I Believe in Video Games

Whenever I describe LAN Mob to a family member or non-gaming friend (and even gamers sometimes!) I can't help but use the word "culture". To put it as simply as I can, LAN Mob is a place where "gamers" feel right at home. I'm also proud to say we are an excellent place to visit if you wouldn't even consider yourself a "gamer" since you can come hang out, try some games out and make some friends! I could talk about the strengths of not only LAN Mob's community but the general gaming community/culture for hours on end, but for this post I'd like to write about what a local parent thinks about this community and culture.

We get all sorts of different kinds of people here at LAN Mob. We get the occasional players who stop in for some casual games like Mario Kart and Minecraft and we get the regular competitive grinders looking to rank up in games like League of Legends and Overwatch. We have a plethora of regulars ranging from barely old enough to speak to grandparents coming in with their grandchildren, and this kind of diversity really sums up LAN Mob's culture in my eyes, but more on that later. Recently there has been a local parent stopping by the shop with not only his own children, but a bunch of the kids in his neighborhood. One of the benefits of having a small shop is it doesn't take much to converse with customers/parents and before I knew it I was in a full-blown and meaningful conversation with this parent relating to the benefits of the gaming culture.

This parent stated he honestly isn't TOO much of a gamer, but played a whole lot of Golden Eye back in the day. He was happy to see "something for the kids" so close to home, which is something we've heard a lot of. After some discussion it was apparent that this parent takes the growth of not only his own children, but the neighborhood kids, very seriously. He mentioned the important lessons that can be learned from various sports, fishing and eventually we made it to gaming. We touched on the obvious benefits like reaction time, stress relief, and valuable lessons like dealing with loss and approaching victory with humility. However, this parent examined things even further and mentioned the importance of being a member of a community/culture. He went on to say how deeply valuable he believes it is to bridge the generational gap and connect with the youth and video games helps him accomplish that. I helped one of the kids learn some basic stuff in Street Fighter V via playing some matches with him, and this parent made a note of it, stating how awesome it is to be able to connect like that. He proceeded to praise our ability to answer a multitude of questions spanning a multitude of games, calling me a "master of my craft" and that all this knowledge was extremely valuable. Let me tell you, that was a refreshing change of pace and a morale boost and a half.

It's easy to chalk this experience up as simply interacting with a nice person, but what made it so note worthy was how genuine this guy was. Once he gathered up his crew he shook my hand and said he'll be back soon (he's been in a few times!) and said it was a pleasure. He also said, "I believe in video games." as a main reason to continue coming back. I cannot stress how much motivation I can pull from this sentence that a dude said on a rainy Sunday afternoon. People "believing" in video games means the LAN Mob grind, even at the most difficult times, is 100% worth it. You certainly can't pay the bills on belief alone but having people believe in this culture is definitely a start.