The Family that Rocks Together Stays Together

Music-making video games provide a stress-reducing outlet that can band together the whole family

By Anna Sachse
CTW Features

Apparently the legendary rock group AC/DC was right: Rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution; rock and roll ain't gonna die.

In fact, rock 'n' roll is doing better than ever, thanks to games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, which allow the average Dick or Jane to wail on an instrument as if they were a member of Jane's Addiction. With hundreds of millions of dollars in sales, clearly the opportunity to be a living-room-American-Idol is striking a chord with people.

"Rock Band resonates with people because making music is an incredibly joyful experience," says Matt Kelly, a Producer with Harmonix, the development company behind Rock Band (and the original developers of Guitar Hero, before it was purchased by Activision). "The mission statement of our company is to bring the joy of making music to non-musicians."

Rock Band, for example, which can be played on the Xbox 360, PlayStation and the Wii, allows one to four players to create a virtual band, using a guitar peripheral (the game pieces you hold) for lead guitar and bass guitar game play, a drum peripheral and a microphone for vocals. Players use these peripherals to simulate actual rock music by hitting scrolling notes on-screen. In Rock Band's primary multiplayer mode, "Band World Tour," two to four players start by choosing a band name, hometown and their own rock musician characters. After set-up is complete, the band plays concerts in small venues in their hometown until hitting enough right notes unlocks vans, tour buses and private jets which take them to new gigs all over the world. Each successful performance unlocks additional songs.

Kelly believes that a large part of Rock Band's success has to do with the fact that it's so accessible. Modern video games have a tendency to be quite intimidating to people who don't regularly play them, he says - "How does this controller work? Why are all these aliens trying to kill me?!? Oh, I'm dead. Again."

Or the games are inherently competitive, such as with sports games like Madden NFL, or they promote single-player combat, such as in Grand Theft Auto or Halo, which aren't very family friendly.

"But Rock Band, at its heart, is a totally cooperative experience," Kelly says. "'You pick the next song. Oh, you've never played? Just start on Easy or No Fail mode. You take drums and I'll sing.' It fosters this supportive environment where friends and family can just relax and have fun together."

"When you're playing one of these games, you're not a mom, a dad, an accountant, a teenager, or a fifth grader - you're a rock star," agrees Stephanie Pratola, Ph.D.,P.C., a licensed clinical psychologist and registered play therapist-supervisor in Salem, Va. "Even just playing at it can have the same exhilarating effect as playing for a crowd of 10,000, no matter how old you are."

Parents who play the game with their children have an opportunity to bond over a fun, imaginative experience, as well as help introduce young children to a variety of important life lessons, such as how to pay attention, cooperate, work in unison, resolve conflict, lead effectively and how to appropriately follow instructions - without making it seem like work, Pratola says.

But of even more benefit may be the way in which these games can get teenagers engaged in family time.

Pratola points out that it's difficult for many of the teenagers who visit her office to admit that they feel connected to anyone or anything, but they love bringing in their iPods or showing her the music they've selected for their MySpace page. Sharing their music helps them to express a bit of who they are and how they currently feel without having to say it. "These games effectively level the playing field, allowing adolescents to participate in a shared emotional experience without feeling put on the spot," Pratola says. "They get to watch their parents being silly and vulnerable, and appreciating something that they themselves care about - both video games and music."

Even something as simple as song selection can help families learn a bit about each other. Rock Band 2 has a huge set list (84 songs on the disc, and hundreds more available for download) that spans the decades.

"We've heard lots of stories of parents introducing their kids to bands like The Rolling Stones, and kids introducing their parents to bands like Weezer, through Rock Band," Kelly says. "It's great to see songs and artists jumping the generational divide between parents and children."

Who knew you'd ever be thanking Black Sabbath for bringing your family closer together?

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