Have you often heard of bugs, patches and mods without understanding their meaning? Do you want to start playing with your child but you don’t know where to start? A video game manual has come in handy.
Davide Morosinotto – established and award-winning author of books for children – together with Samuele Perseo have recently published a manual for young video players, an introduction to the world of videogames that is fun and full of tips: “ Video games. Small manual for gamers . ” Published by Editoriale Scienza with illustrations by Marta Baroni, it is an easy-to-read manual with lots of tips for playing safely.
Kids and video games is one of the issues that affect families as much as the education system. Often demonized or incorrectly labeled as “children’s things”, video games are instead a complex reality that must be fully known to enjoy it in complete safety , paying attention to possible cyberbullying phenomena and the so-called video game addiction . With this awareness and using clear and direct language, Davide Morosinotto and Samuele Perseo sign an agile manual full of advice , designed for children but also useful for parents and educators who want to understand this world and start a dialogue with the very young.
Playing is important at all ages because it develops intelligence and creativity, but also relationships and affectivity. In any part of the world there are games, of many types, but the ingredients are always the same.
From the book we have extrapolated these 9 main points:
1. The 4 basic elements of the games
Most games have 4 basic ingredients: a goal , which is the ultimate goal of the game; rules , which decide what you can and what you cannot do; a challenge , a game is not fun if it is also not demanding; the players , which can be one or many, gathered in teams or singles.
2. What to play with
Often children consider the video game to be one with the device they play with. They only slowly understand that a video game, or videogame, is a computer program or a software . Then there is also the solid part, the hardware, which can be dedicated, that is, it is used only for playing, or multifunction (tablet, smartphone). In the manual you find out what are the advantages or disadvantages of playing with a computer , console , smartphone or tablet .
3. Types of game
There are various genres of video games that are based on the gaming experience , given by the union of the 4 elements . There are sports games ; platform or runner games , one above all and Super Mario Bros; the fighting games, at meetings or scrolling; The shooter , usually not suitable for persons under 18; the open world or sandbox, the most famous of all Minecraft ; the stealth , missions to be accomplished by playing with cunning, like Assassin’s Creed; The role-playing games , adventure missions with complex plots, this category includesMMORPG ; the graphic adventures , in which the game experience is based on the story; the puzzle game like Tetris and Candy Crush; The strategic games , virtual battles to fight; the management , to step into the shoes of a real manager.
4. PEGI
The Pan European Game Information (PEGI) is a valid classification method on all the territory Europe used to classify video games through five age categories and eight content descriptions . It has replaced other classifications such as ELSPA since April 2003. It is the first thing a parent needs to check when a child asks to be able to play a new video game.
5. There are NO free video games
Videogaming is nice, but it also comes at a cost, because making games costs a lot of time and the work of many people. The ways to buy a video game are different: paid games, or premium games that you pay for and are yours; The subscription games , pay regularly if you want to keep playing; free games , which work thanks to the advertising contained therein; freemium games , which are the set of premium and free, those that you download for free but contain purchases in the App, that is, they have an internal shop (hence the term shoppare ); and then if you want there are pirate games , those downloaded or installed illegally.
6. Playing together
Games can have different modes depending on the number of people involved in each game: a single player – single player – or multiple players – multiplayer . Around the multiplayer game there are many online communities of players passionate about that particular game. And there are really many. In this regard, leet , the code language of online games, will have to be learned slowly .
7. The netiquette
Every place and every situation has its own rules of conduct , also applies to online communities whose respect for the rules is fundamental to enjoying the game and having fun all. In addition to netiquette, in every online game and especially in MMORPGs, there are rules to be respected even during the game, fair play rules , that is a fair and fair game, based on rules of kindness and respect.
8. The dangers of video games
Video game addiction is certainly one of the most worrying dangers. The most important thing to teach kids is to learn how to manage their time. As mentioned in another post talking about screen time , two hours a day is more than enough. And don’t forget that there is fun beyond the screen too.
9. Create a video game
There are many professional figures behind the development of a game: the game designer who designs it, the graphic designer and the programmer, coordinated by the producer . And if I wanted to learn how to develop my own game, many tools can be used, which we have already proposed in this article .