Are video games harmful?

[TheEllipticalDisillusion]

I'm not setting up a straw man, Prim. I am questioning the attititude of chldren becoming numbed to violence through polygons. The keywords here are might and may.

Obviously how you raise you children is not-debatable. This discussion isn't "how Prim teaches her sons".

I think cursing isn't entirely popular in most professions, but there is no shortage of it in mine and why should there be? It's usually a bunch of carpenters building a show together with little interaction outside of each other. This is just an example.

[Primula Baggins]

Yes, and if they have unprotected sex, they might contract HIV and die; if they drink, they might climb into a car with another drinker and be badly hurt in a crash; if they use illegal drugs, they might be arrested and convicted and lose their chance at certain careers.

"Might" is enough for me, even when the potential harm is a lot less than that. I think it is for most parents. I can't imagine sitting coldly down and calculating how likely it is that my child will be hurt. What threshold would you assign? For me there isn't one, especially if the risky behavior is something as unnecessary as playing a particular type of video game.

[vison]

Impenitent, there is a cool game called "Harvest Moon" that my boys play on GameBoy.

It's about farming.

A friend let them play his GameBoy and they liked it so much they each bought a version. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had come home and said, "Hey, guys!!! I bought you this cool game about farming!!!!"

Yeah, right.

The player has to start a farm and operate it. He gets to decide what to spend his money on: farm equipment or stuff for his house, etc.

Tay built up his farm and became very rich. Oz spent a lot of money making his house swell. It's a nifty game, requiring a lot of fairly sophisticated decision making. AND you have to care for your animals. If you do, they live and if you don't, they die. I never played it, but I have had it explained to me a lot!

However, I absolutely agree that you have to limit the amount of time a kid plays. They get over-stimulated and cranky and their eyes look like peeholes in the snow.

As for the guns, I wouldn't worry overly much. It is a boy thing, I think. My youngest son is 35 and still into guns, he shoots in target matches and also collects guns and leads a perfectly nice life, works at a demanding job and makes his mortgage payments and is kind to his pet skunks.

AND. You and your husband are doing the right thing by pulling out all the stops --- what your boy needs is YOUR attention.

[Túrin Turambar]

and have bought him a copy of Age of Empires

[superwizard]

Impenitent good for you for limiting the time yu're letting your kid play video games, my parents did the same thing for me (no playing video games on weekdays was my rule) and it really helped. Games can get addictive and a 9 year old should have other things they care about. Age of Empires is a great choice because not only does it help him learn about history and think strategically its also a game your kid would enjoy playing (so he won't need to search for other games online). Really you can't leave kids to pick their own games because they will pick violent games (I should know ). You're doing the right thing, good for you!

[Impenitent]

Impenitent, there is a cool game called "Harvest Moon" that my boys play on GameBoy....

Vison, I've noticed you have referred to Harvest Moon elsewhere and it sounds very wholesome (and I use that term in a good way! Why is it that this perfectly good word is used so often these days in sarcastic disparagement?).

However, we don't have a GameBoy either. We used to; my husband bought one back from one of his many work trips for our daughter when she was about 9 and it very quickly became an object of contention between the kids and they wanted to play it constantly (yet we only had two games for it) so...we abolished its use except for long car drives. It was very useful then for dispelling cabin-fever.

However, it's long gone now and I'm not replacing it! They're old enough now to play thinking games in the car when they get bored, when motion sickness prevents them from reading.

[Primula Baggins]

We just got back from settling our oldest son at college, and hoo boy. His two roommates were planning how to network the whole room, bring in surround sound and an XBox 360, and play a ton of Halo.

I would be a lot more concerned if I hadn't secretly Googled them both and found that one was valedictorian of his high school and the other was captain of his high school debate team, among many other honors for both—so presumably they've figured out how to balance things, as my son has. Or had. We will see.

The fact that after their small-group freshman seminar with their academic advisors they all had serious homework due the next day—four days before school even starts—might help keep them focused on essentials.

However . . . hands off, Mom! <practice practice practice>

[Jnyusa]

practice practice practice

Yup, that one takes lots of practice.

