We hardly ever write about games, except when, for example, gamification makes its appearance somewhere. In fact, as an unwritten rule at Innovation Origins, we once came up with the idea that we would write about all kinds of technology – except gadgets. In the same vein, we do not write about the latest smartphones either, or cordless vacuum cleaners or washing machines equipped with sensor technology…
Nevertheless, we are short-changing gaming as a phenomenon, or so I gather when I read the latest column by Carina Weijma. She not only praises the gaming skills of her youngest son (and how good he is at it), but also highlights the risks. Our 11-year-old son also plays games, and quite a bit too. Of course, there are rules in place and we have parental controls via a special app, but I have noticed that these are regularly circumvented in underhand ways.
Our son plays his favorite game Fortnite online with his friends (or with one of the 350 million other players) and this involves a lot of loud discussions, which also wakes us up in our apartment from 8 am onwards on Sunday mornings. With a mother of a friend, who is struggling with the same problem, I have been seriously exchanging tips on soundproofing walls and doors.
Anyone who reads Alexander Loeb’s story on the metaverse knows that there is no stopping this new dimension and that this is not necessarily a bad thing. Our children and their friends are going to use online hackathons to rid the world of a whole host of problems. Even an energy mogul like Vattenfall has figured this out and thinks that the metaverse will make life without fossil fuels possible within one generation.
These are the kind of hopeful texts that I will keep in mind when I enter the gaming den this afternoon with a glass of cola and a bowl of salad greens to go with the chips.
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