January 27, 2025 • 27 mins
Discover a hidden dimension of childhood development we talk with Devyn, the Outschool video game educator who's revolutionizing the way we view digital play. Together, we dismantle the stereotype of gaming as a mindless activity, shining a spotlight on its potential to cultivate communication skills and self-assurance in kids. Parents, prepare to be astonished by the social advancements your children can achieve as we explore the underestimated value video games hold in creating a sense of community and acceptance.
Venture with us into the narrative realm of interactive gaming, where worlds like Zelda and Pokémon aren't just escapades on a screen, but immersive experiences that encourage players to take the reins of their stories.
If you're a parent seeking to blend fun with education, you won't want to miss this insightful conversation that might just redefine the way you think about your child's screen time.
Connect with Devyn
Check out Miss Devyn's Video Game Universe, and get connected with gaming social clubs for children of all ages. Find her on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, Discord, and TikTok.
Get a free mini lesson plus 52 prompts so your kids can practice every week here!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Speak Out Standout.
I'm Elizabeth Green and today'sguest is Ms Devin.
Ms Devin is a video gameteacher on out school.
You may be thinking what is avideo game teacher?
We're going to talk about that,but the more important thing
that we're here to talk abouttoday is how video games,
although they may get a bad rapsometimes, can actually have
some really strong benefits forour kids, especially when it
(00:22):
comes to what we're focused onhere, and that's building
communication skills andconfidence.
So, ms Devin, thanks for takingyour time to be here, and I
can't call you Ms Devin thewhole time.
I will now, but like now,you're just Devin.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That's fine, you know we can keep it informal.
I'll call you Elizabeth.
I'm doing great.
You know, just I'm here with mydog we were just talking about
dogs before we came on and youknow, hanging out with Bowser,
that's my dog's name, so you cansee video games run deep
through my soul.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Bowser is one of the only super Mario Brothers right.
Obviously that's where that'sfrom, one of the only games that
I can beat, and my kids thinkit's really interesting because
I can't even make a player moveon their Xbox.
But I can take down Bowser anyday, any time, so I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I love it.
That makes me so happy.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
So let's start, though, for people who are not
familiar, and in case you'venever heard of Out School.
Out School is an onlinemarketplace for classes for kids
, so you can take classes onthere for anything at all from
braiding hair to drawing dragons, to playing video games, to
English anything at all, right.
And so you have a really coolniche on Out School Devin, where
(01:29):
you play video games all day,right?
Tell us just a little bit aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So it's interesting because it didn't start out as
playing video games.
I got my degree in English andcreative writing, and something
that I've always loved aboutvideo games is the storytelling
aspect, and so when I initiallystarted teaching on Out School,
I was actually doing a Zeldastorytelling class where we
would creatively write, you know, for five weeks and create our
own you know virtual video game,basically on paper, and then
(01:54):
that slowly evolved into.
My students were asking me likeI need help with this level, I
can't do this, how do I do this?
And I was like well, you know,I'll make a class and we'll see
if anyone comes and we'll playvideo games together.
And the response from parentshas been incredible, because
what a lot of parents don'trealize is that when your child
has a hobby and they don't haveanywhere to do that hobby, they
(02:15):
feel like it's not somethingthat they should be doing.
Right, we have things likevolleyball clubs, book clubs,
chess clubs, but schools don'thave after school video game
clubs, and so kids come to myclasses and they get to, you
know, log in virtually, and allof a sudden there's this
community of people who are aspassionate about it as they are,
and I've had so many parentstell me like my kid has better
(02:37):
you know communication.
Social anxiety is down.
Their personal stresses aredown because they feel like they
are accepted in this community.
So I'm really excited to talkabout how video games do that
Because, like you said, mostpeople don't think about video
games in that way.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Right, we often hear, you know, we think about video
games being a drain on the brainand, like you said, and not a
social avenue to go down.
Or we think about, well, nowpeople can play video games and
they can talk with peoplethrough the games and we think
strange or danger.
Right, like I think as a parent, video games usually, when that
(03:15):
comes to mind, it's thenegatives instead of the
positives.
But you're saying, for those ofus myself included have kids
who love to play video games,that we maybe need to change our
mindset about this.
And it's not just a way towaste time.
I like that you used a word.
It's a hobby, it's somethingthey're passionate about, and
what we really want to know ishow this can benefit them.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So, exactly, exactly Because that's so true, yeah, go
ahead.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
No, I was good.
So you said that you see kidsand parents come to you and say
that their kids have built theircommunication skills and
they're more self confident.
How is that happening?
Just by, you know, playingMario Kart.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So what's something that you love, Elizabeth?
Tell me something that you love, that you're passionate about,
a hobby, something you like todo gardening or writing or, I
don't know, painting yourfingernails something that you
really love to do.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You know, honestly, I think that's the hardest
question to ask a mom, do we?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
have hobbies Not usually, but here's one.
You're a mom, right, so let'stalk about that.
As moms, I think a lot of uscan relate with that feeling of
feeling alone and isolated.
I'm doing this by myself.
Am I doing this right?
Is this the right?
What am I?
What you know, we feel thisisolated island.
I'm also a mom.
I have four daughters, so Iknow these feelings right Very
intimately and we naturally lookfor a mom group.
(04:30):
We look for other moms that arelike-minded, or other moms who
can help us with things whenwe're not sure, like, what to do
when our, our child keepswetting the bed, or maybe not
sure what to do when ourteenager talks back, and so we
find that community and in thatcommunity we find confidence,
because more often than not it'slike, hey, I'm actually doing a
pretty good job as a mom, right, I'm doing all right.
(04:50):
And so with games, it's verymuch the same.
One of the reasons that gameshave such a negative connotation
is because it's a, you know, aperson alone in the dark,
isolated.
It's the isolation that the bigproblem is right.
And so with classes like these,what's happening is the kids
come to class and now they havethat community.
They have that group of momsfor our metaphor here where
(05:12):
they're like oh, it's okay forme to know every single Pokemon,
it's okay for me to, like,understand this very specific
mechanic about this game.
But as they come to class, also, the beautiful thing about a
social club is, since theyaren't alone, they have to learn
how to develop thosecommunication skills.
So I'll give you an example ofmy Minecraft class.
We just started a new survivalworld and anyone who doesn't
(05:34):
know anything about Minecraft,here's your crash course to
survival.
You land in a world and don'tdie and you have to build a base
.
There's monsters coming, you'vegot to build tools, but you
literally have nothing right.
So you're progressing throughcivilization, through the Stone
Age, into the IndustrialRevolution, all that kind of
stuff.
