- 2:33 PM,
Wednesday, December 5th, 2018:
-
- A year ago this
time I wrote an entry about Cam beating Mario at 3. It
was clear he was special then and I guess it's time
for an update...
-
-
- Sadly, the next
day he did in fact beat me and I don't have it on
tape... but the truth is? He didn't blink an eye. If
you're a Mario Kart player you know there's a level of
excellence where once you've attained it, you're in
nearly every race and it can come down to some
randomness. Now, I still beat him handily every time
we play but one false move and he can get me. He's now
to that level and what it takes to get to that level
is kind of hard to explain. Besides the normal basics
of maneuvering you have to use every section of the
track to get boosts. You make sure to hit jump on
every ramp and power slide every corner. He does that.
Then, item management requires you to know when to use
items defensively or offensively based on your
position. Always getting and holding 10 coins for
mazimum speed as well as getting them even if you're
AT ten to keep your opponent from gaining top speed...
but then there's the part that made me realize his
brain works in a very different way: he's watching my
screen while he does this. He's giving ME advice. He's
carrying on conversations while doing ALL of this.
Simply put, most adults cannot do this. It's like
being able to sing or play an instrument... it's
something you just have the ability to do and you can
either work on that part of your brain or not - but
you can't LEARN it.
-
- Talya is a perfect
example. She's now gotten into gaming because of Cam
and wanting to play with him. She's very good. In
Mario Kart she gets the majority of everything I
described above, but if I told her during a race to
look at the other screens for strategy while also
doing the basics I think it would melt her brain. It's
too much. Like "my cup is full, stop pouring" too
much. It's simply a level of multi-tasking that isn't
there for most people. And yes, he has it at 4.
Believe it or not I noticed this before he ever
picked up a controller. I caught him watching a
YouTube video at 2 of a Mario game and saw his eyes
darting all over the screen at everything that was
happening. It wasn't an overwhelmed "darting" it was
an analytical surveying of the screen. Now I know
I was most definitely right when I thought it was
unique.
-
- So where do we go
from here? I think I'm gonna try and start a gaming
channel featuring him. He's too young to have his own
and we don't let him play enough for him to really do
it like the big boys but we do play every Sunday
morning. So maybe we just do an hour live-stream every
Sunday and see if anyone notices? We'll see. But I
want to make sure it's a passive thing and that he's
pretty unaware of it because I hate kids on the
internet almost as much as I hate parents that
PUT their kids on the internet. That being said, I may
be able to do it so passively that by the time he's a
teenager he'll have an actual built-in audience and
the opportunities will abound. That's a long way off
and he's only getting better.
-
- Alright CamBone,
welcome to the big leagues.
-
- Adam
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