Children and Games

Rated E for Everyone. Rated M for Mature. We all see these stamped on the front and back of games for all systems of play. Adults like killing and nudity, while children are expected to like well, games that feature none of that. There are many great games that are available through platforms that are good for kids. Dance Dance Revolution is a great example of this. However, it is only for certain systems and we just have 360.

I write this article as an observer of how games affect children. Through parenting trial and error, we let our son play The Simpson's Game. This is a very violent game that has some profanity in it.

Within a couple of days our son was hitting his baby sister, me, and his dad. He was taking joy in killing off the characters and his whole demeanor changed. I decided to take the game away and made him play E games and one PG13 one that isn't bad. PG3 Racer isn't violent and it doesn't have nudity or profanity so I am not sure why it is rated that.

Within a few days the violence stopped and he has been level headed and the good child we know he is. Sometimes he still acts out, but for the most part, he has come back to the same as he was before our parenting mistake.

The purpose of this article is to prove that games do affect our children. They act out what they see and hear, so to allow them to spend their time learning about violence is a great way to breed more violence. I hope that parents reading this will reconsider the next time a child begs for Grand Theft Auto or The Simpson's. How can our world get better when children are taught violence is okay. Even if it is in video games and explained as not real. If they are sat in front of games day after day, that becomes their reality.

By: Tannie
Published: 07/21/08

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8 Posted Comments:

It's very true

@ 12:42 am 07/24/08 by nerdassassin

Yes, it's true that gaming affects children. I for one believes that I learned a lot from RPGs when I was I a child. I became a thinker, because of all the puzzles and strategies to use in battle. But minds of kids nowadays are different. Usually discussions on the net includes the younger audience bashing out other consoles because they believe that 360 is the bomb. And it really is, looking at lineups of games today. Usually all we can see now are top-rated shooters and action games that feature black humor, nudity, profanity, and violence. And it's evident on others as well. Even Wii has that No More Heroes game or something like that. And it's mind-corrupting. My younger brother used to play GTA3 San Andreas. And when my mother saw it, she broke the CD. Talk about money waste. But then, it wasn't really a waste, seeing how it affected him when he played NBA Live 08. He is now hooked to basketball. And then he became careful of the games he plays, what to pick up from it and whatnot. He also plays Call of Duty 4 now, but because he's playing with my dad he didn't show off any signs of behavior alterations. It's just games for him right now.

The best thing is to not let kids indulge with most video games today at an early age. Let them play with tetris at least, or arkanoid. Or Dora.

And the worst thing a parent can do to corrupt his child's mind is to let him play GTA, so please parents...never do that.

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Meh

@ 8:51 am 07/24/08 by Nax05

I can partly agree with this. Very small children definitely should not play violent games and/or games with profanity. Specifically M rated games. I really don't think T(Teen) games are really that bad, or 'PG13' games in your case. A lot of small children are very easily affected though, which would be a good reason to keep those kind of games away from them. When they become a teen though, specifically 14 or older, I don't think games affect them at all anymore. Even if it's riddled with profanity and violence. At that point, they should be able to distinguish what's virtual and what's reality. I strongly dislike people who make it their life job to get games banned because they think it drove a kid to insanity. Just not cool.

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rebuttal

@ 11:04 am 07/25/08 by Tannie

It is not my intent to get these banned from existence. I enjoy playing them myself. Which is really a moot point because if someone famous like Jo Frost from Supernanny can tell the world these games are "rubbish" and them not get banned, then some no name small time article writer like me won't be able to.

@ 4:06 pm 07/26/08 by Nax05

Well..of course not. I wasn't saying I expected you to try and get games banned. I was just saying I dislike people who do. There's a few big names out there who try their hardest to get rid of a lot of games, like GTA and such.

And also, DDR is on Xbox 360. I have it, lol.

@ 3:01 am 07/28/08 by valiantdude

Hi Tannie
I completely agree with your thinking. Every child has a inquisitive and adaptive nature thats why they learn from the things they see. Like if they play a game in which there is lot of violence then definitely it will effect them too. They will take it is reality and they will try to react like them only. Even i don't believe the ratings of games because sometimes its not correct, So parents should check the game first then only allow their kids to play.
Regards

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@ 2:43 am 08/27/08 by Xiaoyu Yang

Hi there. I think that children cannot tell right or wrong when they're very young. They just perceive what they see so video games should be double checked before you let them play.

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@ 5:56 pm 08/29/08 by C.D. Crowder

This is something I hear often, but even though games affect children, parental guidance and influence affects them even more. Teach them right from wrong and video games won't be a problem. If they prove they can't handle them, well, don't buy them.

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@ 8:24 am 08/31/08 by yourstrulyisabel

Hi! I'm not a parent yet but I have brothers who when they were kids love to play video games and up to now they still do even when they are adults arleady. Luckily my brothers were never influenced by what they see on video games thats because we never bought them games thats violent. They just played with the Mario Brothers and NBA games and other friendly games. Not until they were adults. At least by now they know not to mimic anything thats violent.

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