surf dtoid with 
Rising (10+)
People you follow
send message
follow
followers
I believe the most important thing is tha you, as a father, is the one judging what is appropriate to your children. Not the government, not the media, but you. If more parents take the lead of raising their own children, less idiots would go to TV saying how videogames is turning them in criminals.
Not being a parent myself, I had a similar thought fairly recently.
I mean as gamers, we know the contents of video games. We've also survived becoming murdering, swash buckling, rapist pirates.
And I'm sure that most of us played games of the mature variety at an earlier age.
So do we use ourselves as an example that video games are harmless or do we look to that little bugger that beat his parents for taking away his WoW?
Tough questions man....tough questions.
I mean as gamers, we know the contents of video games. We've also survived becoming murdering, swash buckling, rapist pirates.
And I'm sure that most of us played games of the mature variety at an earlier age.
So do we use ourselves as an example that video games are harmless or do we look to that little bugger that beat his parents for taking away his WoW?
Tough questions man....tough questions.
Its like drinking. Make it taboo and restricted and the kid will want to do it even more just of curiousity. But present it to the kid for what it is and the pros and cons of it and show them how to use it responsibly and it becomes something they understand and can deal with. Violent video games I think are acceptable for teenagers. My sixteen-year-old nephew plays the Call of Duty games and M rated games and he's fine. He hasn't habituated the violent behavior. He just plays the game with his friends online.
Parents should be informed and should never hide things away from their child. What happens when they go to college and suddenly get inundated with media that they have no prior experience with? How do they process that in a healthy, positive manner? However, give them a foundation on which to build, help them to understand what they are seeing and how it fits in the context of their life, then they are gonna be ok.
Parents should be informed and should never hide things away from their child. What happens when they go to college and suddenly get inundated with media that they have no prior experience with? How do they process that in a healthy, positive manner? However, give them a foundation on which to build, help them to understand what they are seeing and how it fits in the context of their life, then they are gonna be ok.
I was never able to have children but I am an Aunt to 2 young teenage nephews and a 7 year old niece.
I'm the primary person that has introduced all 3 kids to gaming and I think a lot depends on the actual children, their interests and their maturity levels. It's actually quite difficult to pick good games for them that have some "redeeming" values and puts the game into a class where they take something positive away from the game. For my nephews I originally introduced them to gaming with Lego Star Wars... where they played co-op and learned the fun of cooperating with each other. My youngest nephew is the "gamer" of the two, so he also got Zoo Tycoon which tied into his interest (st the time) in wild animals as well as teaching some basic management concepts. For my niece I've gone with Scribblenauts as she is at the "learning to spell" stage.
Choosing games for kids is actually really hard work and there aren't a lot of websites that help with the selection process... so yeah, I can imagine a lot of parents just pick whatever's on the shelf. Such a shame because the right game can not only make them love gaming, but can also grow them and teach them things when they don't even realize they are learning.
(oh and gamerdad - gamingwithchildren.com is a pretty decent website for this)
I'm the primary person that has introduced all 3 kids to gaming and I think a lot depends on the actual children, their interests and their maturity levels. It's actually quite difficult to pick good games for them that have some "redeeming" values and puts the game into a class where they take something positive away from the game. For my nephews I originally introduced them to gaming with Lego Star Wars... where they played co-op and learned the fun of cooperating with each other. My youngest nephew is the "gamer" of the two, so he also got Zoo Tycoon which tied into his interest (st the time) in wild animals as well as teaching some basic management concepts. For my niece I've gone with Scribblenauts as she is at the "learning to spell" stage.
Choosing games for kids is actually really hard work and there aren't a lot of websites that help with the selection process... so yeah, I can imagine a lot of parents just pick whatever's on the shelf. Such a shame because the right game can not only make them love gaming, but can also grow them and teach them things when they don't even realize they are learning.
(oh and gamerdad - gamingwithchildren.com is a pretty decent website for this)
Yeah it's a sticky issue which comes down to really knowing the child in question. I played M rated game when I was 5 but I Say I'm doing fairly well. It's all about how much you think the child can understand.
