Kids and Violent Video Games...
- Thread starter Dadu2004
- Start date
I think it depends on the kid, and his mentality . My son played all the games that came out when they came out. He's not violent.
At first of course I monitored everything possible, and refused to buy a few, than guess what, he played it at school and at friends homes, and at relatives homes as well
He became the 'Champ' lol I was shocked, but he was really good at it.
I started to learn that us parents today are going to have to put ourselves out there, and learn new things. Which is uncomfortable for most of us.
But our kids are in a new world, and it isn't fair to put them down for them trying to live and be accepted in their own generation.
You have to use your best judgment. You can limit the time he plays for a while, and watch to see if your child's behavior changes. I always walked into my sons room and asked about what he was playing, and I even suggested he make him self the good guy now and than instead of the bad guy.
I also questioned him about if he could tell reality from pretend, I always made sure he remembered this is ONLY a game, feels real but it is not!! I also was courious as to what he felt when he shot someone, and why he felt he had to do that. like I said, it's not always comfortable, but you will learn a lot.
Your child will eventually get to play those games some place or the other, even my older nephews, nieces and their spouses play those games and my son was with them often.
I believe parents have to learn the newest electronic toys out there, and force ourselves to know as much as our kids know about them.
you can always go on line and learn about the games, I try not to read to much negative stuff, but pay attention to what the game is actually about.
At first of course I monitored everything possible, and refused to buy a few, than guess what, he played it at school and at friends homes, and at relatives homes as well
He became the 'Champ' lol I was shocked, but he was really good at it.
I started to learn that us parents today are going to have to put ourselves out there, and learn new things. Which is uncomfortable for most of us.
But our kids are in a new world, and it isn't fair to put them down for them trying to live and be accepted in their own generation.
You have to use your best judgment. You can limit the time he plays for a while, and watch to see if your child's behavior changes. I always walked into my sons room and asked about what he was playing, and I even suggested he make him self the good guy now and than instead of the bad guy.
I also questioned him about if he could tell reality from pretend, I always made sure he remembered this is ONLY a game, feels real but it is not!! I also was courious as to what he felt when he shot someone, and why he felt he had to do that. like I said, it's not always comfortable, but you will learn a lot.
Your child will eventually get to play those games some place or the other, even my older nephews, nieces and their spouses play those games and my son was with them often.
I believe parents have to learn the newest electronic toys out there, and force ourselves to know as much as our kids know about them.
you can always go on line and learn about the games, I try not to read to much negative stuff, but pay attention to what the game is actually about.
Killing endangered species, violating sacred monuments and burial grounds, gunfights, fistfights, gribbly mummies, zommer-like creatures....and destroying archaeology! It's heavy stuff, I tell you!TabascoNatalie said:
Certainly not for young children anyway, but actually, not really bloody, and very obviously not photo-realistic.Nancy:
I don't recall ever asking them directly but it was always really obvious they knew the difference between reality and fantasy.
And also the environment they live in, and how loved they feel. Sounds corny but I really do feel that the more a person feels they are loved and made to feel secure, the less likely they are to be influenced by negative external influences.
Mine were just not interested in playing violent games; Zig was a dedicated Zelda and FF boy, whereas Josh loved racing games and Sonic the Hedgehog, and Liz only ever really liked Pandemonium, which was a really cute platform game. Admittedly when Josh comes to stay here, he does indulge in a bit of zommer-mayhem these days...but he's not a child - and I don't believe he has a violent bone in his body. Zig is the same. Their sister is the aggressive one!
I would never allow my children to have guns when they were small, so what did they do? They used bananas instead! And of course, once they go to school, you're no longer the main influence, so better to equip them to deal with things than keep them in a bubble. Or...choose their friends! LOL! (I was joking there!) Once they started playing with other kids, it was pointless to carry on with the gun ban.
If mine ever played violent games at their friends' houses, I never knew about it.... but they were geeky kids, and their friends were geeky too, so I'm not sure they ever did!
And as a point of interest (or not!), Josh works in a home for elderly folk, and Zig teaches guitar to disabled children. I think they did alright!
I fear it is entirely my own fault my children got into videogaming - they got it from me, and grew up with computer and videogames.
My MIL on the other hand, gives every impression that her grandchildren would love nothing more than to play croquet and visit stately homes! She has the most rose-tinted view of childhood I've ever seen! As it turns out, we play croquet, and the children cheat like anything! We visit grand houses (giving Kevin and his sister, Sally, flashbacks of his own childhood), and the children just want to have cake in the café! Meanwhile, Kevin and Sally play hide and seek in the woods/grounds (the children do often join in), and MIL and I ooh and aahh over the plants and flowers (we share a love of gardening!).
Seems reasonable - do your homework, know what you're talking about when you tell them no! I like it! But seriously, yes, get the skinny and make a value judgement.
Superman:
Sadly, all too often childhood isn't though is it? My mother didn't so much make me watch horror films, but allowed me to. OK they weren't at all scary (well, one or two were!) but in retrospect, I don't think she exuded good parenting. I honestly don't think it actually did me any harm (after all, I was reading and understanding Edgar Allen Poe at nine years old!), but I really don't like horror films now I'm an adult! Unless they have Christopher Lee playing Dracula!
/tangent!
I think if anything, I'd worry about my child playing a game like WoW. Not specifically because the game is violent (because it honestly isn't compared to SOME other games out there), but because of how kids seem to become addicted to it. I've seen videos online and read bad instances of kids acting out against their parents because their WoW accounts got deactivated by their parents. I've also heard of kids who played WoW and killed themselves because they thought if they died they would go to the land of WoW and could be with their friends forever. Its unrealistic of a child to have this belief, but it isn't unheard of. And I do know it does tend to depend on the child's mindset, but I'd rather not take the risk with WoW.
