You may be right, Euan, but the opposite might also be the case. The complexities of human behaviour in the real world are probably not mirrored in games like the Sims. A generation expecting other humans to react and behave in similar ways to the characters in their games may be disappointed by the reality. Time will tell.

Nonsense. She's 11 Martin. At that age I had absolutely no comprehension of the sorts of relationships she is learning to understand.

I can relate to that point. Playing ping pong on a black and white telly was as sophisticated as video games got when I was that age. Maybe an entire generation raised on today's more sophisticated games will have a common framework from which to negotiate relationships - it just needs old timers like me to get out of the way :-)

Or even better - have to conversations we would always have had with them but just in a different context.

Reminds me of the "digital natives will change organizations for the better" debate - and I am critical here as well, if only because I don't believe in easy and natural fixes.

Probably the best we can hope for is more aware and self-confident people who have acquired a wide array of capabilities and skills during their formative years - and who are thus both more inclined and able to quit working for "old style" managers. Saying that, this might have very welcome "change the manager" effects ...

I am reminded of an interesting moment I had a couple of years back.

I walked into my brother's house (he lives about a half hour's drive from me), and found my 10 year-old nephew Adam playing a video game with four of his friends.

They were all clumped together, with a couple of them having their arms around each others shoulders, commenting to each other with the odd exclamation every 10 or 20 seconds. Interesting game (Pendel) .. collaboratively drawing shapes and then animating them, making the shapes "come alive" .. and then everybody laughing loudly, enjoying themselves to the full. I asked my nephew who won and how .. and he told me "Nobody .. that's not the point .. we're just having fun seeing what goofy things we can do together .. we're slammin' our creativity together to see what happens. Winning doesn't matter".

A half-hour later he had to go change clothes to go play a semi-finals games in the local 12-and-under football league.

He'll get plenty of competition orientation and practice in the society in which he grows up. If he can also get into as much collaboration, co-creation and cooperation as possible, so much the better,

Now it's 4 years on. I must say, I really like the kind of human being I see emerging in front of my uncle eyes.

Great point Jon. It's not as if the kids playing computer getting games aren't getting all of the formative experiences we did. They are. It is not "either or" but "both and" and I reckon the kids are alright!

Euan, I guess we're sharing the same hopes and expectations - and I should have known that you - like me - don't believe in easy fixes. Thought you were singing the virtues of youth - misinterpretation for sure. Hence the first paragraph ...

Being the father of an eleven year old too - and like you I am not too convinced about the schooling system (I do remember your video with Elmine et reboot) - so I wonder what those schools do to make our kids self-confident and able to navigate these wild seas. When I'm feeling down I fear that most kids will be rendered into "drones" by the system (tm) - when I am up, I feel much like you or Jon, betting on a fine mix of competitive formation and "collaboration, co-creation and cooperation" that enables them.