And so I have this group ofseven students and they all come
(05:55):
and they're like let's go.
And I'm like, all right, let'sgo.
How are we going to survive?
The monsters are coming tonightand they're like, oh, I don't
know, how are we going tosurvive?
And so I'm like, well, whowants to make a house?
And then someone says, oh, Iwant to make a house.
And I said, okay, well, ifstudent one is going to make a
house.
Who's going to bring wood tostudent one so that he can make
the house.
Student who's like oh, I'llmake a house.
And then student three is likeman, these tools are awful, we
(06:15):
need better tools.
I'm going to go to the minesand get a better tool for us.
I'm like awesome, you go to themines, get a better tool.
Then I have a student who'slike I'm not afraid of monsters,
I'll be the guard.
And so they have to communicate, because if they don't, what's
going to happen?
As a monster is going to come,we're all going to die.
That will be like Well, thatwas really sad.
Now we got to start over right,and so those communication
(06:36):
skills are so crucial in so manygames like that.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Communication and collaboration.
It seems like Like it's notjust you playing this game on
your own, You're the only personimpacted by it.
That is a really cool thingabout video games today and,
like I said earlier, obviouslywe think stranger danger or kids
can talk to people we don'tknow on there, and that's
obviously a concern andsomething we need to be aware of
as parents.
But one of the beautiful thingsabout if it's done safely, like
(07:03):
in a controlled environmentlike a class like yours, they
can connect with other kidsaround the world right.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, and they love it.
And yeah, you're absolutelyright.
You really have to be aware ofthat stranger danger, because it
is real, right, there's noquestion about it, and there are
some games that are morefriendly than others.
Right, and so, as a parent, oneof my recommendations to
parents is just do a little bitof homework.
Does the game your child isplaying have live chat?
Is it text chat?
A lot of games you can turnthat off.
(07:31):
A lot of games.
This is why I love the switch.
Most games on the switch don'teven have a voice chat option.
There's no way to talk withother people, and so I'm happy
letting my daughter play on it.
But as parents, it's a reallyeasy thing to just quickly go
online and Google, like, can mychild voice chat on Minecraft?
And you can't.
You can't voice chat onMinecraft.
There's, you know, chat, textchat.
But then if you go on and it'slike, okay, can my child voice
(07:53):
chat on Fortnite?
Yes, they can, but you can alsoturn it off.
And so there's that strangerdanger is avoidable, and it's
our job as parents to at leastbe a little bit educated about
it.
And if you don't know where tostart as a parent, that's where
I come in as a resource.
Also, send me a message on outschool Is this a good game for
my child, or how can I help mychild with this game, because
(08:14):
that's also a big one?
So yes, I completely agree withthe stranger danger.
We got to be vigilant,absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
And so I guess I didn't realize too that on
Minecraft you can't read that.
You said there's the text chat,but you can't actually speak to
each other.
So in class it's different,because you all are meeting in a
Zoom room so they can actuallycommunicate verbally with each
other while they're playing.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yes, Yep, and that's the difference.
Without school, we're in aprivate Zoom class where only
the students that are enrolledin the class are allowed to come
, only children are allowed tocome.
So it's a very safe space forkids and we never use, like the
voice chat on other games oranything like that.
We're all in this little, thislittle bubble, our own little
bubble right, and it's great.
It's a wonderful little bubble.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
What a fantastic way, though, to really like to let
our kids do something thatthey're passionate about with
people in a safe space, right,and obviously the the, the
skills that they are learninglet's talk a little bit more
about.
You gave some examples ofcommunication and confidence and
collaboration, but you've alsomentioned to me before that kids
in your classes learn like andgrow their storytelling skills,
(09:20):
things like that Like how doesthat work?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So the amazing thing about video games is it is a
story that you are writingactively.
You are, you are living out thestory as the main character.
So if you take we I love tocompare books, movies and and
video games, because they allhave the same medium of
storytelling but they all do itin a very different way.
Right, in a movie or in a, in amovie or a TV show, you're
(09:45):
watching the action unfold.
Right, you can see it veryvisually, you can hear it.
It's a very auditory and visualexperience.
With a book, it's very much animagination experience because
you're reading it and you haveto imagine what's happening,
whereas with video games it's alittle bit of both, because you
are building the story as you go, like I said with Minecraft,
but I'll give a better example.
(10:06):
I mean, minecraft is an openworld game, so story building is
a little different, but you cantell a story through
architecture.
In Minecraft, you can be like Iwant to build, you know Roman
architecture, I want to build acottage, you know.
But there's a game that I reallylove called Zelda.
If any of the moms out therelove Zelda or Pokemon, these are
both what are called RPGs,which are role-playing games,
and you start the world and it'slike hi, I am the hero, I am
(10:28):
Link, and you have to figure outhow to save the princess,
princess Zelda.
You don't have any information.
You got to go around and talkto people and while you're doing
this, people are giving youquests.
They're like, hey, I lost mychicken, Can you go get my
chicken for me?
And you go off and you go fightthe monster to get the chicken.
You bring the chicken back.
They're like great, I love thechicken.
Thank you very much, you know.
And so you're building thisstory as you go, because a lot
(10:51):
of people don't realize thedepth of character development
and plot development in thesestories.
A game like Zelda has severalcutscenes that tell you what has
happened in the past, that hasled to today and what is going
to happen in the future shouldyou fail.
And so the storytelling is inso many different layers and a
(11:11):
lot of games give you very mucha choose your own adventure.
Like I can choose never to savethe princess if I don't want to
.
I could just go be Link on thebeach and, just you know, hang
out there and save chickens allday if I want to.
But that's what's so cool isyou can develop these stories
and these worlds all in a game.
Like that is the coolest partabout it.
I just I love it so much.
(11:32):
I love storytelling in games.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And that's amazing.
Honestly, that's something I'dnever thought about when it
comes to video games, and italso you're describing a lot of
problem solving to yes, yes,critical thinking and problem
solving is so important in videogames.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Zelda is a great example.
You walk into a room and it'slike OK, you need to achieve X
wires, that you need to get akey.
Ok, it says the key is on thatside of the room and you have
these 15 obstacles to getthrough and all you have is a
stick Get through the obstacles.
And so you have to stop.
You're like OK, what are mysurroundings?
What other resources do I have?
Can I climb that?
I can't climb it.
(12:10):
Oh, but I can swim under it.
And so you're thinking on a lotof different levels.
Same with, like Pokemon.
A lot of people don't realizehow much math is in Pokemon and
strategy, because you see it andyou're like, oh, it's these
cute little, these littlecreatures which I love.
