I was delighted to read about Lorelei Livingston’s Sawtooth Elementary third grade class project to raise money with a “readathon” to buy a Wii game and accessories for the Grand Marais Senior Center. You can read about their success in the Brighter Side
column on page A11. I think it’s fantastic that the folks at the Senior Center will have the chance to try the Wii. I think they will really like it.
I’m sure there are some senior center visitors who are skeptical. I understand. I was too. I’m not a huge video game fan. I didn’t understand how people could get so involved in something that is not real.
But then my daughter-inlaw, Sara, got the Wii for her house and insisted that we try it. It only took about a half hour of watching before I decided I wanted to try the assorted games—boxing, bowling, balancing on a tightrope, bopping a soccer ball—it all looks hilarious when someone else is doing it. It also looks easy.
It isn’t, but you have so much fun trying, you don’t care. You also forget how silly you look to other people, dancing around with the little white controller in your hand, leaning left or right on the balance board.
I enjoyed the Wii so much I asked for one for my birthday. Chuck got me one and I enjoyed learning how to use it. Especially fun was creating my own “Mii”—the digital character that is me when I play the Wii. Players are able to select the color and size of the character’s eyes and mouth, length of hair and its color, and a facial shape. Wii also lets you add eyeglasses or hats or mustaches for male Miis. I created a whole village of Miis representing my family. When I am “running” or “biking” around the Wii island, my family is with me—in digital form. Theyrun along with me or stand on the sidelines, cheering.
One of my favorite Wii challenges is hula-hooping. In the Wii, you not only hula-hoop with one ring, you have to catch more rings and keep going—up to four or five rings at a time. Other Miis throw the rings to you—frequently Miis that look like my family members, so that adds to the fun.
However, at Christmas time I learned that Wii hula-hooping and real-world hula-hooping are not the same. Because I was such a pro at Wii hula-hooping, I told my family I wanted a hulahoop to try the real thing. And I got one.
I never mastered hula-hooping when I was a kid. I know part of the problem was that I was embarrassed. I never had my own hula-hoop so I could practice without someone watching. So I never persisted until I got it. The Wii gave me the confidence to give it a try.
At first I was horribly disappointed with the real-world hula-hoop. It seemed very heavy. I couldn’t get it to circle more than once before it dropped to the floor. My childhood frustration returned and I was ready to give up again. Then someone said it takes less motion to make a real hula-hoop spin than the pretend hula-hoop on the Wii.
Sure enough, after trying and trying and trying, using different hip motions and rotations— I did it! I can now spin the hula-hoop for a minute or two at a time.
However, unlike hula-hooping on the Wii, I’ll stick with just one ring. That’s enough for the real me in the real world.
Wham-O has always felt that
when the world is in kind of
a messy way and people are
unhappy, something like the
hoop lets them just forget everything
while they go crazy for a
minute or two spinning around.
Barry Shapiro,
executive vice president of
Wham-O Mfg. Co.
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