A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed. Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a game where a parent not acting responsible affects his offspring, “Katamari Damacy”.
A Child Shouldn’t Be Responsible Than the Parent
The King of All Cosmos appeared to be that one dad who just couldn’t help but talk about himself wherever he went; ignoring the accomplishments of his child while chastising him for not being as “great” as his old man. The problem with The King is he’s a terrible role model not just because of what’s stated above, but also because he can’t control himself and leaves his messes for his son to clean up. Case in point – the original “Katamari Damacy” starts off with The King (who had some problems with being the son of a pretty unforgiving dad as well) having a drunken night of fun, only to destroy all of the stars in the sky during an inebriated rage. And who has to clean up this mess? The King’s son, The Prince, of course. And just like his father during The King’s youth, The Prince gets no respect or admiration for completing an unnecessary duty his papa caused.
The King goes on to destroy islands by doing cannonball dives into the ocean and creates a planet-eating black hole during a rowdy game of Tennis – with The King taking full credit for fixing the latter even though it’s his son who does all the heavy lifting. And if that’s not enough, The King even shoots lasers at his kid for not outdoing him in completing “the game”.
The King’s fun & eccentric nature doesn’t hide the fact he’s a pretty lousy dad who didn’t learn from the mistakes of his own father in regards to parenting; setting forth a generational pattern of children suffering from the transgressions of those meant to raise them into upstanding citizen. While it’s wonderful for parents to help their children become the best versions of themselves they can be, the constant stress in a quest for perfection may create something unexpected like an arrogant offspring unable to cope to their heinous actions while sending their own child to clean up astronomical messes.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing “Katamari Damacy” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.