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thorstein (2) - 4215d ago Cancel
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A Question For Parents

The majority of us don't believe gaming is something that actually makes a person violent or becomes a menace in society. I've been playing games since I could remember and I have always loved them. However, I don't take them serious at the same time, they are a form of entertainment for me or something to release some stress. I wrote a humor article on the subject about parents freaking out about video games and violence:

http://vgmmdi.com/mother-co...

However, something caught my attention on what my son was doing. He was playing a video game where the sole purpose of it was to beat the crap out of your boss. I watched him hurt this person and even throw actual crap on him. I grabbed it from him and deleted it right away.

Now, as a parent, I was somewhat concerned on what my son was playing, because I didn't know how he got that game on my wife's phone. I'm sure she didn't download it. I find violence in games to be fine when there is a actual purpose to it and I usually try to monitor what he is doing, but I don't want to be that person that holds him back from the world.

Have your beliefs changed as a parent or as an uncle when it comes to the subject of video games?

FYI: The game is called "Kick the Boss." I found it when looking for a picture.

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thorstein4215d ago

Not one bit. I game, often. And there are games that I love to play. Some of them are the most "controversial." However, like you, I will determine when my child is ready to play a game that may be more mature.

For instance, my children can play Destiny but they can't play Demon's Souls. They can play LittleBigPlanet but not Manhunt.

It isn't because those games will harm them, it is because I don't think they are mature enough for the conversation about those games. I don't think they are old enough to understand the nuances of those games.

It isn't fictional media that causes violence. Humans have the ability to tell fantasy from reality. Some humans are far more adept at it than others, but we know when something is not real.

VGMMDI4215d ago

"Some humans are far more adept at it than others, but we know when something is not real."

That is a key thing there because I see some adults who shouldn't play video games for that very reason.

chippychan4214d ago (Edited 4214d ago )

"It isn't because those games will harm them, it is because I don't think they are mature enough for the conversation about those games."

This is probably one of the most intelligent comments I've seen.

I think every child is different and it is up to the parent(s) to know their child and decide what would be appropriate for them. No two children are the same.

More importantly though; parents need to converse with their kids about the games they are playing. There are so many parents that don't do this.

I game a lot, and my daughter does too. She's now 16 but she's played games for as long as I can remember. Did I let her pick up Silent Hill when she was 4? No. She played Blue's Clues and Winnie the Pooh games because that's what she liked and what I knew she was ready for. As she matured so did the kinds of games I was comfortable letting her play. Now she's 16 and better at Dark Souls then I am. :)

You can't know if your child is ready for a certain game if you can't talk about it. I think a big problem though is that most parents don't play video games themselves and therefore have no idea where to begin talking about them.

Ashlen4214d ago (Edited 4214d ago )

Well if your asking honestly I think that was an over reaction on your part. I mean you can't really control your kids, growing up my friends who had ultra controlling parents mostly rebelled even harder. And honestly most of my friends who got along well with their parents had parents who were open and accepting and willing to talk about things.

As a parent I feel like you can't ever control who your child will become in full, you can only help to guide them and give them advice and try to present good opportunities. And if they don't want to listen there isn't a whole lot you can do, except keep trying.

And as far as games and violence go, TBH I think that the hormones and steroids they feed and inject into the livestock we eat is more of a cause of aggression in people. it's a fact that some of the things they inject animals with to make them grow larger muscles cause aggression in said animals.

Though I honestly wouldn't buy military shooters that involve one real country fighting versus another real country, personally I find those games to be very antagonistic and are trying to condition people into accepting the idea that war is inevitable. It bothers me how in America I always hear people in the media talk about war with China as if it's some sort of inevitable truth that eventually there will be a conflict. But that all said if my child bought or obtained said game I wouldn't take it away, but I might sit down with them and discus how I feel about "inevitable war rhetoric".

Anyways I would never tell anyone how to parent, but you asked that's my opinion.

VGMMDI4214d ago

Well, you can control or at least guide certain parts. My 5 year old plays Call of Duty and I don't care about that. He tells me, "Dad, I'm shooting the bad guys." I don't care about something like that. However, that game with the boss had no real goal except to harm the person, that was it. I just didn't want him to play something like that when there was no real reason for the violence. It was violent to be violent and that was it.

Ashlen4214d ago

Well. as long as you teach him Chinese and Muslims are bad guys i'm sure he'll grow up to be a fine American! F'yea! lol

Valenka4214d ago

Well, I like to think that my upbringing is a prime example in support of the opinion that video games do NOT cause violence in a person. At 8 years old, my father came home with a copy of Grand Theft Auto III; so I've been playing the Grand Theft Auto series for thirteen years. The first game I played was GoldenEye on Nintendo 64 at around 4 or 5 years old. I grew up watching my father play Manhunt while my mother stuck to Super Mario and Banjo Kazooie - LOL - so I've been exposed to violent video games at a young age.

To this day, I haven't gotten into so much as a fist-fight, never mind true violence. I should also address the fact that even while playing Grand Theft Auto, my parents would sit me down and ask what I did in the game and ask if I understood that some of the things you're allowed to do in the game, you aren't allowed to do in the real world. My response was always, "Mom, Dad, I know I can't do that in real life. It's illegal and wrong."

Once my parents established that I knew right from wrong, I was given free reign. So their parenting was done correctly. Of course, people can disagree as much as they'd like, arguing that I should never have been exposed to such games as Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt at a young age, but they can't tell my parents how to raise me, especially considering that their methods were pristine and spot-on.

If you ask me, parents who restrict their children and treat them like a German shepherd are more likely to have a child who grows up to be...colourful and rebellious, because of the heavy restrictions in their upbringing.

VGMMDI4214d ago

I can't remember when or where it was, but I do remember reading a story about a boy who had religious parents that didn't allow him to play any games at all. Well, one day he hurt himself and because was bed ridden they allowed him to play sport games. He got a hold of Halo 2 somehow and was hooked on it. The parents didn't like it, took it away, and he shot them.

Damn, I don't want to just say this without finding a source, but when I get the time I'll link it to you, but I agree with what you are saying. You can't shield them from the world. You can show them or teach them, but you can't hide them from it.

70°

Microsoft Gaming Revenue Drops 7% Year-on-Year, Content and Services Down 5%, Xbox Hardware Down 33%

Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.

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simulationdaily.com
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Jin_Sakai15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.

dveio14d ago

To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.

Jingsing14d ago

The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.

Tanktopmaster9214d ago

Once they re-evaluate exclusive all will be fine….

S2Killinit14d ago

Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.

Jingsing14d ago

15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.

Tanktopmaster9214d ago

These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse

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Games Done Quick is coming to Europe for the first time with 3 days of Gamescom speedruns

The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.

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Report: Injustice 3 in Development at NetherRealm Studios

Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.

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