



It's All in the Game.
Childhood Education 2003, Winter, 80, 2
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Most members of today's younger generations are "masters of the game." My nephew, Bridge (age 8), and my great-nephews, Townsend (age 7) and Claiborne (age 6), are no exception. They sit down at my computer and quickly fly through "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (Aspyr Media, 2002), demonstrating eye-hand coordination that would make a concert pianist envious. They seem to know intuitively where to click and how to move from room to room in Harry's Hogwarts School. I ask them how they know what to do next, and they look at me as though I were an alien and reply, "Aunt Cindy, we just know. It's easy. Try it." And so, I sit down to give it my best try. After I spend an hour trying to get out of the Hogwarts library, the boys sympathize and quickly show me what to jump onto and how to leap across a chasm from one shelf to another. Quite spent, I dissolve, much like the character in the game does when his energy is depleted. I have even practiced in secret, when the boys are not around, trying to play Quidditch, the portion of the Harry Potter game involving flying on a broom and chasing a tiny ball with wings that I can barely see. I have absolutely no chance of ever mastering the skill needed to catch the elusive ball. I crash into one part of the castle after another, soon "dying" and having to begin from the beginning. My only significant success with Quidditch is being able to press the shift key for Townsend so that he can manipulate the mouse and grasp the Quidditch ball at the same time (no easy trick even for a 7-year-old).