mountain bike. all old BMX guys become mountain bikers eventually.

that was a good trip down Memory Lane. suffice it to say that, if it had not been for pulling a BMX bike out of the trash when I was about 13, I would have spent most of my youth playing video games. yeah, the new games are better and more immersive, but I managed to spend hours and hours playing Super Mario Brothers, which came out over 30 years ago.

I cringe when I see the kids with the portable games that are as immersive as they are though. I spend too much time looking down at my phone as it is, but kids with bent necks from a young age who never look up and engage the world around them is pretty grim. I don't have kids, but I have a hard time holding my tongue around parents who spend thousands of dollars on video games for their kids that remove them from reality, not just at home, but everywhere they go. that's going to come back to bite us all one day- socially, medically, emotionally. I don't have kids

A few years ago, I was working at REI and some corporate bigwig came through to give us a pep talk. she asked who REI's competition is, and people named Academy Sports, Whole Earth Provisions, bike shops, Bass Pro Shop, etc. she replied that the real competition to the outdoor recreation retailers are stores like Best Buy, which sell people things that allow them to pass the time without going outside at all.

Edited September 22, 2018 by mack_turtle

[AntonioGG]

Our school district had an appeal to parents about Fortnight.  It is apparently becoming a problem at school.  We just did the pledge to wait until 8th grade for smart phones.  We have a trac phone for when they have to stay after school or are riding around the neighborhood.

https://www.waituntil8th.org/take-the-pledge/

I had a BMX-wannabe bike when I was a kid but I rode it everywhere.  I used to get all the BMX magazines and wish there was a race track close to where I live.  I never got to race BMX but it was all I could think about through elementary and middle school.  We didn't have trees where I grew up, but we made forts in the brush.  We seemed to do a lot of digging in dirt and playing in mud too.

 

[ATXZJ]

32 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

 

I cringe when I see the kids with the portable games that are as immersive as they are though. I spend too much time looking down at my phone as it is, but kids with bent necks from a young age who never look up and engage the world around them is pretty grim. I don't have kids, but I have a hard time holding my tongue around parents who spend thousands of dollars on video games for their kids that remove them from reality, not just at home, but everywhere they go. that's going to come back to bite us all one day- socially, medically, emotionally. 

 

Totally agree here. The midlife crisis these 20 somethings and kids experience will be off the f@cking charts.

 

[AntonioGG]

Any of you guys do RC cars/planes?  It seems like that's dying too.

[throet]

I have a 32 year old son, a 22 year old son, and a 13 year old son, all of whom played a lot of video games. They all watched plenty of TV too, and I never placed restrictions on either activity, although I certainly see the rationale for doing that. The two older boys grew interested in other stuff over time, went to college, got jobs, grew friendships, and generally turned out pretty darn good. The youngest still plays video games and watches a lot of TV, but loves getting out to play golf, disc golf, and cornhole. He also loves playing Chess, Stratego, and Risk, which I take time out to play with him. He's not interested in mountain biking, and that doesn't bother me. Suppose it really comes down to finding some balance, and sometimes that comes naturally and sometimes it has to be forced.   

[TheX]

1 hour ago, AntonioGG said:

Any of you guys do RC cars/planes?  It seems like that's dying too.

I do airplanes and BIG helicopters. Electric and nitro.

[throet]

8 hours ago, Yosmithy said:

I'm not a parent, but I ask this of those that are. If you have say a 10-12 old kid that actually wanted to go out and ride their bike, would you let them go take off for the day to go play on the trails, park, etc?

 If you told your kid today to get outside and play, what would they actually be allowed to do?

This is a really good question! As others have stated, the streets are probably safer now than they were when we were growing up, but as parents we're much more aware of scary shit that happens to kids. Generally speaking, my kids haven't been allowed to do much without me being highly aware of their surroundings or them being under some level of supervision, at least until they reached High School. Then admittedly I was much less restrictive on the boys than I was on my daughter, which regrettably led to its own issues. There are no easy answers when it comes to parenting, at least from my own experiences. 

[AntonioGG]

57 minutes ago, TheX said:

I do airplanes and BIG helicopters. Electric and nitro.

I always wanted a helicopter, and even got the controller for my plane that supported it.  I have 1/8th scale onroad full setup with tire truer and spare parts but my kids aren’t too interested.  I also have a 40 size plane and a 1/2a I need to get rid of.

I’d get back into it if we had a 1/12 indoor track!  Now that is a blast and a lot cheaper than the 1/8th nitro.

[The Tip]

15 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

Any of you guys do RC cars/planes?  It seems like that's dying too.

That's not all that video games have killed. My brother gave my boys a very nice HO Train set when they were younger. They played with it twice. And that was only when my brother came to play with it with them.

[mack_turtle]

I met some guys in Circle C park the other day who had gathered to fly drones. They had VR headsets and the drones had cameras. Way cooler than any video game, plus you have to run out into the weeds to fetch your drone when you crash it. They said you could get everything to start out for under $1k. That's a lot of money for most families but it is a better investment than video games IMO.

I think there's more value to video games than many of us think. Some of them require a lot of communication, cooperation and strategic thinking, problem solving, etc. A lot of those games involve design and world-builidng. They need to be used in moderation of course, but it's not all mindless. I am not certain that spending hours alone with one's nose in a book is objectively better.

When I was a kid, I spent endless hours alone indoors building with Lego and Construx. I watched science fiction movies and built badass robots and cars with missle launchers on them. Mad Max stuff. It instilled in me a powerful sense of space and geometry, as well as manual dexterity that I needed to learn to use tools on bikes and around the house. I have met grown men my age who literally don't understand how a screwdriver works.

I had a train set too. Being an '80s kid, parents and grandparents bought trains set stuff for kids of my generation but no one played with them. Sorry, trains just are not fun!

Edited September 23, 2018 by mack_turtle

[mack_turtle]

A lot of people my age are parents with kids who are not allowed to leave their driveway at an age when I had a range of about five miles. That's sad that parents are so paranoid.