You’re probably right! But chances are they may need help playing in the best way possible. Playing video games can cause lots of frustration and anger. Some kids have a lot of trouble stopping when it’s time to stop. Playing alone can lead to isolation and depression. And don’t get me started on the content in some games. Knights of Agon squares off against these common problems. We teach kids to be self-controlled and emotionally regulated. We make sure they understand that people were created to be in relationship. We help them determine a game’s true value and guide them to make good content choices. It’s possible that through Knights of Agon, kids will end up playing LESS video games but being more intentional when they do.

I get it. My family is pretty busy too. We have to work hard to guard our family’s time together. Family meals, relaxed mornings and bedtime stories are becoming more of a rarity in today’s family.  Knights of Agon is designed to encourage those things through an achievement system where kids will be asked to engage their family in order to earn ranks and awards. Oh and did I mention that you can just drop your kids off at Knights of Agon and pick them up two hours later? Did someone say Date Night?

Well yes, there is a cost associated with running the program but the registration cost is VERY low in comparison to other programs kids are involved in. After the registration is paid, everything is up to your child. It’s their job to pay dues each time they attend. This is actually an opportunity designed to teach them a level of personal responsibility and entrepreneurship that kids aren’t often given today. They’ll have to think about how they might earn a few dollars during the week to help pay for a program they want to be involved in. Parents don’t need to worry at all about whether their child has dues with them at each meeting. Leave that to us.

Yes, some of them absolutely are. That’s why we’re doing this. Kids don’t know what they don’t know and with the amount of content released every day a parent would have to monitor every second of their child’s day to ensure that they’re safe from mature content. Knight of Agon will help expose kids to very positive, educational and fun games that don’t get the spotlight like the big name violent ones do. We curate a deep library of independently created games most kids would never find on their own. These are incredible games devoted to exploration, adventure, problem solving and beauty. There ARE intensely violent video games available and we won’t be playing and of them here. In fact I’m pretty vehemently opposed to most of those video games for anyone but full grown adults.

Yet another reason to join the Knights of Agon. We work hard to help kids understand their neuro chemistry and incorporate neuroscience into the mix. Kids need to understand WHY they are so drawn to video games. What is it that’s pulling them in and discern whether they need to do something else for a while. They need to learn this earlier rather than later. The saying “All things in moderation” comes to mind. But often there are addictive things happening in video games which we attribute to the video game but it’s not that simple. Depending on the type of video game they’re playing all sorts of natural drives can be satisfied in the game that may not be satisfied in the physical world. Social interaction, adventure, exploration, art, high stakes team based activities, fear and deep complex stories are all things people are experiencing in games. These things CAN be experienced in the physical world but often they take a significant amount of effort on the part of parents, we encourage that! We have to think about the things that are happening in the game and determine if it’s just the visuals and audio they’re drawn to or a deeper desire that’s being met by the game’s content.

They absolutely could. Depending on the type of game, a person could play all day every day and never talk to a real physical person. That’s why we’re doing this. The Knights of Agon value the physical world over the digital one. We encourage kids to interact in person and with their family at every possible opportunity, then if no one is around, maybe play online with real world friends, if not that then maybe play alone. At each meeting we spend time outdoors in free play and in discussion with each other about our real lives. The Knights of Agon will make new friends who they can play with in person or online who share similar values and character. Wouldn’t it be better if their friends list was made up of real people who lived down the street than strangers from who knows where?

Studies show time and time again that learning through play is the absolute best way to learn anything. Like movies, tv, and even books, content is the key. Some games, and books, are absolutely a waste of time.  We’re going to help people discern which games are worth their time. Games like Minecraft can teach engineering, creativity, and coding. The Minecraft educational edition even includes all of the elements of the periodic table. Overcooked is a cooperative cooking game where players share a controller, communicate under pressure, plan, organize and work as a team while sharing physical space. My work with kids with autism has showed me that if I want my kids to work on their expressive language, the best place to do it is with a friend in a video game. Rocket League, one of the top esports games in the world, promotes visual-spatial recognition in three dimensional space, teamwork and communication. Astroneer, No Man’s Sky and others like them require the collection of real world elements from the periodic table to plan and build in order to solve problems and survive in space. Zoo Tycoon allows for the creation of a zoo where animals are placed in correct habitats with the things the real animal would need, the species list is huge and people can learn more about animal species and their habitats than they might from many textbooks. What Remains of Edith Finch is a deep narrative about a girl who explores her family’s generations old mansion and tries to understand her family, it is deep and complex. Regarding reading and language development, today’s games include complex text with deep and technical vocabularies.

The video game industry is growing exponentially while other more traditional entertainment industries like music, movies, sports and TV are flat or even shrinking. Esports tournaments have officially overtaken many pro-sports in their viewership. By the year 2021 Esports is predicted to have more viewers world wide than all pro-sports except the NFL. That means more people will watch esports than Major League Baseball, the NBA, NHL and Pro Soccer. Unlike pro-sports whose corporate sponsors are often very disconnected from their advertising audience, esports advertisers will be selling products directly related to the sport to the viewer. Think Intel selling a gaming PC that a player is using to an aspiring player, logitech selling cameras, office depot selling gaming chairs, etc. The industry is experiencing exponential growth and careers will be created in every area to support it. Programming, art, music, engineering, writing, reporting, event management, marketing, and many more careers we don’t even know about yet. Gaming is already and will be one of the biggest industries worldwide in the future. But what if you don’t want your child to be in the gaming industry? No matter your goals for your child, they’ll choose their own path. But games exist that simulate nearly every career available currently. Surgery simulators, flight simulators, zoo-ology, city planning, and lots more are available which could spark an interest in a field for the future.

I know you’ll have more questions we haven’t thought through. Don’t let them go unasked. It’s been said that the only stupid question is one that isn’t asked. Contact us and tell us your concern!