Jon E. Sager Guest Contributor

My Daughter Can Beat Me at Halo: Confessions of a Casual Gamer

"No, daddy, this way."

"The shotgun works better here, daddy."

"Daddy, you're in my way. Move!"

Such is the way around my house when my daughter and I play Halo cooperatively. Since our Xbox came for my birthday last November and our copy of Halo came the following Christmas, our TV has been in game mode more often than not, and playing co-op Halo is the popular way to do it. Cooperative play is a great way for two mediocre players to advance in the game and an even better way to let a poor player tag along with a better one while still enjoying all the game has to offer.

My daughter and I were recently working though The Library, a rather large level three-quarters into the story. The Library is an important point in the game because it marks a significant change in style and pace of play. And as we play through, it occurs to me that I'm the one tagging along--I'm the poor player my daughter has taken along for the ride. That, in and of itself, would not be so bad. The average 12-year-old can normally kick the average adult's butt in most video games. I can accept that. Besides, I earn more money than she does.

My daughter, however, is 6 years old. As the reality of my 6-year-old daughter virtually leading me through one of my favorite games sunk in, several thoughts came rushing through my head:

How can she get her tiny hands to work such a big controller? How is a 6-year-old capable of understanding all the complexities of a game such as Halo? How can she concentrate on the game for all this time when I can't keep her on task while cleaning her room for more than five minutes?

Forget Barbie's corvette. Give your daughter the gift of Master Chief's Warthog.

These realizations started a fairly long chain of thought (not to mention discussions between my wife and me) about family gaming, the abilities of children, my role as a primary caregiver, and how all that relates to life as a gamer.

The first three questions are fairly easily answered: She lays the controller on her lap so she has more freedom to move her hands to reach buttons; 6-year-old kids are much smarter than we give them credit for; and I'm not making her do it. The last question, after much thought, I've answered thus: "Because I think she can handle it."

While half of the people reading this rush to their e-mail to fill my inbox with hate mail, I will try to explain the reasoning behind my answer.

I think it comes down to why my daughter enjoys playing Halo. She thinks of it as a race. How fast can she complete this level? She loves the "point A to point B" levels and hates the "stay here and let wave after wave of aliens attack you" levels. She doesn't care what color the alien's blood is or what its body looks like after it's dead. She just wants to move on to the next challenge.

If my daughter's this good at Halo, I'm scared to think how good she'll be at Halo 2.

So, it comes down to parenting and parental choice. (Doesn't it always?) Kids mature at different rates and in different ways. If you don't believe me, take a look at the next 10 teen drivers you see on the highway. The difference in maturity as demonstrated by their driving will astound you.

As gamers, we must expect our children to become gamers. In reality we'll encourage it, without even knowing it. Our responsibility as parents demands that we pay attention to our child gamers and make sure that we are happy with what they are playing. Not as a community, or as a country, but as one parent to one child.

Duh.