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At first glance, the Ognitas seem like a typical Filipino family – the parents make a living by operating a school bus service, with several farming and business ventures on the side. But their home is anything but ordinary as it has six networked computers for playing Supreme Destiny, a popular fantasy MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game).

“Our house is like a computer shop, with all the gaming computers and the loud cheering every time we play online games,” says Dennis Ognita.

While most kids choose to hangout with friends and would roll their eyes at the thought of bonding with their parents, Dennis and Monique Ognita proudly say that they are closer to their children.

“It all began in 2006,” says Dennis. “I started playing Supreme Destiny at home, then my wife and kids – Dominick (16), Denmark (14), Dennis (13), Dave (12), Marian Claire (10) and Daniel Dean (3)
eventually got interested and started playing it as well.”

“It’s our way of bonding as a family. Other parents may not be as supportive of their children’s interests – all the more if its online gaming – but we’ve really become such a close-knit family because of this game,” says Mommy Monique.

From then on, the Ognitas became a family of hard core online game players – and really good ones at that.

While most parents look at online gaming as a distraction that has little or no benefit for their children, Dennis and Monique believe its all about discipline and guiding their kids on what and how to set
priorities.

And their unique upbringing has been effective — all of their kids are honor students.

“While they’re young, we want them to learn how to live well-balanced lives; how to make time for work and play,” Dennis says. “We only allow them to go online when they have finished their homework, and by 10 p.m., everyone should be getting ready for bed,” he explains. This kind of discipline and trust has helped the couple make their kids very cooperative, even in doing household chores.

It also helps that online gaming encourages their kids to be home more often.

“We don’t want to be that type of family wherein the parents rarely see their children, either because they’re too busy with work, or worse, because their kids are just not comfortable hanging out with
their parents,” Monique says.

Their family bond has given the Ognita kids the necessary social networking skills to handle their own guilds.

All five (5) of the elder Ognita siblings are leaders of their respective guilds, wherein their respective characters are named – Nite Davion, Darknite, Battle-Nite, Betternite and Holynite 19, a rare
feat in any undertaking, especially in the highly competitive virtual world.

Other than playing Supreme Destiny, the Ognitas also enjoy watching sports on TV, and the parents are very supportive as well of their sons who play basketball with other kids.

But it is really their shared interest for Supreme Destiny which makes them close. Everyone in the family agrees that online gaming is fun because of the many players they get to interact with online.

“Since our parents play Supreme Destiny too, then they are also friends with our friends,” share the kids, who also play casual games such as O2Jam.

Sharing the same interest has made the Ognita kids more open about their own personal lives. “We know if one of our sons is courting someone,” Monique says. In the case of eldest son Dominic, who asks his mom to help him buy gifts for a girl he likes. “Imagine how we were during Dominic’s prom – our entire family was involved in helping him prepare,” she recalls fondly.

While Dennis and Monique still maintain a certain level of authority between their kids, their family’s intimacy is evident in how affectionate their kids are to their parents.

“Whenever we watch wrestling on television – which is another unconventional interest we share with our kids – we end up having a crazy pillow fight—we’re really all kids at heart,” Monique confesses.

This kind of commitment in playing the MMO game has yielded rewards. The family recently became part of Team Philippines, who became the over-all champions in the first ever Supreme Destiny World
Championship League (SD WCL) 2008. Organized by With Your Destiny (WYD) Global, the SD WCL tournament gathered gamers from various countries such as Japan, China, Philippines, Brazil and Korea.

“Our kids were very persistent in making us practice as a team. We are very proud and honored that our efforts paid off with the victory over the other international gamers.” relays the senior Dennis.

Inspired by his older siblings, 3-year-old Daniel Dean has started playing Supreme Destiny, making him possibly a future member of Team PH .

The Ognita couple is aware that their kids won’t be young forever and that they’ll someday strike out on their own. Which is why they are making the most out of the time and opportunities they have now – a big, fun-loving family, in a warm, happy home, where everyone is genuinely interested to be part of each other’s lives.

The couple shares, “Parents should make the effort to understand their children and not be just a provider. Make it a point to spend time with them no matter how busy their schedules get. Online gaming should not be seen as a distraction or bad influence to the youth. It offers the opportunity for a family to become closer and at the same time bridge the generation gap.”

Read on to see the TV ad.

Looks like Nintendo’s quirky take on gaming also applies to their marketing. Here’s what the console maker has to say about the former Mrs. Cruise’s new role:

Ms Kidman was chosen by Nintendo because of her universal appeal to mainstream audiences of all ages and backgrounds, as well as
her reputation for being intelligent, entertaining and genuine. Her personality and ability to combine the world of film with a family centric home lifestyle was felt to be a strong fit with the Nintendo DS.

Which is basically PR speak for “we think she fits the gadget perfectly!”

The print and TV campaign will only run in Europe unfortunately. Good thing we’ve got the video here for you. Thanks to Just Jared for the heads-up.