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Mary, Before Wii:"I'm not opposed to videogames," Mary says with an air of diplomacy, "but I do think that videogames do need to be monitored in the household. I wouldn't let my children have complete control as to how long they play or what they play. I think you need to put a cap on that. I don't want my kids spending three hours in front of a tv screen playing videogames on a daily basis. I think that half an hour, an hour max, is ample."
It's clear from the start of our interview that Mary has reservations about videogames, and gaming in general.
"No," Mary laughs to my asking if she would consider herself a gamer. To most of the general public, being labelled a gamer usually has a negative connotation. "I hear that label quite a lot. To me, I would have automatically thought that was somebody that plays [games] all the time. Not ever waking hour, but all their spare time is spent playing videogames.
"But I have since learned, and fairly recently, that it doesn't necessarily mean that. I guess a gamer is somebody that is just into the technology and into the new games coming out and somebody that just really enjoys playing videogames. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're spending their whole life gaming."
Everybody reads and watches television and movies, but there aren't many out there who could consider themselves readers or movie buffs. While it's true that anyone who plays any game could be considered a gamer, that concept hasn't really hit the mainstream. Along with the definition of the word "game," what is means to be a gamer is something that Nintendo aims to change with both DS and Wii.
Mary with her family
Our subject openly admits that she doesn't have a lot of experience with electronic games. "I don't know a whole lot about videogames at all," she says. "I watch my kids play and now and again I'll play with them. Not all their games, but there are a few games that I do play with them. Monkey Ball I've played, the NHL Hockey one, Battleship, the conga one... I guess that's a videogame isn't it?"
She's referring to Super Monkey Ball 2, NHL 2005, Super Battleship (Minescape's SNES game), and Donkey Konga, respectively. Because she's big on the music scene, I had her check out Karaoke Revolution Party one time, which she really enjoyed. "There's some games that I quite like and that are a lot of fun," Mary mused, despite not being able to name very many games that she's played.
Which consoles does Mary have at home? "What games are in my house? We have Nintendo [64] and GameCube." It's important to note that the two Nintendo consoles are owned and used primarily by her children. Mary didn't really want gaming systems in her home, so how did they get there in the first place?
"How it ended up getting here was fairly interesting on its own just because I didn't want a game system in my house. [Two years ago], my sister in law bought a new system, her old system made it to my in-laws, and while my husband and the kids were visiting, she said, 'Why don't you take this home?' And they did. I wasn't very happy when it first came in, but I think I've definitely become a little more open to it because my kids do really enjoy it, and I think there are some good things with videogames. You can learn things; it is good for dexterity. There are good things, but again it is something that has to be monitored. Your kids still need to get outside and play and ride their bikes and read and play games and do other things."
