Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Young gaming turks
|
Your kid might actually learn a thing or two about life playing computer games
|
Kids get a kick out of playing emperors and building military units in `Age of the Empire' at the War of a Million gaming contest. — Photo: Murali Kumar K.
CHILDREN TODAY have to be a `genius' product rather than a product of genius. They have to get 100 on 100, never mind even if the subject is literature. They have to win the interschool quiz competition. They have to make it to India's child genius and other such TV shows so that mum and dad can look on, smug with pride.
Oh, and they have to come first in class, come first in the running race, in the dance competition, in the drawing competition, in debate, get a top engineering seat, land a top job with a six figure salary...
The list of `tops' does not stop; neither does the list of expectations ever dwindle.
Somewhere down the line, we have perhaps forgotten how to think, strategise, learn on our own, learn from mistakes, pick ourselves up again and move forward toward a victory. And learn all this from playing games.
Games have changed, though, today. So has the playground.
The neighbourhood may be empty, but the cyber cafes and PCs at home are humming with life.
But to hone innate skills, can't imagine that a parent will allow a kid to sit in front of a computer excitedly, with headphones strapped on, yelling cheering and wiggling in his chair while playing PC games. But maybe somewhere in the maze of PC gaming, there is hidden a tool that will teach your kid a lesson or two in life.
Real probs, real-time
Going by the response to Microsoft Game Studios' `War of a Million' gaming tournament, it's staggering to see how seriously these games are taken. By kids and young gaming turks. Over 1,000 participants, ranging from school bachhas, professional game designers and testers, chess wizards and retired people, tried their luck and skill at the Bangalore wing of the contest.
Preetham Charles, a 15-year-old Class 8 student, won two of the three rounds at the competition. "If I win one more, I qualify for the finals," he tells me quite seriously. For the last year and more, Preetham has been playing `Age of the Empire' one of Microsoft's classics and a popular one at that, at cyber cafes.
"My brother taught me how to play and now I play for four hours twice a week." His brother got so interested that he is now training to be a game designer. Obviously young Preetham wants to follow in his bro's footsteps. He promises me I'll be able to learn the game in an hour.
Multi-tribe play, real-time maps and action, multiple victory conditions, 12 civilisations, amazing graphics, absolute control over your military units — what more would one want? That's the kind of game we are talking about.
Mithun D'Souza, a 22-year-old gaming fanatic co-founded Indian Pro League, a company that organises gaming contests and events to provide a platform for other adrenalin-driven youngsters. "Gaming requires skill and you need a level of understanding of a game. `Age of the Empire' is a strategy game. It took me two-and-a-half years to master, yet I know people who can beat me in a jiffy. That's the beauty of the game," says the gamer who started at 17. He perhaps commits heresy when he refers to gaming as a mind sport, on par with chess. "You figure out what your opponent is going to do and counter it." He also says that a truckload of management jargon would vibe well with the game too.
Everyone wants to play a game like this one, says Mithun, ranging from a 10-year-old who turned up for the contest to a 60-year-old retired professional.
"It's everybody's dream to have control over something. You get power in this game. You feel like Caesar!"
And Mithun is quite clear he is happy playing at the console rather than blowing up 200 bucks on a drink or a ticket to a disco, or being at a snooker table.
Playing games can be a serious business. But PC gaming hasn't caught on as a professional sport in India yet. Microsoft's contest was offering a grand prize of Rs. 10 lakh to its national winner while 17-year-olds in Sweden have earned $70,000 a month, winning games.
Gaming girls
There are over seven gaming communities in Bangalore, says Mithun. And a girl gamer is quite rare. Namrata Deb is one of them. She was in fact part of a girls' gaming clan that broke up to form mixed clans with boys. While guys initially gave them the `yeah whatever!' attitude, they looked hard when the girls played boys' games like `Counter Strike'. Hooked into the games by fellow college-mates, she took home games and even had parents nodding a yes to serious gaming.
"Gaming is the next form of electronic entertainment that will become all pervasive," says Mohit Anand, manager, Home and Entertainment Division, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd.
"The Indian PC gaming market is at an inflection point, poised to grow exponentially. Youth have access to PCs, and with friends being the centre of their lives; they are able to have healthy competition with peers. Encouraged by feedback from gaming enthusiasts, we have decided to make it an annual feature."
Microsoft Game Studios releases over four titles every year, and more in summer and festive seasons when they fly off the shelves.
B.K.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