But when you go into a battle,it's like OK, how strong is my
Pokemon?
How much damage can I do to theother Pokemon?
And if I do this, am I going tosurvive this battle or is my
(12:34):
Pokemon going to be knocked out?
And so the critical thinking issuch an important part in any
kind of video game, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
And that was actually you led me right to my next
question.
Does do these?
Obviously every game is goingto be different and the skills
learned from these games is notgoing to be the same across the
board.
But I mean, are we just sayingin general, though, like pretty
much all video games do havegood qualities and things they
teach our kids, or there's somethat are just like you're not
going to learn anything fromthat?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Every single video game has something that is going
to teach your children.
One I will.
I will die on that hill because, again, a video game is just a
big puzzle.
It really.
Whatever the video game, youknow Minecraft, like I said it
is.
How are you going to survivethe night with Zelda?
It's.
How are you going to save theprincess with Pokemon?
It's.
How are you going to become thePokemon master?
You can even look at reallysilly games, like there's a game
(13:25):
called Untitled Goose Game.
All you are is a goose causingchaos.
That is the entire point of thegame, and on surface level,
you're like well, that's apointless game.
But when you start to play it,you realize you're like OK, my
goal is this goose is.
I need to get the farmers bootinto the mud.
But in order to get his bootinto the mud, he needs to not be
watching me, which means I needto go and make a distraction
(13:45):
over there, and then, while he'sdistracted, I'll get the boot
and I'll pull it in the mud andthen I'll win.
Right, I'll get the prize orwhatever it is.
And so, even silly games likethat, there is so much problem
solving involved.
It's really astonishing,honestly.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, it is.
I mean, you're kind of blowingmy mind in thinking about that
and thinking about some gamesthat my kids play that I have
viewed as honestly a waste oftime, right, a waste of mental
energy or whatever, but it'sreally that's not the case,
depending on how we want to lookat it.
So, oh my goodness, speaking ofmental energy, my next question
just flew out of my head.
(14:20):
It literally just flew out ofmy head.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
You're fine.
While you're thinking of it,I'll give you another really
good example of how games arereally helping our children with
their very, very tangibleeducation.
You know those core courseslike English and math and such.
So most games don't have anyaudio to them, it is all
subtitles.
And so you think about a gamelike Pokemon?
There are no voice actors, theonly.
There's nothing like at all,absolutely nothing.
(14:47):
And so as a character, you comein and it's all text and you
have to read the text and it'svery quickly becomes a life or
death kind of feeling, becauseyou have a Pokemon in a battle.
You have one move that'sThunder Shock and one move
that's Thunder Wave.
You know Thunder Shock is goingto kill the Pokemon and you
know Thunder Wave is not, youknow.
And so you kind of have to,like kids very quickly, learn
(15:08):
okay, that has an S and an SH,that's a sh, that's Thunder
Shock.
Or this one has a what that'swave?
Okay, I want Thunder Shock.
Because, I'll tell you this, asa child I played Pokemon when I
was like eight years old and,yeah, I could read by then, but
I wasn't great at it, you know.
But very quickly, when I wasplaying Pokemon, I got very good
at reading and then I put thoseinto real life practice.
Now, all of a sudden, I sawThunder Wave, saw that W, and
(15:31):
now when I'm reading a book andI see the W, I'm like, oh,
that's the same one, but in agame the stakes are higher,
right, it's like if I don't winI'm dead.
So that's a very tangible wayfor kids to get better at
reading is by playing videogames.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
And it's interesting because we know, as teachers in
any education field, we knowthat kids learn better if it's
something that they'reinterested in, and so having a
kid sit down and read a bookabout a subject that they're not
really interested in, versusreading something like you said,
and in a situation where it's alittle bit more high stakes,
it's a little bit more energeticand everything you can
definitely see the benefits.
So you reminded me of what Iwas going to ask you about and
(16:08):
this is another thing that we'vebeen talking about a lot in the
education world and theimportance of, or the value of,
gamification in classes and ineducation.
And, if you've not heard thisbefore, it's just the idea of
turning learning into some sortof game, because what kid
doesn't want to play a game,right?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And if we flip education right?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Exactly right, the way that we present the same
exact information.
It's all in the way it'spresented as to whether or not
the kid's going to absorb it,enjoy it, want to do more of it,
and so when you're tying thesethings into something that is
their favorite hobby anyways, itseems like this is a win-win.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Absolutely.
And so I also, before I wasteaching mostly social clubs, I
taught Spanish classes on outschool and I did Pokemon Spanish
classes and we would do thingslike you know, pikachu as a soul
instead of like the banana isyellow, we'd say Pikachu is
yellow.
It's the exact same thing, butkids see a picture of Pikachu
and they're like Pikachu isPikachu is a Mario, he's a Mario
(17:11):
mom.
This is the color.
The Pikachu, it's exciting,right.
Whereas if it's like a banana,they're like that's a banana,
whatever, right.
And so what a lot of people willdo too, as they are learning
languages, is they will puttheir favorite games into that
foreign language.
So a game like Zelda does havevoice acting, and I have a good
friend who speaks Japanese andshe loves having it in Japanese
(17:33):
so that when they're speakingtogether she can hear the
Japanese and everything likethat, and all the text is in
English, but the story part isin Japanese.
And so there really are likegamification is huge and we see
it even, like I said, as adultswhen we look at different things
.
We try and find fun ways to dochores right, or fun ways to do
this boring thing.
(17:53):
That's really all gamificationis yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
That's amazing.
Well, you've talked about likea lot of different qualities.
Did we miss anything, anythingelse?
I mean, honestly, you're reallychanging my mindset on video
games.
I knew my kids are going to beecstatic about that, but did we
miss any other benefits that youfeel like our kids are
absorbing and we maybe justaren't aware of?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I think the biggest one.
You know, and we've touched onthis, but I do want to reiterate
it because it's so important.
You know, I will tell you aswhen I was younger, I was the
only person in my family whoplayed video games.
Right, my parents were finewith it, like they let me play
and it wasn't a big deal, but Iwas alone in my video game love.
Okay, I was alone.
And so as I got older and Ifound people who like to play
video games, it was very hardfor me to be like open about how
(18:38):
much I love video games.
I would always temper it down alittle bit, right, not get too
excited about it, and I thinkwe've all felt that about
different things.
So it's like, yeah, oh yeah, Iknow a little bit about Pokemon,
not a lot, right, because I wasworried about how people would
judge me.
