March 21, 2013

Sam and the dragon...

My seven year old daughter, Samantha continues to surprise me. I had pre-ordered Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate when I got our Wii-U, and it finally came in. After she first expressed a wish to hug the dragon portrayed on the cover, I explained what the game was about. She gave me her favorite 'Dad, stop pulling my leg' face for a minute then sat back and watched.


First, a bit of description. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (hereafter MH3U) puts you as a beginning hunter of large beasts and monsters. This is a game of completing lower level quests and monsters kills and harvesting the remains of the creature. This allows you to craft stronger gear and thus be able to take on stronger monsters. I've become fond of these types of progression games because they tend to encourage planning, and creative thinking in reaching the various goals. Experience is not a number you collect till you suddenly flip over to a new level. Experience is learning that you need to collect enough of plant X and material Y to craft a set of traps and poisons to slow down a bus sized rabbit enough to land a hit on it. Experience is learning how that bus sized rabbit gets around and how to dodge its attacks.

Well, both times I've had an hour or two to play, Samantha has sat next to me and asks questions about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. To be honest, I'm more than happy to answer them. To me, this isn't about encouraging her to play a video game, this is about helping her learn about goals, preperation, and putting plans into action. I found out this morning that she had been playing a little of the game herself after homework (which, I might add, she finished in record time in hopes of getting to play.) I can't wait to sit and watch her play for a bit this weekend, just to see what she does.

Posted by: Tom Tjarks at 10:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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