Do we owe it to the kids?

Recently I was struck by a conversation and a situation about the perception needed to understand and enjoy video games. It started with Metroid Prime 3's intro. I was watching someone play the game for the first time. They aren't the kind of person that would really play this type of game but found herself playing it. As she was wandering around the intro level, she kept having trouble finding the door handles, figuring out how to move correctly, and just, in general, not really enjoying themselves. The conversation went something like this.

"How the hell am I supposed to open this door?

"Well, every door has a handle."

"Why would a door be opened with just a handle in a video game?"

"Because no matter how hard games try they are always grounded in the realm of common sense."
"Yeah, but it's a video game, why would I think about common sense? It's supposed to be fantastical and some sort of alternate reality. I haven't played games long enough to know what common sense made it into these things."

The last phrase struck me. Here we were on the all too friendly Wii playing a game that was essentially a point and click adventure and having trouble getting at the controls of the intro level. It set me off thinking about what it takes to understand video games in the way that video games are meant to be understood and the gap that exists between those who have been playing games and enjoy them, and those that would enjoy them if they could just figure out the introduction to games.

Later that weekend, I was at my girlfriend's birthday party at her sister's house. Being that all of the siblings have recently started having children, the house was filled to the brim with children. As the party died down, the Wii was broken out and one of the oldest of the grandchildren began challenging everyone to Mario Kart. Eventually they all convinced me to play him.

Now, I mostly avoid playing games against him. Like all kids these days, they seem to think that they are just good at everything. Now, I can let him win or I can make him work for his win or I can just stomp him. Most times I just stomp him as everyone else hasn't play games long enough to really beat him. Still, this means i'll have to play him forever until he finally beats me. 

Anyway, it's not too hard to play the fool for a 5 year old. But, sitting there watching everyone play I noticed that he hadn't ever unlocked or won past the opening of the box and that got me to thinking. Do parents owe it to their kids to unlock this stuff for them?

Now, none of my girlfriend's siblings are really gamers. In days past, they played some games (Commodore 64, N64), but they never really were the gaming to completion type. Considering the Wii is meant for people like them, they've been picking up games for the Wii for quite some time. 

One of the complaints i've heard is that the games cost a ton and you get so very little. They just don't know that they can play the game through and unlock more; that games like Mario Kart actually have more than what comes with the box. I know some of you are thinking, "The ???'s are there, what the hell, but do they know that that means there are more circuits to complete?

This is where the perception of gaming came back. These guys hadn't played games since arcades were popular. Most arcade games, especially in the 80s and early 90s, didn't have unlockable content let alone hidden things. There is no reason for these guys, hearing that the wii is meant for everyone, to think that they would have to work to play a game. 

It got me to thinking about the Wii. This is a system meant for beginners but Nintendo is hiding enourmous amounts of things in their games for the Wii. Is this fair? If the game is meant to be for the family and the games for it are coming with half of the game unlocked, is the family getting out of the game what they should and does it matter if they don't know that they're not?