My dear friend John passed me a link to a recent article on Ars Technica. Raising a Healthy Gamer: Seven Tips for Parents offers some good common sense insights and some excellent references. The author’s first recommendation really struck home. He suggested that parents make time to take an active role in the gaming lives of their children. He expounded with the following:
Even if you aren’t always there when your child or children plays a game, putting an hour or two into the game when it’s first opened up will give you a great idea about what kind of content you can expect to see in the game. Watch your child’s body language, because games can evoke strong emotions and reactions in those playing them.
The article has a number of other excellent observations and they all stem from the fact that parents are the best judges of whether or not content is appropriate for their children. That requires time and involvement…which pretty much defines parenting.
If you get a chance, point your browser in their direction. It will be time well-invested.
A couple of quick newsworthy items to share with parents who have iPhones/iPod Touches in the family. Apple has recently released a new software update for their popular mobile platform. Among a slew of new features one is important feature – Parental Controls.
The ability to download and purchase Apps from the App Store can now be limited by rating. The ratings are based on for what age the games are appropriate: No Apps, 4+, 9+, 12+, 17+ and all Apps.
The device also allows people to disable the ability to make in-App purchases. It also allows similar policing of movies, music and TV shows.
This is great news. Apple is now rating the games they have for sale in their App Store and parents can now set permissions on what can be accessed on the device.
Here’s a quick guide to set the Parental Controls.
From the Home screen select “Settings” then “General”
Tap “Restrictions”
By default restrictions are disabled. Tap the “Enable Restrictions” button to enable. You’ll be prompted to enter a passcode to lock these settings.
After entering the new passcode twice you’ll then have the options to set parental controls for everything from Safari and YouTube to the App Store.
If you scroll down a little you’ll see an option for Apps. Tap this option to bring up the allowed apps rating.
From here select the rating you’d like to have as the maximum.
This is a great way to keep the more mature games separate from the kid approved ones! Apps that are above the threshold don’t appear on the home screen. Visiting the Parental Controls options and setting a lighter restriction will make them reappear.
We’re always on the lookout for a video game deal here at Game Apparent. Infact the majority of our purchases are not the instant a new title hits the shelf, but when the price drop reaches a reasonable level.
Thanks to Joystiq we just heard that Cheap Ass Gamer has announced a new feature for their site that will make hunting for bargins even easier.
The site has just implemented an adjustable “Price Email Alerts” feature that automatically sends a tip to your inbox once a game hits the low price you’ve personally set.
Checkout the video above for the skinny from none other than CheapyD himself. I’m off to start my list of games!
Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force? We have a task force dedicated to internet crimes in the middle of Missouri? And they’re keeping the Internet safe by writing about Animal Crossing: City Folk? [Smacks forehead on desk]
For the uninitiated, the Animal Crossing series is by Nintendo (Of Mario and Zelda fame) where you live an idyllic life in a town. That’s it. There is no end goal to the game, no gigantic boss battles, no credits, nada.
The game is whatever you want to make of it. Go fishing, help your neighbors with chores, pluck weeds, furnish your house, go shopping, etc. Think of it as Sims-light.
One component of the game, but not required to play, is the online component. You can share messages, send gifts and visit other people’s cities. On the Wii version of the game you have to use friend codes. Friend codes are unique to each Wii and allow you to connect with your friends in particular Wii games. These codes in turn must be shared in the real world or via some other form of communication outside of the Wii software.
According to officer Andy Anderson of the Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force:
“There is no reason an adult should have [Animal Crossing: City Folk],”
Anderson says adults playing “Animal Crossing” and similar games are likely doing it for the wrong reasons.
What? Did I hear that right? It gets better. From Wired’s GameLife:
Before you gamers verbally assault Anderson and the Missouri police, please note that they almost have to focus on the Wii, as apparently it’s the only console they could get the funding to purchase. “The equipment is real expensive and we cannot afford to buy all of the systems and do not have the resources either to examine all of the possibilities,” Anderson said.
