Alias actor speaks up for games

By Robert Purchese Published 27 March, 2008

Reckons they can be educational.

Alias actor Carl Lumbly believes games are far more beneficial to children than many give them credit for.

Speaking exclusively to Eurogamer, he said use of imagination no matter what the medium was something to be cherished, and that reaching out to children through a familiar medium could help overcome learning barriers. Like the seven times-table.

"Anything we can use to reach kids is very important," said Lumbly. "It seems like it makes more sense to reach them in ways with which they're already familiar. I also think if they already have the skill-set for something then it is much easier to lead them to things to education; the more exciting the better."

Lumbly believes violence will have an influence both children and adults no matter what the medium. For him, cable television is as much, if not more influential than any game he has played with his son.

"Violence is violence," he explained. "There are many factors that contribute to how much influence they can have on any person, let alone on a child. They make up their own minds."

"Across the board I would rather see a stricter guidelines put on some of the sex and violence that we see on cable television and even in cartoons - at certain ages up to about five and six I just don't know if some of it does more harm than any game I've experienced with my son."

Carl Lumbly plays Brother Marcion in imminent Command & Conquer expansion Kane's Wrath. He takes acting in videogames even more seriously than starring in television shows, usually because there is less source material to base a character on so he has to work a bit harder.

He also believes we may have already seen a shift in games overtaking television and films for cultural importance.

"I would assume in some ways they probably already have. I don't know how many kids were at home sulking during our recent Writer's [Guild of America] strike," said Lumbly. "The gaming community seemed to move on just fine."

Look out for more from Carl Lumbly and Joe Kucan (the actor who plays Kane) soon.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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