[Primula Baggins]

So I am discovering a few hours after leaving him at school, with no definite time we'll see each other again. The longest we've been apart up to now was the 10 days he spent in Costa Rica when he was 11.

Yet he's a good kid and will always land on his feet.

Yet that doesn't mean I won't be reflexively leaping to try to cushion his fall. Then reflexively pulling myself back.

This loving people thing is dreadfully complicated.

[superwizard]

We just got back from settling our oldest son at college, and hoo boy. His two roommates were planning how to network the whole room, bring in surround sound and an XBox 360, and play a ton of Halo.

Thanks for the idea Prim . Actually you would have a hard time finding a college where video games aren't big. Already before I leave there are a bunch of future freshman working on plans to connect all the dorms for games etc etc etc. But don't worry in orientation they won't have time to breathe they're so busy and later they start classes and most kids aren't stupid enough to neglect their school work for games (especially a valedictorian and the captain of the debate team )

I would be a lot more concerned if I hadn't secretly Googled them both and found that one was valedictorian of his high school and the other was captain of his high school debate team, among many other honors for both—so presumably they've figured out how to balance things, as my son has. Or had. We will see.

That sure is sneaky my precious yes yes gollum gollum gollum
I'm sure happy I don't know my roomate's going to be so my mom won't google him

Its seems like you had a good time Prim, that's really good

[Primula Baggins]

Well, I do Google my kids' names and their friends' names from time to time. I don't read their email or their private papers, but anything they put out in public I want to know about. You have probably seen some of the stuff some kids post.

I've never seen any cause for concern, so I don't do it very often. I looked up my son's roommates out of curiosity and read just the "official" sites such as their high schools' Web sites, because I knew (guys being guys) that my son would probably ask no questions and they would probably volunteer nothing, and I was honestly curious. And, as I've said, what I learned reassured me, as did meeting them (nice guys, capable of being considerate and polite to other guys' elderly parents).

[superwizard]

Prim I was just teasing you, not critisizing you. I actually think that googling them was a good idea

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I split off the discussion about bad language:

http://www.thehalloffire.net/forum/view ... 0963#40963

[Alatar]

Interestingly...

While I don't have a problem with swearing in my daily life, I do kinda object to it in video games.

Go figure.

Which thread should I discuss that in

[Primula Baggins]

Start a new one, of course.

Actually it probably belongs here.

[Alatar]

I think this is a relevant article:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1 ... 567,00.asp

One particular quote stuck out to me:

Games are Too Violent
Whenever I would be watching a TV show like Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, with my daughters, my wife would invariably walk in during the most violent fight scenes. So she always thought Buffy was about fighting monsters, not about getting through high school.

Anyone who states that today's games are too violent has almost certainly never played a wide array of games. The Sims 2 is one of the most popular titles on the PC. No one I know would tag that as a particularly violent game. Another huge seller is Microsoft's Flight Simulator series. Curiously, shortly after 9/11, one politician suggested that even Flight Simulator was violent, because you could crash planes into buildings. This is the perfect illustration of how we all look through our own mental lens at any issue. Such a person would probably suggest that Civilization 4 promotes genocide.

For every Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, there are multiple games that have little or no violence. But politicians, some media outlets and other publicity hounds rarely seem to let the truth get in the way of promoting their agendas

[Aravar]

I did once come across an article that suggested that games like Civ were wrong to promote an imperialist/colonialist mindset, and perhaps such a view of history as a whole. There were no other options, which isn't
entirely true.

[yovargas]

This made me laugh:

http://wii.ign.com/articles/757/757344p1.html

For those who don't know, Wii is the new Nintendo game machine that uses montion-sensor controls. So, for example, to swing a golf club, you have to physically swing the controller to play. Is kewl.

[Impenitent]

My daughter is very excited about the Wii - how you can play tennis and golf and actually swing the racquet and the golf club.

I thought... ...we've got a tether tennis is the back yard...why not actually swing that racquet? and the golf clubs (three of them, second hand) are mouldering in the shed; why not practice putting with them?

I just don't know.

[yovargas]

Cuz your backyard probably doesn't have cute anime characters and bouncy dance music.