I can't count the number of times I've heard people talk about getting bested at a videogame by a kid. These stories typically involve people in their thirties (or much older) playing games with their sons/daughters (or nieces/nephews or younger sisters/brothers or younger cousins or friends' sons/daughters, etc.) and getting totally dominated, which then leads them to write on their blogs or talk to their friends about how they can't believe how good this kid is at playing videogames. We've all heard some version of this, or perhaps experienced it firsthand.

Whenever I hear these stories I think to myself, "Of course this kid is good at games, what else does he/she have to do?" or "Just because you suck at videogames doesn't mean this kid is some prodigy that you need to tell the world about." Maybe it's my own competiveness. Maybe I'm too jaded to be impressed by it. But for whatever reason, the phenomenon of older people expressing utter disbelief at the videogame prowess of kids has always left me a little cold. What's so remarkable and awe inspiring about a kid who's good at videogames? Big deal.

I've been thinking about this ever since my 16-year-old brother moved in a few days ago. (It's a long story, but basically he got suspended from his hyper-religious school and will be staying with me for a while.) Videogames aren't allowed at his school, so he hasn't played much lately. I, on the other hand, have been playing games regularly over the past several years. Clearly, I had the advantage. So imagine my surprise when we started playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and he repeatedly clobbered me in match after match. Granted, he played the previous Smash Bros. games when he was younger, but not any time recently.