The day my future, hypothetical kids can beat me in a video game (consistently) is the day they're old enough to choose their own game.
"Stoodent must beat teacha to get powwa but in truff, powwa inside stoodent arr arong."
- racist, sensei CericaCrazed
"Stoodent must beat teacha to get powwa but in truff, powwa inside stoodent arr arong."
- racist, sensei CericaCrazed
You bring up a good point about how letting kids play games with "toned down" violence still makes them unaware of the consequences of violence in real life. I guess the most important thng is to make sure your kid knows the difference between video game world, and the real world. The two don't follow the same rules, so it's important that they understand the difference.
However, if you also believe your kid should have "good taste" in games, maybe you should only let them play the classics first. If they start with the highly stimulating action games and first person shooters, they might not find anything else is worth their time because of the lack of stimulus. It's like how somebody who watches movies all their life can't sit through a decent book.
However, if you also believe your kid should have "good taste" in games, maybe you should only let them play the classics first. If they start with the highly stimulating action games and first person shooters, they might not find anything else is worth their time because of the lack of stimulus. It's like how somebody who watches movies all their life can't sit through a decent book.
That's not really the issue. If a kid is mature enough to know what the content is in front of them, then as long as you show them the context of the situation it'll be fine.
I have no problem with my kid playing Call of Duty before 18 years of age. I've been playing these games long enough to know what to look for and what I might need to explain to her. That's not the case in most instances and you get kids that are unsupervised learning from friends, strangers online or the game itself how they should interpret this.
As long as you present the information in a manner that they can understand, you'll be fine. If not you'll be dealing with the same issues leaving them with Monsters Inc left. Just in a darker context.
The issue always will be how they receive the content and whether they understand it. I could show a toddler bulletstorm, but they would have no context for the profanity or violence.
I have no problem with my kid playing Call of Duty before 18 years of age. I've been playing these games long enough to know what to look for and what I might need to explain to her. That's not the case in most instances and you get kids that are unsupervised learning from friends, strangers online or the game itself how they should interpret this.
As long as you present the information in a manner that they can understand, you'll be fine. If not you'll be dealing with the same issues leaving them with Monsters Inc left. Just in a darker context.
The issue always will be how they receive the content and whether they understand it. I could show a toddler bulletstorm, but they would have no context for the profanity or violence.
A child's psyche is so much different than an adult's. The best way to treat a child fairly isn't to shelter them, but it also isn't to brutalize them. Learning from consequence can be done both first and second hand. I am more of the school that it isn't what the child sees that makes them a monster, but rather that without ethical guidance, supervision, and quality role models they will not be able to properly mature.
Entertainment, of course, can skew this because it ultimately isn't about just about ethic and instead relies heavily upon the event being a spectacle. You have to make sure a child is wearing the right glasses, and just seeing the right picture. Everyone views things differently, but as a parent a little correction can go a long way. Too much can be destructive and not enough is equally as damaging.
Don't just be the parent. Know your kid. He's more intriguing, strange, and malleable than any form of entertainment.
Entertainment, of course, can skew this because it ultimately isn't about just about ethic and instead relies heavily upon the event being a spectacle. You have to make sure a child is wearing the right glasses, and just seeing the right picture. Everyone views things differently, but as a parent a little correction can go a long way. Too much can be destructive and not enough is equally as damaging.
Don't just be the parent. Know your kid. He's more intriguing, strange, and malleable than any form of entertainment.
I played Grand Theft Auto 2 & 3 when I was ten, and I'm a perfectly healthy emotionally person. I was no more violent than the average child who didn't play those kinds of games. Many times that I meet people who go to the extreme side of life they mention having a protective household. When I was younger I tended to go for the more violent games, but the older I get the more I want to play less violent games.
I think the best thing for parents to do is just talk to their kids. People spend so much time reading articles, books and watching documentaries that they don't think about directly asking the kids how they feel about certain topics. Same thing with romance instead of trying to decipher body language and trying to see if her palms are exposed or not, you could just ask someone.
