Your Mom Plays Skyrim
A son turned his mother’s Skyrim sessions into a Twitter feed, and her questions about thistles, stolen goods and 5,000 gold houses became the plainest argument for play there is.
I started @SkyrimMom to pay tribute to my mother, who saw games not as something to condemn, but as a gateway to bonding with her Nintendo-obsessed child. Now that I’ve left home and she plays less frequently, her gaming has turned refreshingly naïve. The basics have become a challenge, while the most complex concepts somehow seem simple. In that way, my aging mother has reminded her now-cynical, aging son of what real play is supposed to be. Few things surprise me in games these days; but in my conversations with her, I’m at home again, picking up a controller for the first time.