And so, as a child, I think itis just so important to foster
that because, like I said, theself confidence that someone
(18:58):
feels when it's like an,especially when adult validates
it you know, that's what a lotof my students parents have told
me is they're like having youvalidate this interest in my
child and giving them a rolemodel makes them feel like it's
okay to like it, which it is.
It is okay to like it, but itdoes need to be done in the
right way, like we've talkedabout safety from strangers,
building that community, all ofthose different things you do
(19:21):
have to be aware of as an adultwith children, but there's just
so much good that can come fromgames and my goal really is to
help people understand that thegames are not the enemy.
It's really not.
They are such an amazing tooland they're just great.
I love them.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And I just and I wanted to reiterate and add on
to what you just said abouthaving another adult outside of
your family really complimentand boost confidence in your kid
and something that they enjoy.
That is one of the huge thingsthat we see in our classes to
you know, we teach publicspeaking and debate, and all
they want and all they all ittakes really for them to walk
(19:56):
out of there with a hugedifference in their face is
feeling like they're listened toby, especially by another adult
, you know, and validated intheir thoughts, and so I was
just going to throw up just alittle tip two on the
communication side.
This is something that I need tokeep in mind more If you want
to foster communication skillsin your kids at home.
It involves asking questions,giving them opportunities to
(20:18):
answer questions, and if they'reall into Pokémon and you don't
know anything about it, like me,ask them to explain it to you,
because the more they do, thebetter they're going to get at
communicating and explaining it,the more you're going to
understand so you can actuallyhave conversations with them
about it.
But one of the hardest ways tocommunicate is to teach somebody
something they have no ideawhat it is about, and especially
(20:38):
when we're using names likePikachu.
So encouraging your children to, I mean ask them questions and
then sometimes you know, ifyou're not interested in it,
that's okay, but at leastpretend right, ask questions and
then listen to what they sayGive them a chance at it.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Like my daughter, you know she's a gamer, she's 10.
And all weekend she's like Mom,will you play Fortnite with me?
Mom, will you play Fortnitewith me?
I've never played Fortnite, I'mnot good at Fortnite.
So I was kind of like, allright, here we go, we're going
to play Fortnite.
And her attitude the entire daychanged.
So also, yeah, ask your kidsquestions, let them ask you
(21:14):
questions.
Sit down, if you can play withthem, like you said, elizabeth,
play Mario with them, play Zeldanot all games you can.
You know it's one player, butlet them teach you about their
passion and they just will lightup.
I was shocked because me and mydaughter play video games all
the time, but usually I pickedthe video game, but she was like
I really want to play Fortnite.
I was like, okay, here we go.
(21:34):
And we played for hourstogether, just me and her, just
me and her.
And then afterwards she wasjust on cloud nine because she
had gotten to share that with meand it changed her whole
attitude.
So, yes, absolutely Ask yourkids questions about Pokemon or
Zelda or Minecraft, and even ifyou don't understand it, it's
okay, it's all right.
Then sit down and say show mewhat you were talking about.
(21:54):
What's a creeper?
Oh, that creeper just explodedyour base, and then you get to
connect with your child on adifferent level also.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, I love it.
And, devin, it's clear you areso passionate about this and
such an amazing I know on apersonal level we've discussed
this too like how cool it isthat you have a career of
playing video games, right, likethat's like every kid's dream,
right To grow up and like liveoff of a livelihood of playing
video games.
Kids all over want to be able todo this and you've done it.
But it's very clear that it'syour passion, and not just the
(22:24):
games, obviously, but the kidsso absolutely Love that.
You're making a big differenceand thank you for shedding some
light into this world because,like I said, hopefully me myself
, if it's just me I havedefinitely learned a lot and
puts video games, like I said,in a different light.
So, and before we go though Iknow you said stranger danger is
(22:44):
real, right, being aware do youhave any other tips or things
that you recommend to parentsbefore just saying, oh yeah, you
can play that game, you canplay that, you can play whatever
, just buying consoles?
Do you have any other tips formaking sure we're doing it in a
way that is protecting andbenefiting our kids with the
things we've talked about?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
My first tip is when your child has a new game, have
them take the headphones off.
As parents, sometimes it's nicefor them to put the headphones
on and just let them play andhave some quiet in our house,
right.
But when it's a new game, takethe headphones off and listen to
what's happening, because somecommunities are naturally more
(23:23):
adults and they have more adultspeech, whereas other ones are
more child friendly and havemore children playing.
But that doesn't mean justbecause more children are
playing it's safe or that yourchild won't be hearing foul
language or be cyberbullied oranything like that.
So that's my first tip is haveyour kid oh, take the headphones
off at least the first coupleof times they play, so that you
(23:44):
can listen in.
My second tip is do a little bitof research, right.
Look into it, say you know, putin the game that you're curious
about and see what otherparents are saying about it.
But, more importantly, see whatother gamers are saying about
it and other gamers in thecommunity.
And it's real easy if you justGoogle it.
Write it as a great resourcefor gamers, right?
So that would be my second one.
(24:06):
Another one is a very popularapp for gamers to use is called
Discord, and it's amazingbecause you can connect with
people and talk to people, butit is a private space, and so if
your child is on Discord Ithink a lot of a lot of teens
are on Discord, because that'show you create, like the virtual
Zoom room that I'm talkingabout.
If you're not in a video gameclass, you can go and Discord
(24:28):
and create that.
So check out those communitieson your child's Discord.
Make sure that there's notanything happening there that is
unsafe.
Also.
Those are my main suggestions,though.
But just being aware, educateyourself a little bit, because
just because you don't knowabout video games, just because
you don't understand what'shappening in a video game, you
can understand what's happeningin a community as a parent, and
(24:50):
I think that's the biggest thingthat we can do.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Absolutely Well, fantastic advice.
And Devin again, tell everybody.
I know you've mentioned acouple of the games that you
offer throughout school, but youoffer lots of different video
games.
That pretty much any interest,right?
Tell us a little bit more aboutwhere we can find you if
anybody's interested in checkingout your classes.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Outschoolcom.
And then if you type in MsDevin, M-I-S-S-D-E-V-Y-N, you'll
find Ms Devin's Video GameUniverse.
That's our company and it's meand my group of teachers who are
all as passionate about gamesas I am.
They have all played gamestheir whole live, long lives,
just like I have.
And we have everything, Like weseriously have all of the games
.
And if we don't have it, let usknow and we will add it,
(25:33):
because I can almost guaranteeone of my teachers loves that
game and if not, I will findsomeone who does.
But yeah, outschool Ms Devin.
I'm not hard to find Devin witha Y.
That's the tricky part.