Like you mentioned I think certain toned down violence can be harmful in certain situations. The movie Flubber was on T.V. and their was a scene where they dropped a bowling ball on of the bad guys heads, when I saw this as a child I didn't think much, but seeing it as an adult horrified me. Since the movie was live action some might not be able to distinguish between fantasy and reality, and might drop a bowling ball on their sisters head thinking it would just bounce of and that she would just be dizzy. It would never cross their mind that it could have killed her or caused brain damage.
When you're a child you might not be able to fully comprehend these things. My cousin was throwing rocks at me once, I told him to stop, but he didn't listen, So I picked up a giant rock, and hurled it at his head. I got yelled at because they said that if the rock had hit him an inch lower he would have faced serious head trauma. I never would have known that, I just wanted him to leave me alone.
In 4th grade I hit my best friend with a 2x4, and he started to cry. I felt so bad I had seen it done in movies and wrestling I didn't think it would hurt that bad, because the characters would always stand up immediately.
My uncle decided to build a tree house in a palm tree (stupid idea). It was extremely high my cousin didn't want me to go in so when I reached the top he pushed me off. I was lucky that my brother was there, and he accidentally caught me. Their was alot of sharp rocks at the bottom, and if I had fallen directly onto them I would have been injured badly.
Their is a very good section in the documentary [img]This Film Is Not Yet Rated[/img] where they make a good point on how a James Bond film where an enemy gets shot, no blood comes out, and it's okay because he is a "bad guy" should be rated R because it's fantasy, and a child might not be able to realize that.
I think the best thing for parents to do is just talk to their kids. People spend so much time reading articles, books and watching documentaries that they don't think about directly asking the kids how they feel about certain topics. Same thing with romance instead of trying to decipher body language and trying to see if her palms are exposed or not, you could just ask someone.
Like you mentioned I think certain toned down violence can be harmful in certain situations. The movie Flubber was on T.V. and their was a scene where they dropped a bowling ball on of the bad guys heads, when I saw this as a child I didn't think much, but seeing it as an adult horrified me. Since the movie was live action some might not be able to distinguish between fantasy and reality, and might drop a bowling ball on their sisters head thinking it would just bounce of and that she would just be dizzy. It would never cross their mind that it could have killed her or caused brain damage.
When you're a child you might not be able to fully comprehend these things. My cousin was throwing rocks at me once, I told him to stop, but he didn't listen, So I picked up a giant rock, and hurled it at his head. I got yelled at because they said that if the rock had hit him an inch lower he would have faced serious head trauma. I never would have known that, I just wanted him to leave me alone.
In 4th grade I hit my best friend with a 2x4, and he started to cry. I felt so bad I had seen it done in movies and wrestling I didn't think it would hurt that bad, because the characters would always stand up immediately.
My uncle decided to build a tree house in a palm tree (stupid idea). It was extremely high my cousin didn't want me to go in so when I reached the top he pushed me off. I was lucky that my brother was there, and he accidentally caught me. Their was alot of sharp rocks at the bottom, and if I had fallen directly onto them I would have been injured badly.
Their is a very good section in the documentary [img]This Film Is Not Yet Rated[/img] where they make a good point on how a James Bond film where an enemy gets shot, no blood comes out, and it's okay because he is a "bad guy" should be rated R because it's fantasy, and a child might not be able to realize that.
There is no one policy you can set, it all depends on the child. I've known some kids who could play violent games and maintain a healthy distinction between fantasy and reality, and I've known others who get worked up and start wailing on their brother, which is actually kind of scary to see.
The best thing you can do as a parent is know your child and communicate with them. If you know your little Billy can't watch violent stuff without wanting to reinact it or without a proper understanding of context, then you need to sit that kid down and talk to him before you pick up a copy of CoD for his birthday.
The best thing you can do as a parent is know your child and communicate with them. If you know your little Billy can't watch violent stuff without wanting to reinact it or without a proper understanding of context, then you need to sit that kid down and talk to him before you pick up a copy of CoD for his birthday.
