Re: "Childish" things

"Beth Fulton" <beth.fulton@marine.csiro.au> wrote:

> I've always felt that it's important to involve family in my gaming 
activities, and its a wonderful way to spend time together! We've found 
it to be a lot of fun, though it can be as educational for the parent 
as the child ;)

[Snip]

> As a mother, there's few more touching moments then when your kids 
ask you to sit down and help them chose their first SG force ;) <

Or as a father, be it their first army or their first fleet. What's 
been fascinating for me to watch is how the boys have moved from using 
minis as toys to platforms for their imaginations and, eventually, as 
game pieces.

This is particularly the case with Kendall, my younger son, who's now 
12. When he first saw my various fleets, he was fascinated and pored 
over the then-current GZG catalogue, eventually deciding that he was 
going to get a fleet based on the ESU. Not that it was going to be an 
ESU fleet (or any of the other Tuffleyverse nations), oh, no; being 
very fond of our cats, and of felines in general, he decided that _his_ 
fleet belonged to a race of felinoids, and thus was the Felis Empire 
born.

Over the years (it all started when he was about five), he created an 
amazingly detailed history for the Empire and took them through years 
of space and ground battles, both on and off the game table/floor. I 
will always remember the look on one of his primary school teachers 
when she "explained" that, because she didn't play computer games, she 
couldn't understand much of what he was writing about in the "what I 
did on the weekend" things that teachers get kids to do (in his case, 
quite detailed AARs), and I told her that this was all his own 
creation... <g>

He more-or-less dragged his older brother into creating a foe/ally 
nation, the Canid Confederation, and with two lively minds 
collaborating, the future history got more and more complex. It also 
led to a minor "arms race" with each of them trying to come up with 
bigger and better ships, both design-wise and as minis. One of 
Lachlan's proudest achievements of that time is the Cerberus, a 
heavily-modified three-engined Valley Forge conversion -- a seriously 
mean-looking piece of metal!

As the years have gone by, the Empire and Confederation have faded into 
the background, but not Fleets, although the minis may do double duty 
as someone else's ships at times. Their spirits live on, though; the 
"good guys" in Lachlan's delightful story "Plasma Cannons of Gor" may 
be human, but I think there's a certain streak of Canid in them -- and 
the CA that features in the opening scene is definitely a Vandenburg!

Both boys have developed skills in painting and modelling that can only 
stand them in good stead in the future. Kendall in particular is 
becoming a very handy figure painter; it's just a shame that so much of 
his effort goes into GW stuff; some of his friends are very into the 
Evil Empire and are involving him, too. Ah, well, I think he can cope; 
GZG, and other companies that he's looked at after getting into the 
hobby, have shown him that there is more to gaming than Gumby Workshop.

Phil, rather proud of the two of them. Now, if only _I_ had more time 
to game...
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