I’d like to link to the original artile at KMIZ (a local ABC affilate) but they’ve since removed it from their site.
The agency issued another statement urging parents to watch children who play the game, but stressed that all adults using the game or game system likely are not contacting children inappropriately.
That sounds a little more rational.
Since the original story broke there’s been a lot of further coverage of this blunder. I can’t help but feel like this is all a misunderstanding, but something bothers me when the uneducated try to educated the uneducated.
Parents who don’t know what Animal Crossing is may read these reports, trusting of thier source and then go off acting suspicious of anyone playing the game. It just doesn’t settle right with me.
My suggestion? Hire someone like Ted or myself to help bring you guys up to speed. Heck, pay my bus ticket and I’ll bring my gaming systems out to the ol’ HQ. I’ll answer any questions you may have about how the different current gen systems work ON THE INTERNET!
I had an interesting conversation with my wife the other day. We were discussing a kid, well actually he’s a senior in college, but to us he’s a kid.
This particular individual happens to be one of the smartest and most successful people I know. At 5 years his senior he makes me feel like some sort of devolved monkey. While talking about him we came to a theory about why he is more successful than his peers.
He likes to try new things. And he spends his time doing new things.
I think parents need to encourage their children, even at very young ages, to try new things. Kids need to be raised without fear – of course as long as they won’t recieve physical or mental harm.
Take my daughter for example. She likes bugs and dolls. When we find a bug crawling around neither my wife or I freak out and start swinging at it. We calmly explain to Kari what it is and how to interact with it.
If it’s a dangerous insect we tell her to stay back and let us handle it. If it’s something benign we encourage her to watch it, ask questions and tell us what she sees.
These days parents are fearful of everything. Every object, social scenario, environment – is a mine field of things that we only see as potential harm. I witness far too many parents who won’t let their kids play video games, for fear of what they might see.
These same parents, frustratingly, would willingly plop their tyke down infront of the TV for hours and be comfortably oblivious to what they’re experiencing.
If there are no other benefits of video games over TV but one, let it be this – Video games, even the most basic, offer more interactivity and create more mental stimulus than your average television show.
My theory is that parents are too fearful and don’t want to try new things. Therefore their children suffer the same fate. We wonder why so many children rise to mediocrity as adults when the cause is us, the parents.
Once again, I’m not suggesting you plop your children down with a video game. You need to interact with them regardless of the medium they are experiencing. (Yes, books too!) But video games are inherently curved to produce a more meaningful experience than most mainstream media.
For more on this subject I encourage you to check out two books. The first is Free Range Kids - a book about allowing kids to take risks as they grow up. The second is by Malcom Gladwell called Outliers. In Gladwell’s book he discusses how benefits at young ages creates opportunities latter in life that give some individuals a leg-up on their peers. Both are highly recommended.
The important argument here that many tend to overlook is the concept of true causality. One can easily identify commonalities and even correlations. However, causality means that without the presence of a particular element, the outcome would be different. And conversely, because of the presence of a particular element, an outcome is inevitable. Jack Thompson, the anti-gaming activist and (former) lawyer is cited in this article almost immediately because he stated through the national media outlets that the Virgina Tech massacre was a result of Seung-Hui Cho’s exposure to violent video games. As investigators eventually revealed, Seung-Hui Cho didn’t play video games. Jack Thompson was betting that he had, though, because the majority males in college do.
But even if the shooter had been an avid gamer, scientific method would dictate that we verify causality by looking at others who play violent games. If the games cause shootings, then all people playing these games are attempting to commit similar acts. This is obviously not the case. Instead, gaming is a pervasive part of the culture and everyone playing these games is not committing violence on this level. This attempt at causality is much like identifying that a shooter breathes oxygen, therefore oxygen causes the urge to kill.
Still, with such violence in our society we must continue to reflect upon the true source(s). I believe that children should not be exposed to any form of violent media before they are old enough to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Modeling such acts without grasping the consequences is tragic. As parents it is our responsibility to maintain an active dialog with our families to identify what our children see, hear, and believe.
