gamers unite

As one of the early settlers in our village, my family used to put up with the features of a new neighborhood, such as the lack of electricity and water. As a result, television was basically a luxury and you have to fetch water from the nearest artesian wells (there were two) if you want a hearty bath. This lasted for two to three years – that would be when I was 3 to 5 years old.

The lack of these necessities notwithstanding, I remember happy scenes of a bustling neighborhood. The absence of television and, hence, anything better to do, would inevitably result to communal activities. The manangs (old moms) would play mah-jong ever so often; the pops would, well, they would be too tired working their 8 to 5 jobs, so most just rested; and the kids would gather around and play games. Faced with the prospect of nothing to do, we turned to each other.

If you ask me what scenes I still remember of the olden times, I would say the many patintero, buwan-buwan (I don’t know the English counterparts), and other street tournaments held on our streets. Usually these were held during full moon when the streets were bathed with moonlight. Every kid played, no one was excluded. As long as you can run and tag people, your were in. Even weird introverted kids like me played. I remember, we would all be too noisy that our parents would give up trying to sleep and just go out and watch us. Most of them would then grab their bangko (stools) and gossip about whatnots.

All night long, smelly sweaty kids would shout, run, cry, laugh and tumble endlessly as parents watch on. Sometimes the parental units would even cajole and tease us. They were also asked to settle disputes on the technical aspect of the games – having mastered the games themselves in their childhood, they were the resident experts (of course, they wouldn’t always agree with each other).

Those were happy times. Fun times! They no longer exist nowadays in my neighborhood. You will no longer hear kids playing outside. The manangs no longer have their nightly sessions of board games. The streets no longer bear the markings of the familiar patintero grids.
In a way, I feel the new generation of kids have it badly. They missed what I would consider a big part of childhood. But then again, I may just be an old rut.

I asked Jason and Ogdoc where the kids are these days. We thought about it and we concluded that they are not in the streets because they are 1) watching television and 2) in the internet cafes, playing multi-player, networked RPG’s. The TV I can understand, I watch TV myself longer than what’s good for me. But computer games? Are you kidding me?

I guess this is what they call the generation gap. (Sheesh … when I say “generation gap” before, I used to belong to the younger side of the gap.) I guess that’s where kids play these days, not in moonlit streets but in darkened cafes lit by the eerie glow of monitors. They no longer evade their opponents persistent tags to score a “home”, they evade bullets and rocket launchers to win a terrorist virtual war.

I don’t envy them.

Then again, I may just be an old rut.