I'm at the hospital with one of my headaches. Some just don't react to medication and the stuff at the hospital works much better. My son is with me - the older boy: 12 going on 40. He stays to watch over me.

The nurse who is giving me medication asks what I do; I tell her; she asks about it because she has a son who would be interested (they always have a son that would be interested!) and I give her my card. Then it begins...

"But I won't let him play online at all. He can play whatever game he likes just not online." Hrm, ok, I'll let the "whatever" comment go for the moment.

I steel myself and reply. "Do you mean Xbox Live or PC games? What don't you let him play online?" I ask. My son is sitting next to me listening but bored. He's heard this conversation a few times.

"Oh, I won't let him play online at all. Especially those MOMO games. I'm too afraid of predators and he's only 13." *sigh* Yeah for the media.

I'm getting loopy because she's been pumping meds into my IV this entire time and I feel like I'm talking through cotton.

"Well... I wouldn't let him use voice on Xbox Live but you could let him play. Voice though - it's just too profane. But I can't think of any reason he couldn't play most MMOs online. He's just typing."

"Don't you worry about whether someone will ask to meet him at the park or something!!" It could be the meds or she could be shrill, I can't tell at this point. The room is spinning.

"Well, no. It's rather like being at the park, isn't it? I mean, you teach him if he befriends someone at the park and they ask him to come home with them he should say no or ask you first. It's the same online - teach him the skills he needs. Say no, or I have to ask my mom or report it to abuse or hit ignore... It's just like the park or school or anywhere, really."

She's looking at me sideways. I know I'm loopy and all but she is looking at me sideways. I don't know if I've gotten through to her.

Damn media blows everything out of proportion.

She starts to ask my son about his online experiences just as I pass out. At least I have nothing to worry about there.

I'm sitting in the car on the way to the movies this evening when my younger son says to me, "Mom, why do we charge more for millions of dollars?" I love non-sequiturs that wouldn't make sense ever. I ask to what he is referring.

"You know how when you make a little money we charge a little bit and when you make more we charge more?" Yeah, I wasn't getting it either. After teasing some specificity out of my boy, I come to realize he's asking about a Progressive Tax. Ok, fair'nuff. I explain the idea behind it - those with more carry more of the burden because those with less simply can't. I tell him that it's a way of forcing people to help their neighbors because people aren't particularly good about helping their neighbors.

I think we're done. Nope.

"So, your money at the bank, do you get paid for that?" Huh. More specificity, please! Some more discussion and it's obvious he asking me if I earn interest at the bank. Then he wants to know about yearly interest, daily compounded interest and I'm wondering what the heck is going on? I mean, he's 9 - he's in the fourth grade.

"Have you been studying this at school?" I ask.

"No. I've been playing Neopets."

Why exactly aren't games good for kids again?

I’m sitting here in the Phoenix Airport waiting for a flight to Minneapolis. This is my weekend to speak to the Indie Devs at the IMGDC about Community Management. Boy, are they in for it. I’m not going to be doing the usual “be polite, be respectful”; I plan to tell them to build tools from the beginning because “it’s a damn service, not just a game!” *sigh*

What I should be doing is catching up on some reviews. I have 3 kid’s DS games I need to review. Some are going on four weeks old.

We work really hard to cover children’s titles on this site. We work even harder to make sure there are children (of the appropriate ages) in the homes where the games are being covered. And you’d think the games would be a slam-dunk to cover. It’s just not the case. With the possible exception of MMOs, they’re the hardest titles to cover.

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I have ideas. Some of them come to fruition, some don't. It's like that with most people, I'm sure. But, I do have goals with this site. Someday, they'll become obvious, I hope. I'm working on a completing a long overdue communications degree. But I have obstacles. Yesterday, I found out that I had until midnight last night to produce an essay indicating why I had need, qualifications and would make a difference if someone gave me money.

I considered posting this on my personal blog, but it's relevant to the gaming industry as well. Because, I'm working on this degree not just for personal enrichment, but for this site and for this industry.

Tell me what you think. I'll get back to games, etc soon. Essay after the jump.

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This entry was posted on LiveJournal in my personal blog in November of last year and was the seed that germinated into the column you are now reading.

I'm in a bit of a conundrum. You see, I eventually plan to move this (this being my personal blog) to Ophelea.com. But I kept saying "I'll get it ready" for about 6 months. And there were these thoughts I kept wanting to get out of my head and as I rarely write on paper anymore I was at a loss as to where to place them. (This is not the conundrum, by the way.)

So, now I have this spot here on LiveJournal, with the Robots that cause the reaction, "Are robots really you?" I have no idea why they cause that reaction...

And I think there's maybe 3 people reading it? Assuming I've told that many...

The conclusion being that if I've told them about it they know me and what I do for a living.

This brings me to the conundrum. I just realized, I have two...conundrums, that is. Ok, the first. Do I write this as if there may be an actual stranger reading this? Or do I assume that only people who know me are? Wow, that would be sad. For now, I'll pretend random people have found these ruminations even though they're all of 5 days old.

The second conundrum and the point of the title is this: I manage a website known as GamersInfo.net. It's up there in the corner on the left (at least in this incarnation of the journal). We do game reviews, interviews, blah blah blah. I've been around games, books, movies - entertainment media for 15 years now. No, 17 years. Christ, I'm old.

Occasionally, or more than occasionally, I have thoughts on trends. For example, this year as I review children's games, I notice after a 2-year campaign of complaining vehemently that an E-rated game doesn't at all indicate whether the game is appropriate for a 6-10 year because children of that age vary GREATLY and who knows whether someone of age 7 can even read yet! Games finally say on the back (in eensy weensy little print) "Game requires basic reading ability to be enjoyed fully"

Score!

I should get to the conundrum.

I'm considering an Editor's Thoughts column on the site. We have several editors and they write well as a whole. And more often than not they have valid ideas.

Is this a worthy endeavor?