How many of you have a son who you feel spends way to much time playing video games. Or how many of you spend way to much time playing video games. So my son, Dylan, probably does spend too much time playing video games, but he has also adapted that into a side career. Dylan will soon be a host on the new Game Out Loud Podcast show and website. Dylan, my 30 year old son who we adopted at age “7 months” from Korea.

Host of Game Out Loud – Dylan Smith

I think we all realize how significant the influence that the video gaming industry has on our world. I think about the overall influence that gaming has on my IT world today and I reflect on what gaming was to me while growing up.

From a CIO’s perspective at a significantly geek cultured STEM university, I know that gaming is not only the primary means of relaxation for our students but also for many of my staff. Our university’s network has been brought to its knees due to unhappy gamers seeking revenge on some of our students. Technology associated with gaming was a major influence at the recent CES that I attended. I’m sure it won’t be long before my university offers scholarships for top student gamers. And like everything else related to technology this is moving at warp speed. An industry generating more then $60 billion in less then 20 years.

Cadaco’s All Star Baseball

In listening to the Game Out Loud Podcast I was impressed by the audio performances by the show hosts. Over the last few years they have typically produced a weekly podcast talking about everything a gamer would want to know about and they are pretty good at it. I tried to imagine what I might have equated this to when I was growing up. So I reminisce to a time before video gaming and digital communication. Would I have listened to a podcast that gave me insights into the culture of board games? The only game that I could truly say that I invested way to much time on was “All Star Baseball”. Yep, it would have been cool to compare lineups and strategies for how teams were put together via a podcast.

Wow, what a great time to live. I’m not going any deeper with this post. Good luck Dylan, enjoy this time. Someday you’ll get to reminisce about it as well.