I stopped at McDonald’s for a cup of coffee the other day and quickly realized I was at a very unusual McDonald’s. It’s hard for me to remember the last time I was in a McDonald’s that did not have a playland. How did this franchise escape? I was sure it must be mandatory. But then I saw the reason. They had apparently provided an acceptable child enticement substitute. There were 3 fixed video monitors with stools permanently placed in front of them. On each stool was a child hypnotically fastened in place, except for what I can only describe as restless leg syndrome. I watched as they were slapping and swiping their hands across the touch screens maneuvering the images to play different video games. The video games I noticed them playing were tennis (the slapping) and billiards (the swiping).
Some of you probably think you know where I am going with this. At the risk of sounding like some old fogey – “Go out and play some REAL games”. If not tennis or baseball, then Kick the Can or even Tag… something real. The protests arise, “There’s no place for us to play” or, “There’s no one to play with”. But you see, these issues are just as important as the playing of the games themselves. It forces interaction with others and cooperation in problem solving. Sometimes, when we were kids, we adapted the game to fit the area available to us to play. Other times, we had to recruit enough people to play whatever we had in mind. These were good challenges that built life skills. The movie Sandlot is a good example of what I'm talking about.
As for billiards, well… anyone who has ever played on a real table knows that video billiards is just wrong.
So, all of this virtual activity has given me an idea. Instead of going to the fitness center every day to work out, I could do it “virtually”. What tremendous advantages there would be to this approach. First, I wouldn’t get nearly as tired and I probably could avoid showering afterward. Also, no waiting for a machine or wiping it down when I’m done. With my new workout video game, you would monitor the progress of your physique based on how much weight you are lifting, how many reps you do and which exercises you choose. That perfect chiseled body can now be obtained from my laptop while sitting at Starbucks drinking a double mocha latte.
Speaking of the double mocha latte has given me another idea - virtual cooking. Crack the eggs, measure the ingredients (remember to use the proper size mixing bowl), mix (hmmmm… by hand or with the mixer?), bake (oven temperature and time). You did remember to preheat didn’t you? This kind of fun will never stop.
The next time you feel the urge to do something physical – stop and think. There may be a video substitute and who can argue with the results?
