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Online Games - Just a modern Action Man?
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| posted by WideBoy 1194 days ago |
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New yesterday that the Chinese Govt is launching a four month campaign to crack down on adult content and extreme violence in online games.
All my kids play these games (the violent ones I might add not the adult ones) and I have always taken the view that their peer group do the same therfore it's just part of being a kid in today's society - the same way that Action Man was when I was a kid. If we try and stop them playing they always launch the 'but everybody else's parents let them' card . I often wonder what the long term impact is on my kids having spent a childhood killing virtual people on a computer monitor.
Am I being naive - Do other parents let their kids play these games??? - or am i being over-protective.
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| posted by Gum Tree 1194 days ago |
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You have to figure out exactly what you are worried about. It is hard to look at these things in isolation. Are you worried you kids will become mass murders or sociopaths - you can pick up signs of that outside of the games - do they tease animals eg? Are you worried about spending too long on the computer or becoming obsessed with gaming? Just limit the time without mention of the type of game. Are you worried that they are making fun/playing games about a subject that is really an evil reality in this world? Talk to them, let them know why you find it distasteful/disrespectful and why, and you would prefer it, for your own sensibilities if they didn't play those games when you were around. If you think they are basically OK, caring human beings in every other sense you will find, like I did with my son, that gradually they go back to Sim City or racing car games as the thrill wears off and they get older. Keep it low key and honest and trust your parenting and your kids. Oh - I did not allow his friends to play those games at my place unless I checked with the parents first.
"Marooned on a rock with 80,000 and now 90,000 alcoholics and counting"
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| posted by npg 1194 days ago |
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i also figure that when i was a kid...all my mates always played "army" going around climbing over things and hiding behind/under things to try and shoot each other. lol
i just think it is a modern extention to that....in some ways more visually realistic and exciting
but on the other hand...maybe less use of imagination, limitations on socialising and less exercise etc.
GT, nice pic too :-)
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| posted by rachel_z 1194 days ago |
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I wonder why has there been no actions by any governments to abolish and ban all Barbie Dolls. So what if a game is violent? Parents could discuss the issue of violence with their children and let them see for themselves with the games, what violence could do to someone. I think that a kid will grow well in a family where issues like this is addressed openly, and not only when things have happened. Thats how I see it.
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| posted by Gum Tree 1194 days ago |
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Yay Rach. My thoughts exactly - though forgot until your brought it up. Yes - the key is communication, communication, communication. You can't protect your kids from the world of make-believe, but you can help them, gently, to interpret make-believe in terms of the real world. Nothing wrong with dad or mum to do a bit of leading, without bursting bubbles.
"Marooned on a rock with 80,000 and now 90,000 alcoholics and counting"
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| posted by rachel_z 1194 days ago (edited 1194 days ago) |
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Yes GT, communication. Children need to see both the positive and negative so that they will be able to weigh out the pros and cons. They need to understand the consequences in the negative so that they could see why it is discouraged. For some children, when they grow up to their teens, they tend to rebel in a way that whatever the parents see as negative, they will do it. This is because when they were young, they were not given a full understanding of the whole issue in itself and they have to do it so that they could see it for themselves. That is in their subconscious. It doesn't mean that they do enjoy it, it doesn't mean that they are bad. They need to see the picture, they need justification because they hate it when people tell them what is right and what is wrong yet they cannot be sure that this is the case. Makes them feel so small if they cannot justify it.
Hence I think its better to deal with the issue before such problems arise in future. Its good to give them an early awareness of certain issues and gradually increase the information when they grow older. Their feelings about the issues should be requested upon too because in this way, parents could actually see how the mind of their children work. It will also increase the flow of communication between parents and their children in future because the habit of taking in and giving opinions have been inculcated at a young age.
Don't know if I have put it correctly but basically this is the idea... in my opinion.
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| posted by sunwaterandsky 1193 days ago |
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I see a big difference between children playing real imaginitive games and computer games. In childhood army games, the violence is limited by your child's exposure to violence and their own imagination. In video games - the violence is preprogrammed by an adult (usually), who has a fuller life experience and a better developed sense of right and wrong. If you are a parent that plays the games with your children, you can give them ongoing feedback about the game and its premis. If the child plays unsupervised, they don't necessarily focus on the violence, they focus on winning the game. Winning the game is paired with the violence they see and makes it rewarding in some ways and this happens at a subconscious level. Be vewy vewy careful with these games! Supervise and interact closely with your children when they play them - and they will play them even if you tell them not to.
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