Inspired By Mum's Games

One of my first memories about video games is watching my mum play Tomb Raider on the old original PlayStation. Although I was a bit freaked out by the wolves at the beginning, I loved watching her work through the game. None of my friends had a mum who was into gaming.

Along with it being a little frightening, it was a bit too difficult for me to play myself, but I loved helping when she got stuck. She had bought one of the player guides for the game and I would have this on my lap to help with the puzzles and what to do next. Sometimes when she got really stuck on a puzzle, I would get a turn on the controller!

Disposition

Making a Difference

TRANSFORMATION

Bethan gained confidence that even when faced by something too big to understand they could make a difference and help make progress.

Activities: Bethan found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Tomb Raider:

Tomb Raider Prima Guide

READING

Bethan was in charge of the player guide to help their mum progress when stuck.
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Pocket Money For Empire Building

I had tinkered with a few games but none gripped me like Pharaoh Queen of the Nile. I remember the day I went into the Game store with my dad and found it on the shelf. I pleaded with him to get it and agreed to spend my pocket money and even do extra chores.

He agreed and I returned home with my prize. The game was everything I hoped it would be. You got to manage a city and could control everything to your heart’s content. It was an early lesson in how intricate systems work and something about it really clicked for me. It was all I would do for months.

I would repeatedly play the different levels trying to get a better score for each scenario. It let me create my own system to create and manage my cities. I’d come up with intricate plans and then go online to share them with other people. In turn, they would give me ideas which I would take to my next game.

Behaviour

Written Reflection

TRANSFORMATION

Bethan got into the habit of noting and noticing what had contributed to success and to failures in the game.

Activities: Bethan found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Pharaoh:

Note Taking

CREATIVE ARTS

Bethan had a notebook where they made notes on how they did on each level and how they would tackle the different scenarios next time.

Growing Ambition To Rule

Playing Civilization took me from managing single cities to managing a whole nation. I could take what I’d learned and test it out on a bigger stage. What was fascinating was how much of my strategy had to be relearned or refined for this new game where you manage an entire civilisation over the ages.

It’s here that my rudimentary skill with games like Pharaoh Queen of the Nile were joined with more nuanced ways of dealing with a complex system. I had to learn how to run an economy and deal with scarcity. I had to make decisions without having all the information. And I had to consider the intended and unintended long term impact of my choices.

This ability to deal with complexity, ambiguity and consequences I still draw on today in the business I run. In the game, and since then, I’ve worked to be able to solve problems the way I wanted. I never liked the combat in games, so would strive for economic or diplomatic solutions.

Skill

Coping With Complexity

TRANSFORMATION

Bethan took on the bigger challenge of Civilization and learned to deal with complexity and multiple systems interacting with each other.

Activities: Bethan found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Sid Meier's Civilization:

Castle Visits

TRIP

Bethan's parents often took them to Kenilworth and Warwick castle where they enjoyed imagining military tactics. They later worked at Kenilworth castle between the ages of 18-21 as a Historic Property Steward.
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Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Empire

READING

Bethan enjoyed reading historical non-fiction on the rise and fall of civilizations, like Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Empire series.
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Focusing On An Individual Life

I continued playing strategy games, but alongside these I introduced other challenges. The one that stands out is The Sims. This took me from the grand scale of working with civilizations on huge projects to the minutiae of dealing with one individual's life.

In particular, I enjoyed the careers side of the game. If you are careful you can help the people in your care to work towards specific careers. It was fun trying out different skills and challenges, as well as juggling all this with the other things my Sims needed to do.

It’s something that stayed with me. A good entrepreneur isn’t just someone who has a grand vision and ploughs on towards it. I need to take people with me if the projects or businesses I start are going to be a success. Playing The Sims certainly made it clear that applying the same rules of nation-states to individual lives doesn’t always cut it.

Relationships

The Importance Of Other People

TRANSFORMATION

Bethan developed an appreciation of team work and how people can achieve more together than on their own -- and for that to happen they need some leadership.