old fashioned me vs. wii

A friend of the family loaned us a wii and some games to go with it. We decided to try it out. After a bit of swearing, rearranging of wires, and pushing buttons on remote controls, Wander finally got the wii hooked up with both sound and video coming through. The girls were excited to try a game that feature princesses, but after puzzling our way through the game menus, we were unable to figure out how to work the game. Next we tried a cooking game. This game was better in that we were able to figure out how to get it to work.

The experience reminded me of Amy Dacyczyn's experience with microwave popcorn in The Tightwad Gazette. A high priced product that is a staple in other people's lives was a source of confusion and frustration for us.

As I watched the kids try to "cook" in the game, I was struck by the fact that the game has little resemblance to the corresponding real life activity. (My previous experience with other computer games has supported that idea.) I thought, wouldn't it be more enjoyable to really cook?

In a pause between the girls bickering for a turn, I asked them if they wanted to join me in mixing up some chocolate chip cookies instead of playing the game. I was pleased that both girls leaped at the opportunity, even though I made it clear that we would be only mixing the dough that evening and we wouldn't actually bake or eat the cookies that evening. They even took turns in dumping ingredients and Sparkle set up the step stool for Glitter so that they could both see.

I guess that I'm horribly old fashioned.