You got to get the Y in there.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Awesome.
Well, we will make sure we linkto that in the show notes right
below so you can certainly gocheck out Ms Devin and all the
classes that she has to offer.
Again, thank you for yourinsight, sharing your passion
with us.
This was a great conversationand I am sure you're going to
get some interest in what youhave to offer and hopefully some
parents like me change yourmindset a little bit about the
idea of video games.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Absolutely Thanks for having me.
It was awesome.
Welcome back to Speak Out Standout.
I'm Elizabeth Green and today'sguest is Ms Devin.
Ms Devin is a video gameteacher on out school.
You may be thinking what is avideo game teacher?
We're going to talk about that,but the more important thing
that we're here to talk abouttoday is how video games,
although they may get a bad rapsometimes, can actually have
some really strong benefits forour kids, especially when it
(00:22):
comes to what we're focused onhere, and that's building
communication skills andconfidence.
So, ms Devin, thanks for takingyour time to be here, and I
can't call you Ms Devin thewhole time.
I will now, but like now,you're just Devin.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
That's fine, you know we can keep it informal.
I'll call you Elizabeth.
I'm doing great.
You know, just I'm here with mydog we were just talking about
dogs before we came on and youknow, hanging out with Bowser,
that's my dog's name, so you cansee video games run deep
through my soul.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Bowser is one of the only super Mario Brothers right.
Obviously that's where that'sfrom, one of the only games that
I can beat, and my kids thinkit's really interesting because
I can't even make a player moveon their Xbox.
But I can take down Bowser anyday, any time, so I love it.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I love it.
That makes me so happy.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
So let's start, though, for people who are not
familiar, and in case you'venever heard of Out School.
Out School is an onlinemarketplace for classes for kids
, so you can take classes onthere for anything at all from
braiding hair to drawing dragons, to playing video games, to
English anything at all, right.
And so you have a really coolniche on Out School Devin, where
(01:29):
you play video games all day,right?
Tell us just a little bit aboutthat.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So it's interesting because it didn't start out as
playing video games.
I got my degree in English andcreative writing, and something
that I've always loved aboutvideo games is the storytelling
aspect, and so when I initiallystarted teaching on Out School,
I was actually doing a Zeldastorytelling class where we
would creatively write, you know, for five weeks and create our
own you know virtual video game,basically on paper, and then
(01:54):
that slowly evolved into.
My students were asking me likeI need help with this level, I
can't do this, how do I do this?
And I was like well, you know,I'll make a class and we'll see
if anyone comes and we'll playvideo games together.
And the response from parentshas been incredible, because
what a lot of parents don'trealize is that when your child
has a hobby and they don't haveanywhere to do that hobby, they
(02:15):
feel like it's not somethingthat they should be doing.
Right, we have things likevolleyball clubs, book clubs,
chess clubs, but schools don'thave after school video game
clubs, and so kids come to myclasses and they get to, you
know, log in virtually, and allof a sudden there's this
community of people who are aspassionate about it as they are,
and I've had so many parentstell me like my kid has better
(02:37):
you know communication.
Social anxiety is down.
Their personal stresses aredown because they feel like they
are accepted in this community.
So I'm really excited to talkabout how video games do that
Because, like you said, mostpeople don't think about video
games in that way.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Right, we often hear, you know, we think about video
games being a drain on the brainand, like you said, and not a
social avenue to go down.
Or we think about, well, nowpeople can play video games and
they can talk with peoplethrough the games and we think
strange or danger.
Right, like I think as a parent, video games usually, when that
(03:15):
comes to mind, it's thenegatives instead of the
positives.
But you're saying, for those ofus myself included have kids
who love to play video games,that we maybe need to change our
mindset about this.
And it's not just a way towaste time.
I like that you used a word.
It's a hobby, it's somethingthey're passionate about, and
what we really want to know ishow this can benefit them.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So, exactly, exactly Because that's so true, yeah, go
ahead.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
No, I was good.
So you said that you see kidsand parents come to you and say
that their kids have built theircommunication skills and
they're more self confident.
How is that happening?
Just by, you know, playingMario Kart.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So what's something that you love, Elizabeth?
Tell me something that you love, that you're passionate about,
a hobby, something you like todo gardening or writing or, I
don't know, painting yourfingernails something that you
really love to do.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
You know, honestly, I think that's the hardest
question to ask a mom, do we?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
have hobbies Not usually, but here's one.
You're a mom, right, so let'stalk about that.
As moms, I think a lot of uscan relate with that feeling of
feeling alone and isolated.
I'm doing this by myself.
Am I doing this right?
Is this the right?
What am I?
What you know, we feel thisisolated island.
I'm also a mom.
I have four daughters, so Iknow these feelings right Very
intimately and we naturally lookfor a mom group.
(04:30):
We look for other moms that arelike-minded, or other moms who
can help us with things whenwe're not sure, like, what to do
when our, our child keepswetting the bed, or maybe not
sure what to do when ourteenager talks back, and so we
find that community and in thatcommunity we find confidence,
because more often than not it'slike, hey, I'm actually doing a
pretty good job as a mom, right, I'm doing all right.
(04:50):
And so with games, it's verymuch the same.
One of the reasons that gameshave such a negative connotation
is because it's a, you know, aperson alone in the dark,
isolated.
It's the isolation that the bigproblem is right.
And so with classes like these,what's happening is the kids
come to class and now they havethat community.
They have that group of momsfor our metaphor here where
(05:12):
they're like oh, it's okay forme to know every single Pokemon,
it's okay for me to, like,understand this very specific
mechanic about this game.
But as they come to class, also, the beautiful thing about a
social club is, since theyaren't alone, they have to learn
how to develop thosecommunication skills.
So I'll give you an example ofmy Minecraft class.
We just started a new survivalworld and anyone who doesn't
(05:34):
know anything about Minecraft,here's your crash course to
survival.
You land in a world and don'tdie and you have to build a base
.
There's monsters coming, you'vegot to build tools, but you
literally have nothing right.
So you're progressing throughcivilization, through the Stone
Age, into the IndustrialRevolution, all that kind of
stuff.
And so I have this group ofseven students and they all come
(05:55):
and they're like let's go.
And I'm like, all right, let'sgo.
How are we going to survive?
The monsters are coming tonightand they're like, oh, I don't
know, how are we going tosurvive?
And so I'm like, well, whowants to make a house?
And then someone says, oh, Iwant to make a house.
And I said, okay, well, ifstudent one is going to make a
house.
Who's going to bring wood tostudent one so that he can make
the house.
