The Gamer's Quarter

[dhex]

http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/portable-consoles/gift-should-kids-play-games-143639.php

while i think some of her concerns are a bit strained - i.e. as these children grow the internet is going to be omnipresent - she does have some good points. i don't know if kids benefit that much from games as compared to other skills, outside of those few who develop enough cs or art/design interest/aptitude to turn fun into a useful set of tools at some point in their lives down the road.

[dessgeega]

videogames are healthier for children than commercial television.

discuss!
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[sawtooth]

I thought that was fairly obvious. Participation and whatnot.

Our family's second van had a tv in it. Very useful for long summer trips or rides down to grandmother's house. distances suddenly become much, much longer in the midwest.

edit: I knew a kid who watched r-rated movies when he was five. he had a gameboy when he was in third grade. He's an asshole now. Does that help?

[Ryan - SuperWes' Bane]

Wow, that's definitely an eye opening article, and I totally agree with her. But I also think that it's okay as long as you're a good parent. Buying your kid a DS when they are 7 is good as long as you limit it. Making your kid get plenty of sleep, do their homework, and play outside, is what being a good parent is. Those that put their kids in front of the TV, buy them all sorts of toys just to keep their kids out of their hair ... those are the parents I hate. I can only hope I marry somebody this intelligent in insightful so when I have kids I don't accidently turn them into a Media zombie.

[dessgeega]

[sawtooth]

Media with a capital M!

[dhex]

i would pay 20 bucks to see an off broadway comedy about ryan and dess sharing an apartment. and i hate the theatre.

edit: upon some reflection, in this most work-less of weekends, if someone offered me the chance to speak two extra languages or something of that nature and heft in exchange for every moment i ever spent with a game, i'd trade up in a heartbeat.
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[Ryan - SuperWes' Bane]

Wow ... two typos in that last post of mine. I wrote "in" instead of "and", and I capitalized that M . . .. Japan is doing funny things to me. I get dumber all the time.

And what would that theatre drama be called? "The Odd Couple: I'll Fucking Kill You!" ????

[IceTyger]

The apartment must be eternally on fire, also.

Limiting game-time and making sure all the important things get done seems like a pretty good way to raise a kid, I think. My mom always just let me run rampant, so I got into this really bad habit of ignoring homework and hanging around playing games all the damn time. Now I'm in college, where learning is fucking important, and I can barely keep myself interested in my studying and all.

Actually, it's funny, I have a final tomorrow and I'm playing Live A Live instead of maybe reading two chapters of Nakama 2 that weren't discussed at all in class but happen to be on the final.
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It's like Pac-Man, only instead of chomping ghosts you're stabbing people.

[dhex]

[kuzdu]

I think that it is very important to remember that children are not homogenous, that they are very much individuals, even at a young age. What is right for one child is not necessarily going to be right for another. My friend Andres and I were raised in very different ways, in two very different countries, and yet we are strikingly similar. Outside of trauma (divorce, abuse, etc), I believe that parents have very little direct influence on their child's personality.

That having been said, I completely understand why the guy is not getting his daughter a DS, because he's her father and he probably knows her pretty well. As far as him knowing other people's kids, and what is acceptable for them, that's less likely.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's a little dangerous to make judgements about how other people should raise their children. I acknowledge that there are a lot of terrible parents out there (hell I'm related to some of them), but there are also a lot of parents that simply have a different approach, and kids that have different needs.

Perhaps this response was a little longer than the topic warranted. I was brought up in a somewhat 'alternative' way and maybe I'm a little sensitive.

[dessgeega]

[sawtooth]

[friedchicken]

[kuzdu]

Sawtooth, I'm not saying that parents don't have a lot of influence, I'm just saying that it's mostly the indirect kind. I'm a lot like my father as well, but not because of the things he did or didn't allow me to do, just because I observed him for so many years.

Then again, I don't know your situation. Do you think that you're like your father because he consiously tried to shape you to be like him?

[dark steve]

[Shapermc]

[dark steve]

[Shapermc]

[sawtooth]

[kuzdu]

You make a good point, which is that what good parents understand is that the most important part of parenting is being a good role model.

[wourme]

[ApM]

When I was growing up, my parents would occasionally be concerned about the amount of time I was spending on the computer. Much of it was wasted, sure, but some of it was really healthy. At some level, I think my parents recognized that, but I still really detested being told I was spending too much time "on the computer" -- it was more complicated than that.

It's a little irksome that all videogames are being painted with the same brush, here. Putting a kid in front of Mario Paint is different than putting that kid in front of Halo Barbie Horse Racing, just like putting a kid in front of The Merch is different than putting that kid in front of PBS. I can't imagine putting Electroplankton into the hands of any kid having a negative effect.

Also, the author of this letter: man.

[Ryan - SuperWes' Bane]