Deconstructing the Parental Paradigm: Gaming as a Viable Career in the Digital Age

Gaming is one of the fastest-growing industries today however, whenever a child or young person says they want to make gaming a career, the parents' faces often show confusion, tension, and disappointment, and this is their initial reaction. This is a waste of time, and this reaction is neither entirely correct nor entirely incorrect. The reason for this is that they have not been able to understand and implement it effectively. When 'career' used to mean only being a doctor, engineer, teacher, or a government job, and they never saw gaming as a way to earn money, it is difficult for them to imagine that someone can build their future by playing games.

image

Parents believe that a career is only where there is stability, respect, and long-term income, and in their eyes, gaming is different from these three things; they think that gaming is just playing. It is a hobby. It is an addiction that only wastes your time. They are not able to think that there are so many levels in gaming like competitive esports, streaming, game development, testing, designing, and even event management, and all this has now become a fulfilling career. However, the parents have not been exposed to all these things. So, for them, gaming still means wasting a child's time sitting in front of a screen.

There is another big reason. Parents do not consider gaming as a career, they are scared and they fear that their child has taken a path where there is no future and they want their child to have a secure life in which things like earning money, getting married, building a house can be done smoothly and gaming seems risky to them and they think that it is only for a few people, for those specially talented people and if they do not get success then what will they do. The uncertainty of their child makes them nervous, and they straight away refuse.

From childhood, when we grow up, we are taught that if we study, we will get a good job, and as long as we get good marks, everyone in the house is happy. But as soon as a new field is named like gaming, photography, or music, there is resistance, and because in our country, unconventional careers take time to get acceptance, till then, that career is just not trusted. They don't trust each other until a success story emerges, and so do parents. They want proof, they want results, and until they get that, they say it's not worth the effort.

Often parents think that gaming is just a distraction and they see that their children are playing games on mobile or computer, getting distracted from studies, and staying online all night and this makes them think that gaming means only hatred and addiction and they do not see that if done properly, gaming also teaches discipline, time management and strategy. They do not understand that crores of people around the world earn their livelihood only from the game industry. All they see is that their children are sitting in front of the screen, and they get upset.

image

Competition is also a big factor when someone's son becomes an engineer or someone is preparing for it then the pressure on parents increases that their children should also become capable of showing something and if their child says that he will do game streaming or upload games on YouTube then the society takes it lightly and when compared to those traditional careers, gaming doesn’t seem like a ‘real job’ to society. Because of this, parents never take their careers seriously, and as a result, they do not get the respect of society. Now they feel that if they fail in the game, then people will say that they have ruined the future of their children.

Another big problem is that very few people know about the gaming industry, and parents do not know whether tournaments in India are worth crores or game testers and developers earn in lakhs. They do not have the right information, and whenever their child talks to them about a gaming career, they start thinking that it is just a time pass, and if someone had told them that the career counselor had explained it to them, if they had studied it themselves, then maybe they would not have proposed it so strongly.

There is a digital gap between the parents' generation and today's generation, and they do not understand how fast the online world is changing, and they are still looking for jobs that give them security in the world, but in today's time, gaming, content creation, freelancing, and tech based careers have opened up avenues. If parents sit with their children and understand this world, then their fear will reduce. They will know that gaming is also an art. And if there is passion and consistency for this, then it can also become a strong
career.

Gaming is not just a time pass on a screen and it is a whole world where people create new games, sell them, promote them, analyze them and also earn money from them and in today's time thousands of people are earning in fields like gaming design, animation, coding, testing and marketing and the gaming industry is a combination of IT entertainment and creativity and if your parents see it from this perspective then their perspective can change.

image

Until society and parents are ready to export career options, new dreams are suppressed, and the dreams of children remain unfulfilled only because they do not get support, and the hard work of the generation is a different era and to understand the new era, the old thinking has to be a little flexible and gaming can become a career. It just requires direction and hard work.

If both parents and children have an open conversation, the gap between them can be bridged and if parents understand the children's point of view and if children express themselves with planning and not just answers, then the future of any unconventional career can be created and gaming is also one of those careers in which you will have to give time. You will have to understand, and only then can it be accepted.

Even in the world of gaming, success is not easy, and not everyone gets to become a top gamer, and the same thing happens in a career. If you have fashion sense, learning skills, and an attitude. And if there is a clear plan, then gaming can become a full-feeling career, and you must understand that new generations have new dreams, and only by understanding and supporting those dreams can they become a reality.

🌐INSTAGRAM
🐦X
📝PEAKD
🌍HIVE
🦁INLEO

Posted Using INLEO