Student who's like oh, I'llmake a house.
And then student three is likeman, these tools are awful, we
(06:15):
need better tools.
I'm going to go to the minesand get a better tool for us.
I'm like awesome, you go to themines, get a better tool.
Then I have a student who'slike I'm not afraid of monsters,
I'll be the guard.
And so they have to communicate, because if they don't, what's
going to happen?
As a monster is going to come,we're all going to die.
That will be like Well, thatwas really sad.
Now we got to start over right,and so those communication
(06:36):
skills are so crucial in so manygames like that.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Communication and collaboration.
It seems like Like it's notjust you playing this game on
your own, You're the only personimpacted by it.
That is a really cool thingabout video games today and,
like I said earlier, obviouslywe think stranger danger or kids
can talk to people we don'tknow on there, and that's
obviously a concern andsomething we need to be aware of
as parents.
But one of the beautiful thingsabout if it's done safely, like
(07:03):
in a controlled environmentlike a class like yours, they
can connect with other kidsaround the world right.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, and they love it.
And yeah, you're absolutelyright.
You really have to be aware ofthat stranger danger, because it
is real, right, there's noquestion about it, and there are
some games that are morefriendly than others.
Right, and so, as a parent, oneof my recommendations to
parents is just do a little bitof homework.
Does the game your child isplaying have live chat?
Is it text chat?
A lot of games you can turnthat off.
(07:31):
A lot of games.
This is why I love the switch.
Most games on the switch don'teven have a voice chat option.
There's no way to talk withother people, and so I'm happy
letting my daughter play on it.
But as parents, it's a reallyeasy thing to just quickly go
online and Google, like, can mychild voice chat on Minecraft?
And you can't.
You can't voice chat onMinecraft.
There's, you know, chat, textchat.
But then if you go on and it'slike, okay, can my child voice
(07:53):
chat on Fortnite?
Yes, they can, but you can alsoturn it off.
And so there's that strangerdanger is avoidable, and it's
our job as parents to at leastbe a little bit educated about
it.
And if you don't know where tostart as a parent, that's where
I come in as a resource.
Also, send me a message on outschool Is this a good game for
my child, or how can I help mychild with this game, because
(08:14):
that's also a big one?
So yes, I completely agree withthe stranger danger.
We got to be vigilant,absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
And so I guess I didn't realize too that on
Minecraft you can't read that.
You said there's the text chat,but you can't actually speak to
each other.
So in class it's different,because you all are meeting in a
Zoom room so they can actuallycommunicate verbally with each
other while they're playing.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yes, Yep, and that's the difference.
Without school, we're in aprivate Zoom class where only
the students that are enrolledin the class are allowed to come
, only children are allowed tocome.
So it's a very safe space forkids and we never use, like the
voice chat on other games oranything like that.
We're all in this little, thislittle bubble, our own little
bubble right, and it's great.
It's a wonderful little bubble.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
What a fantastic way, though, to really like to let
our kids do something thatthey're passionate about with
people in a safe space, right,and obviously the the, the
skills that they are learninglet's talk a little bit more
about.
You gave some examples ofcommunication and confidence and
collaboration, but you've alsomentioned to me before that kids
in your classes learn like andgrow their storytelling skills,
(09:20):
things like that Like how doesthat work?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
So the amazing thing about video games is it is a
story that you are writingactively.
You are, you are living out thestory as the main character.
So if you take we I love tocompare books, movies and and
video games, because they allhave the same medium of
storytelling but they all do itin a very different way.
Right, in a movie or in a, in amovie or a TV show, you're
(09:45):
watching the action unfold.
Right, you can see it veryvisually, you can hear it.
It's a very auditory and visualexperience.
With a book, it's very much animagination experience because
you're reading it and you haveto imagine what's happening,
whereas with video games it's alittle bit of both, because you
are building the story as you go, like I said with Minecraft,
but I'll give a better example.
(10:06):
I mean, minecraft is an openworld game, so story building is
a little different, but you cantell a story through
architecture.
In Minecraft, you can be like Iwant to build, you know Roman
architecture, I want to build acottage, you know.
But there's a game that I reallylove called Zelda.
If any of the moms out therelove Zelda or Pokemon, these are
both what are called RPGs,which are role-playing games,
and you start the world and it'slike hi, I am the hero, I am
(10:28):
Link, and you have to figure outhow to save the princess,
princess Zelda.
You don't have any information.
You got to go around and talkto people and while you're doing
this, people are giving youquests.
They're like, hey, I lost mychicken, Can you go get my
chicken for me?
And you go off and you go fightthe monster to get the chicken.
You bring the chicken back.
They're like great, I love thechicken.
Thank you very much, you know.
And so you're building thisstory as you go, because a lot
(10:51):
of people don't realize thedepth of character development
and plot development in thesestories.
A game like Zelda has severalcutscenes that tell you what has
happened in the past, that hasled to today and what is going
to happen in the future shouldyou fail.
And so the storytelling is inso many different layers and a
(11:11):
lot of games give you very mucha choose your own adventure.
Like I can choose never to savethe princess if I don't want to
.
I could just go be Link on thebeach and, just you know, hang
out there and save chickens allday if I want to.
But that's what's so cool isyou can develop these stories
and these worlds all in a game.
Like that is the coolest partabout it.
I just I love it so much.
(11:32):
I love storytelling in games.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
And that's amazing.
Honestly, that's something I'dnever thought about when it
comes to video games, and italso you're describing a lot of
problem solving to yes, yes,critical thinking and problem
solving is so important in videogames.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Zelda is a great example.
You walk into a room and it'slike OK, you need to achieve X
wires, that you need to get akey.
Ok, it says the key is on thatside of the room and you have
these 15 obstacles to getthrough and all you have is a
stick Get through the obstacles.
And so you have to stop.
You're like OK, what are mysurroundings?
What other resources do I have?
Can I climb that?
I can't climb it.
(12:10):
Oh, but I can swim under it.
And so you're thinking on a lotof different levels.
Same with, like Pokemon.
A lot of people don't realizehow much math is in Pokemon and
strategy, because you see it andyou're like, oh, it's these
cute little, these littlecreatures which I love.
But when you go into a battle,it's like OK, how strong is my
Pokemon?
How much damage can I do to theother Pokemon?
And if I do this, am I going tosurvive this battle or is my
(12:34):
Pokemon going to be knocked out?
And so the critical thinking issuch an important part in any
kind of video game, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
And that was actually you led me right to my next
question.
Does do these?
Obviously every game is goingto be different and the skills
learned from these games is notgoing to be the same across the
board.
