WhyGamesMatter

Today’s image is a merfolk wizards trying to choose a familiar.  I think I may expand on it for the summer shows.  Yes, I’m certain that sharks, man-o-war, lion fish, and orcas don’t live in the same environment; the purpose of this image was to convey the interesting nature of the decision.

We recently went to Red Lobster for our seemingly annual “going out to dinner tonight.”  We were excited to give our kids an opportunity to expand on their love of imitation crab to trying lobster and shrimp.

Unfortunately, we hit a snag at the front of the restaurant.  As many of you know, Red Lobster has a tank with a bunch of lobsters.  The moment my children realized that these were the same lobster that would be eaten, they were immediately turned off by it.  My boy, in particular, was saddened that these lobster would have to die.  “I just love sea life.”

The situation wasn’t helped when the hostess, seeing the kids looking at the tank and trying to entertain them, took a lobster out of the tank and tried to show it to them.  The children were horrified because they didn’t realize that lobster can come out of water as long as their gills are wet; they believed it was being suffocated.  Just lovely; we’re trying to warm them up to the idea of trying lobster, and she decides to show them a scene of a scared lobster out of water.

In any case, there was no lobster to be eaten that day.  The comparison of lobster meat to hamburger, chicken, fish, and hot dogs didn’t phase them; they wanted no part of eating something they just saw in a tank.  I don’t blame them; I wouldn’t have wanted to eat it, either.

On the bright side, I learned an interesting thing about my children’s passion for sea life and for their natural empathy.  The first thing that came to mind for me when I saw their reaction was “they are going to love the Little Mermaid stage of Kingdom Hearts.”  In the coming weeks, I’m going to see what other underwater exploration games can be found on the consoles.