Post: Tips for Choosing Good Video Games for Your Kids
Tips for Choosing Good Video Games for Your Kids
1.) Think about your children's interests when looking for games. Are they interested in sports, fantasy, or strategy-style games?
2.) Talk to other parents for advice and suggestions of good games.
3.) Find games that have the appropriate Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating for your child's age. But be aware that even games with the seemingly benign "Everyone" rating can still contain a great deal of violence.
4.) Look for games that are challenging and exciting without being violent. Video game manufacturers create violent games to satisfy children's need to feel powerful and in control. Try to find games that offer kids thrills and the chance to experience control in a non-violent way.
5.) Find games that require strategy and problem-solving skills. If they have an educational component, that's a bonus.
6.) When choosing games for girls, look for ones that have strong, non-stereotypical female characters.
7.) Video games are expensive, so make sure the game has good play value before you buy. Talk to other parents, read gaming magazines, and check out some of the great game review sites for parents on the Web. If possible, try the game first by borrowing or renting it. Ask for an in-store demo and make sure you can return the game if you are not satisfied with the content.
8.) Look for games that involve two players, to encourage cooperative play and to make game-playing a social activity.
© 2006 Media Awareness Network, www.media-awareness.ca, reproduced with permission.
Technorati tags: video games kids' video games
There are 5 replies to this post
Date: April 14, 2006
About Point #4: this can actually be an argument for letting kids play violent video games. Like you say, it is a need, a function to have that feeling of power and control, that kids often can't have in the real world. Here are some quotes from an article by Gerard Jones:
"We've found that every aspect of even the trashiest pop-culture story can have its own developmental function. Pretending to have superhuman powers helps children conquer the feelings of powerlessness that inevitably come with being so young and small. The dual-identity concept at the heart of many superhero stories helps kids negotiate the conflicts between the inner self and the public self as they work through the early stages of socialization. Identification with a rebellious, even destructive, hero helps children learn to push back against a modern culture that cultivates fear and teaches dependency.
At its most fundamental level, what we call "creative violence" -- head-bonking cartoons, bloody videogames, playground karate, toy guns -- gives children a tool to master their rage. Children will feel rage. Even the sweetest and most civilized of them, even those whose parents read the better class of literary magazines, will feel rage. The world is uncontrollable and incomprehensible; mastering it is a terrifying, enraging task. Rage can be an energizing emotion, a shot of courage to push us to resist greater threats, take more control, than we ever thought we could. But rage is also the emotion our culture distrusts the most. Most of us are taught early on to fear our own. Through immersion in imaginary combat and identification with a violent protagonist, children engage the rage they've stifled, come to fear it less, and become more capable of utilizing it against life's challenges."
I will link to the whole article below. Definitely a good read, and one that will make you think, and should make you question the "violent games are harmful" argument.
Link: http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns
Date: April 15, 2006
Mr. Blonde, excellent post.
Also, for #6...what would a "non stereotypical" female be?
It always seems that it's a lose/lose situation when creating a female character.
Date: May 6, 2006
Hi I am a 13yr old gamer, and I have to ask, why do you think violent games and shows cause the child to become a bully?
If you want the source of our anger blame school I get picked on all the time at school... then when i come home i get picked on by my 17 yr old (bodybuilding) brother (who hits me when he wants) and my soccer playing twin(with rediculous kicking strength) my mother lets them do anything they want and just over all spoils them and leaves me alone to realize that I really have no life and what my brother and sister say is true, in an attempt to to escape my world of frustration I (6 yrs ago) turned to videogames, I quicklyy found out 3 yrs ago that i make lots of friends during online gaming who respect me more than my own family does(except for my ONE sister dianna... she nice) video games are where i find joy and realize that i have a skill at something, i do have anger problems.... but those are from thoughts and memories of what life through at me via my brothers and sisters my friends and other things too.
Therefore videogames do not make kids violent...if anything videogames give me hope... a hope for a good career, and something i can be good at.
The source of drugs and temptation itself is school and peer pressure... peers who have parents that dont treat them like they should
Date: May 6, 2006
i made some typos and mistakes there
Date: August 11, 2006
Although I think some of the things stated in Anonymous' comment above are rather silly (and I'm 15), there has been a recent survey that violence in video games does NOT increase violence in children. One reason, I believe, is that most kids realize either realize that what they are doing is fiction (except in some cases, like war games), or do not have hopes of visceral/gratuitous killings in real life because there is no readily accessible way for them to access weapons of the sort-- with the exception of their parent's owning weapons. And someone, please don't try and drag up the whole "Columbine was caused by violent video games"; that has been disproved and we don't need to beat it to death again.