I personally only let my child play hand held devices. I find the games to be a little less realistic. I work for a company that's affiliated with Sony and have found that they have several child friendly games for their PSP system that I think my son would like. One game that I would recommend every parent check out is "Invizimals." I hope to find a good deal on the PSP on black friday
coming back to the subject, I think the most EVIL games for children are those of facebook and similar sites, which are straightforwardly demanding MONEY.
my oldest son resorted in trying to steal a game because he wanted to play it. But this was years ago and nothing like this has happened since.
I personally don't like video games in the house at all. But we do have a gaming system, and I watch closely what my children want to get for it. Granted, I wouldn't want to be told that by law I could or could not buy something if I decided my child could play it; I rather like having options.
I feel like I'm lucky, though, because the only games my kids seem to want/play are Dance Dance Revolution games. They've never asked for anything different lol
I feel like I'm lucky, though, because the only games my kids seem to want/play are Dance Dance Revolution games. They've never asked for anything different lol
We had this too - only it was a chum of my youngest son who came around and stole his brand new Pokémon GameBoy game, which he had just bought with his birthday money. It was a truly horrible situation because although I gave the boy several chances to return the game, he kept denying he had it, so I was left with no choice but to pay his parents a visit. The upshot of it was that we got the game back, but the boy got a beating. Really, really horrible situation.3sACrowd228 said:
I've known adults completely addicted to WoW, to the point that they refuse to socialise! I can see therefore, how easy it would be for a youngster to get suckered in.DruidMom said:
Anyone watch The Guild?!
Venezia, what do you say about games which explicitly ask for money? (why are there no 18+ tags put on them?)
I'm with you - I think they should carry some kind of warning that you need a credit card to be able to pay for in-game purchases. Should they have an 18+ rating? I think that could be misleading, so perhaps the best thing would be to have a separate tag/rating for them. Certainly, there should be plenty of information right from the start that these are 'freemium' titles, and that at some point you may not be able to progress without paying for additional content. Unfortunately it is a sad fact of life that anyone can lie about their age on the internet - there's no way of ascertaining the truth. I think it would be folly to say that some games companies don't realise this, and exploit it.TabascoNatalie said:
I don't have a problem with any kind of game asking for money if it's up-front and completely transparent about it; however, when it's deliberately misleading people, then yes, I have to take issue. And of course, it's pretty obvious that a lot (if not the majority) of them are aimed at kids - just look at the way they are presented and marketed. Mind you, I do have several friends who are playing things like Farmville....I have no idea why!
I've never actually played any of these games on Facebook (not my thing), although I have played a couple of browser-based ones: Travian - full of bullies and idiots - costs money to have any chance of not getting your butt kicked. Hated it! Nile Online - lovely game, very gentle ancient Egypt sim - non-violent, and only occasionally requiring purchases to progress. No need to ever spend more than about $5, and only ever takes up 10 minutes at a time. Loved it!
I'm not sure there's an easy answer - whatever anyone comes up with, it's bound to annoy someone, and then someone else will find a flaw and exploit it. Really, people just aren't very nice to each other when it comes to making money!
I've played FarmVille myself. there are moments at work when I have nothing to do.but i found it too annoying. now i only play Mafia Wars and Mouse HuntVenezia said:
once i found a forum where children were discussing how to "borrow" mom's cellphone or dad's credit card to get more points in the game (that wasn't a facebook game)... and here we are worried of violent games
I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere, but I'm failing to find it! LOL!TabascoNatalie said:I've played FarmVille myself. there are moments at work when I have nothing to do.but i found it too annoying. now i only play Mafia Wars and Mouse Hunt
Really? That's quite shocking!once i found a forum where children were discussing how to "borrow" mom's cellphone or dad's credit card to get more points in the game (that wasn't a facebook game)... and here we are worried of violent games
no joke. I really tried to play FarmVille, many of my facebook friends were playing it (and they still are). But I had no patience for it. Mouse Hunt you just have to check once in a while. Mafia Wars... oh wellVenezia said:
not a wisest choice, but... I know well enough not to pay money for it. there is a game called Starchat. They have their forum. Kids who play it are around 12yo. and in that game you have to pay money to have certain items.Really? That's quite shocking!
and kids find their way how to get money for that.
the game itself looks very innocent -- dress-up dolls, design rooms, pets, etc.
Well I'm not too concerned about the facebook games, because they can all be played just as well without paying any money, and its pretty standard that you have to be an adult or ask for an adult's permission to spend money on it anyway since it requires a credit card. The only thing money is good for on those games is getting ahead faster, which is nice and all, but not worth your actual hard earned money. If kids are spending money on those games, their parents are allowing it anyway (credit card use) so I don't see the harm in it. If it gets to the point where kids are stealing their parent's credit cards to use on a facebook game, there are some much deeper rooted issues going on then being exposed to games asking for money.
<r><COLOR color="#333333"><s></s>Therefore, by engaging in violent video games between these ages can be damaging at this tender stage of a child’s life because they are not able to filter out the crud. It is your right as an American to be a crappy human being, but there is hope for everyone. <e></e></FONT><e>[/COLOR]</e></COLOR></r>
I almost agree. But still... it is against the law for children to gamble or to buy lottery tickets. Yet these games are very similar to gambling. Of course there can be issues in that family, but the bottom line is that kids don't have the right judgement in situations where money is involved, and games are addictive.Xero said:
Yet nobody raises voice that these games are not very child-appropriate.