But I mean, are we just sayingin general, though, like pretty
much all video games do havegood qualities and things they
teach our kids, or there's somethat are just like you're not
going to learn anything fromthat?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Every single video game has something that is going
to teach your children.
One I will.
I will die on that hill because, again, a video game is just a
big puzzle.
It really.
Whatever the video game, youknow Minecraft, like I said it
is.
How are you going to survivethe night with Zelda?
It's.
How are you going to save theprincess with Pokemon?
It's.
How are you going to become thePokemon master?
You can even look at reallysilly games, like there's a game
(13:25):
called Untitled Goose Game.
All you are is a goose causingchaos.
That is the entire point of thegame, and on surface level,
you're like well, that's apointless game.
But when you start to play it,you realize you're like OK, my
goal is this goose is.
I need to get the farmers bootinto the mud.
But in order to get his bootinto the mud, he needs to not be
watching me, which means I needto go and make a distraction
(13:45):
over there, and then, while he'sdistracted, I'll get the boot
and I'll pull it in the mud andthen I'll win.
Right, I'll get the prize orwhatever it is.
And so, even silly games likethat, there is so much problem
solving involved.
It's really astonishing,honestly.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, it is.
I mean, you're kind of blowingmy mind in thinking about that
and thinking about some gamesthat my kids play that I have
viewed as honestly a waste oftime, right, a waste of mental
energy or whatever, but it'sreally that's not the case,
depending on how we want to lookat it.
So, oh my goodness, speaking ofmental energy, my next question
just flew out of my head.
(14:20):
It literally just flew out ofmy head.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
You're fine.
While you're thinking of it,I'll give you another really
good example of how games arereally helping our children with
their very, very tangibleeducation.
You know those core courseslike English and math and such.
So most games don't have anyaudio to them, it is all
subtitles.
And so you think about a gamelike Pokemon?
There are no voice actors, theonly.
There's nothing like at all,absolutely nothing.
(14:47):
And so as a character, you comein and it's all text and you
have to read the text and it'svery quickly becomes a life or
death kind of feeling, becauseyou have a Pokemon in a battle.
You have one move that'sThunder Shock and one move
that's Thunder Wave.
You know Thunder Shock is goingto kill the Pokemon and you
know Thunder Wave is not, youknow.
And so you kind of have to,like kids very quickly, learn
(15:08):
okay, that has an S and an SH,that's a sh, that's Thunder
Shock.
Or this one has a what that'swave?
Okay, I want Thunder Shock.
Because, I'll tell you this, asa child I played Pokemon when I
was like eight years old and,yeah, I could read by then, but
I wasn't great at it, you know.
But very quickly, when I wasplaying Pokemon, I got very good
at reading and then I put thoseinto real life practice.
Now, all of a sudden, I sawThunder Wave, saw that W, and
(15:31):
now when I'm reading a book andI see the W, I'm like, oh,
that's the same one, but in agame the stakes are higher,
right, it's like if I don't winI'm dead.
So that's a very tangible wayfor kids to get better at
reading is by playing videogames.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
And it's interesting because we know, as teachers in
any education field, we knowthat kids learn better if it's
something that they'reinterested in, and so having a
kid sit down and read a bookabout a subject that they're not
really interested in, versusreading something like you said,
and in a situation where it's alittle bit more high stakes,
it's a little bit more energeticand everything you can
definitely see the benefits.
So you reminded me of what Iwas going to ask you about and
(16:08):
this is another thing that we'vebeen talking about a lot in the
education world and theimportance of, or the value of,
gamification in classes and ineducation.
And, if you've not heard thisbefore, it's just the idea of
turning learning into some sortof game, because what kid
doesn't want to play a game,right?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And if we flip education right?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Exactly right, the way that we present the same
exact information.
It's all in the way it'spresented as to whether or not
the kid's going to absorb it,enjoy it, want to do more of it,
and so when you're tying thesethings into something that is
their favorite hobby anyways, itseems like this is a win-win.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Absolutely.
And so I also, before I wasteaching mostly social clubs, I
taught Spanish classes on outschool and I did Pokemon Spanish
classes and we would do thingslike you know, pikachu as a soul
instead of like the banana isyellow, we'd say Pikachu is
yellow.
It's the exact same thing, butkids see a picture of Pikachu
and they're like Pikachu isPikachu is a Mario, he's a Mario
(17:11):
mom.
This is the color.
The Pikachu, it's exciting,right.
Whereas if it's like a banana,they're like that's a banana,
whatever, right.
And so what a lot of people willdo too, as they are learning
languages, is they will puttheir favorite games into that
foreign language.
So a game like Zelda does havevoice acting, and I have a good
friend who speaks Japanese andshe loves having it in Japanese
(17:33):
so that when they're speakingtogether she can hear the
Japanese and everything likethat, and all the text is in
English, but the story part isin Japanese.
And so there really are likegamification is huge and we see
it even, like I said, as adultswhen we look at different things
.
We try and find fun ways to dochores right, or fun ways to do
this boring thing.
(17:53):
That's really all gamificationis yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
That's amazing.
Well, you've talked about likea lot of different qualities.
Did we miss anything, anythingelse?
I mean, honestly, you're reallychanging my mindset on video
games.
I knew my kids are going to beecstatic about that, but did we
miss any other benefits that youfeel like our kids are
absorbing and we maybe justaren't aware of?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
I think the biggest one.
You know, and we've touched onthis, but I do want to reiterate
it because it's so important.
You know, I will tell you aswhen I was younger, I was the
only person in my family whoplayed video games.
Right, my parents were finewith it, like they let me play
and it wasn't a big deal, but Iwas alone in my video game love.
Okay, I was alone.
And so as I got older and Ifound people who like to play
video games, it was very hardfor me to be like open about how
(18:38):
much I love video games.
I would always temper it down alittle bit, right, not get too
excited about it, and I thinkwe've all felt that about
different things.
So it's like, yeah, oh yeah, Iknow a little bit about Pokemon,
not a lot, right, because I wasworried about how people would
judge me.
And so, as a child, I think itis just so important to foster
that because, like I said, theself confidence that someone
(18:58):
feels when it's like an,especially when adult validates
it you know, that's what a lotof my students parents have told
me is they're like having youvalidate this interest in my
child and giving them a rolemodel makes them feel like it's
okay to like it, which it is.
It is okay to like it, but itdoes need to be done in the
right way, like we've talkedabout safety from strangers,
building that community, all ofthose different things you do
(19:21):
have to be aware of as an adultwith children, but there's just
so much good that can come fromgames and my goal really is to
help people understand that thegames are not the enemy.
It's really not.
They are such an amazing tooland they're just great.
I love them.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
And I just and I wanted to reiterate and add on
to what you just said abouthaving another adult outside of
your family really complimentand boost confidence in your kid
and something that they enjoy.
That is one of the huge thingsthat we see in our classes to
you know, we teach publicspeaking and debate, and all
they want and all they all ittakes really for them to walk
(19:56):
out of there with a hugedifference in their face is
feeling like they're listened toby, especially by another adult
, you know, and validated intheir thoughts, and so I was
just going to throw up just alittle tip two on the
communication side.
This is something that I need tokeep in mind more If you want
to foster communication skillsin your kids at home.
It involves asking questions,giving them opportunities to
(20:18):
answer questions, and if they'reall into Pokémon and you don't
know anything about it, like me,ask them to explain it to you,
because the more they do, thebetter they're going to get at
communicating and explaining it,the more you're going to
understand so you can actuallyhave conversations with them
about it.
But one of the hardest ways tocommunicate is to teach somebody
something they have no ideawhat it is about, and especially
(20:38):
when we're using names likePikachu.
So encouraging your children to, I mean ask them questions and
then sometimes you know, ifyou're not interested in it,
that's okay, but at leastpretend right, ask questions and
then listen to what they sayGive them a chance at it.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Like my daughter, you know she's a gamer, she's 10.
And all weekend she's like Mom,will you play Fortnite with me?
Mom, will you play Fortnitewith me?
I've never played Fortnite, I'mnot good at Fortnite.
So I was kind of like, allright, here we go, we're going
to play Fortnite.
And her attitude the entire daychanged.
So also, yeah, ask your kidsquestions, let them ask you
(21:14):
questions.
Sit down, if you can play withthem, like you said, elizabeth,
play Mario with them, play Zeldanot all games you can.
You know it's one player, butlet them teach you about their
passion and they just will lightup.
I was shocked because me and mydaughter play video games all
the time, but usually I pickedthe video game, but she was like
I really want to play Fortnite.
I was like, okay, here we go.
(21:34):
And we played for hourstogether, just me and her, just
me and her.
And then afterwards she wasjust on cloud nine because she
had gotten to share that with meand it changed her whole
attitude.
So, yes, absolutely Ask yourkids questions about Pokemon or
Zelda or Minecraft, and even ifyou don't understand it, it's
okay, it's all right.
Then sit down and say show mewhat you were talking about.
(21:54):
What's a creeper?
Oh, that creeper just explodedyour base, and then you get to
connect with your child on adifferent level also.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, I love it.
And, devin, it's clear you areso passionate about this and
such an amazing I know on apersonal level we've discussed
this too like how cool it isthat you have a career of
playing video games, right, likethat's like every kid's dream,
right To grow up and like liveoff of a livelihood of playing
video games.
Kids all over want to be able todo this and you've done it.
But it's very clear that it'syour passion, and not just the
(22:24):
games, obviously, but the kidsso absolutely Love that.
You're making a big differenceand thank you for shedding some
light into this world because,like I said, hopefully me myself
, if it's just me I havedefinitely learned a lot and
puts video games, like I said,in a different light.
So, and before we go though Iknow you said stranger danger is
(22:44):
real, right, being aware do youhave any other tips or things
that you recommend to parentsbefore just saying, oh yeah, you
can play that game, you canplay that, you can play whatever
, just buying consoles?
Do you have any other tips formaking sure we're doing it in a
way that is protecting andbenefiting our kids with the
things we've talked about?
Speaker 2 (23:02):
My first tip is when your child has a new game, have
them take the headphones off.
As parents, sometimes it's nicefor them to put the headphones
on and just let them play andhave some quiet in our house,
right.
But when it's a new game, takethe headphones off and listen to
what's happening, because somecommunities are naturally more
(23:23):
adults and they have more adultspeech, whereas other ones are
more child friendly and havemore children playing.
But that doesn't mean justbecause more children are
playing it's safe or that yourchild won't be hearing foul
language or be cyberbullied oranything like that.
So that's my first tip is haveyour kid oh, take the headphones
off at least the first coupleof times they play, so that you
(23:44):
can listen in.
My second tip is do a little bitof research, right.
Look into it, say you know, putin the game that you're curious
about and see what otherparents are saying about it.
But, more importantly, see whatother gamers are saying about
it and other gamers in thecommunity.
And it's real easy if you justGoogle it.
Write it as a great resourcefor gamers, right?
So that would be my second one.
(24:06):
Another one is a very popularapp for gamers to use is called
Discord, and it's amazingbecause you can connect with
people and talk to people, butit is a private space, and so if
your child is on Discord Ithink a lot of a lot of teens
are on Discord, because that'show you create, like the virtual
Zoom room that I'm talkingabout.
If you're not in a video gameclass, you can go and Discord
(24:28):
and create that.
So check out those communitieson your child's Discord.
Make sure that there's notanything happening there that is
unsafe.
Also.
Those are my main suggestions,though.
But just being aware, educateyourself a little bit, because
just because you don't knowabout video games, just because
you don't understand what'shappening in a video game, you
can understand what's happeningin a community as a parent, and
(24:50):
I think that's the biggest thingthat we can do.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Absolutely Well, fantastic advice.
And Devin again, tell everybody.
I know you've mentioned acouple of the games that you
offer throughout school, but youoffer lots of different video
games.
That pretty much any interest,right?
Tell us a little bit more aboutwhere we can find you if
anybody's interested in checkingout your classes.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Outschoolcom.
And then if you type in MsDevin, M-I-S-S-D-E-V-Y-N, you'll
find Ms Devin's Video GameUniverse.
That's our company and it's meand my group of teachers who are
all as passionate about gamesas I am.
They have all played gamestheir whole live, long lives,
just like I have.
And we have everything, Like weseriously have all of the games
.
And if we don't have it, let usknow and we will add it,
(25:33):
because I can almost guaranteeone of my teachers loves that
game and if not, I will findsomeone who does.
But yeah, outschool Ms Devin.
I'm not hard to find Devin witha Y.
That's the tricky part.
You got to get the Y in there.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Awesome.
Well, we will make sure we linkto that in the show notes right
below so you can certainly gocheck out Ms Devin and all the
classes that she has to offer.
Again, thank you for yourinsight, sharing your passion
with us.
This was a great conversationand I am sure you're going to
get some interest in what youhave to offer and hopefully some
parents like me change yourmindset a little bit about the
idea of video games.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Absolutely Thanks for having me.
It was awesome.
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