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chee
New Member
USA
35 Posts |
 Posted - 02/01/2002 : 08:40:22
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2002 : 09:04:26 [Permalink]
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quote:
Not sure if I am amused or appalled. Spent some time last night playing through several of the "games" at my son's request. The fact he finds them fun is somewhat disturbing in the light of day.
Is this what we as a society (or me as a mom) want our children to turn to for entertainment? Should I trust that my apparently reasonable, semi-responsible 16 year old can tell the difference between fantasy and reality when it comes to this stuff or should I be searching his closet for a black trenchcoat and boxes of ammunition?
Have to admit to experiencing a small thrill when raiding the "crackhouse'" successfully. Same guilty feeling when playing one gets when you get that urge to follow the fire truck or stop at an accident scene. Kept moving from game to game in disbelief that they could get any worse and found myself quite caught up in what was happening.
Violence whether we like it or not has always been a part of children's play. Playing 'cowboys and indians', 'cops and robbers', etc as children was in its own form violent. We used toy guns to shoot each other - often with the person being shot dying dramatically.
The question is - do you as the parent think or feel that your son is capable of telling the difference between fantasy and reality?
I would say by showing you what he's playing on the computer it would seem that your son has a level of trust in you as a parent that would preclude 'hiding' from you. IOW, your son trusts his relationship with you to feel comfortable sharing this with you. I think this perspective is a good place to start.
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There is no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our world. It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've known. Sagan |
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chee
New Member
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2002 : 09:44:58 [Permalink]
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I understand violence has always been with us and have never particularly tried to shelter any of my children from media portrayals. This just seems extreme even to a liberal believer in non-censorship. I believe my son and I have a good relationship based on mutual trust, however, there have been two occasions where I found myself saying with all certainty "My child would not do that" only to find out he most certainly did. Even the most rational responsible person experiences lapses. Biggest question though remains...What is it about this stuff that people seem to find so fascinating?
A colder place I've never known, than with someone but yet alone. |
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Megan
Skeptic Friend
USA
163 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2002 : 18:50:49 [Permalink]
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I for one have gone to Stickdeath before it was broughten up here. And I dont really think that it's all that bad. Actually some of it is funny. Why?? Because, like you mentioned, it's human nature to be entertained by violence. But I can assure you that you don't need to make a big deal of it. (Not trying to come off on the wrong foot but I'm just trying to explain it from a teenage POV).
~Megan~
"If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead." - Zandermann |
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2002 : 14:31:36 [Permalink]
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Chee, I'll have Megan show me this game when I get home. But since we're about the same age, let's get some perspective here. As a kid, did you enjoy Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, or Rocky and Bullwinkle? I've heard that some stations have quit showing the older cartoons because of violent content. The "pad the whole world from everything the least bit objectionable" is happy about this. I grew up watching the stuff, and I don't think I'm any more warped than most. How about you?
Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room. |
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chee
New Member
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2002 : 10:34:26 [Permalink]
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I certainly did and I do understand the entertainment "value" of cartoon violence. Still get a hinky feeling though when I watch a kid sit and repeatedly try to work his way through these games, killing and maiming as he goes. A little different than being a spectator to something blood and gore free.
quote:
Chee, I'll have Megan show me this game when I get home. But since we're about the same age, let's get some perspective here. As a kid, did you enjoy Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, or Rocky and Bullwinkle? I've heard that some stations have quit showing the older cartoons because of violent content. The "pad the whole world from everything the least bit objectionable" is happy about this. I grew up watching the stuff, and I don't think I'm any more warped than most. How about you?
Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room.
A colder place I've never known, than with someone but yet alone. |
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Dr Shari
Skeptic Friend
135 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2002 : 15:45:26 [Permalink]
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I am upset when I know my son lets his 2 year old watch wrestling on TV. I know I let him watch it when he was about 10 or so but wrestling 15 years ago is not what it is today and he was old enough to know it was fantasy and choreographed.
You go to see a movie and you know it is fake and you enjoy it(or not)for its entertainment. Hopefully video games are the same thing for kids. An enjoyable piece of fantasy. In my opinion if a child KNOWS it is a game and if it is age appropriate let them chop ghouls and bad guys to death. Just send them outside after awhile and set the amount of time aside for reading even if it is just Steven King novels. Mental exercise is the point.
Death: The High Cost of Living
It is easier to get forgiveness then to get permission!
Edited by - dr shari on 02/20/2002 21:43:38 |
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chee
New Member
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2002 : 11:31:01 [Permalink]
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Mental exercise is the point.
Therein lies the problem. Not much mental exercise involved with these games. More just rote and mindless killing.
A colder place I've never known, than with someone but yet alone. |
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2002 : 11:45:22 [Permalink]
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While the mental exercise value of todays video games is not the same as it was a few years ago, there are still some games out there that can be challenging.
I don't see how a book especially one of those that we find in the bestseller lists can be more of an mental exercise than an interactive game.
From a certain age on the kids appear to be able to tell appart fantasy and reallity. I wish the same could be said about those censors who want to protect them.
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chee
New Member
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2002 : 12:17:15 [Permalink]
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quote:
While the mental exercise value of todays video games is not the same as it was a few years ago, there are still some games out there that can be challenging.
I don't see how a book especially one of those that we find in the bestseller lists can be more of an mental exercise than an interactive game.
From a certain age on the kids appear to be able to tell appart fantasy and reallity. I wish the same could be said about those censors who want to protect them.
I agree that many video games are extremely engaging and stimulating. this site is quite different from the playstation and nintendo type games. I am not so concerned with censoring my son's activities as I am with just the overall desensitization to violence many adolescents seem to exhibit. I would like to think my child would react to brutality in some way other than "ho hum".
Interesting stats:
1 in six youths between the ages of 10 and 17 has seen or knows someone who has been shot. (Children's Defense Fund)
More than 150,000 school students bring a gun to school each day. (CDF)
At least 150,000 students skip classes each school day because they fear physical harm. (NEA)
Every U.S. school day, 6,250 teachers are threatened by students with bodily harm. (NEA)
And these are just the reported incidents.
A colder place I've never known, than with someone but yet alone. |
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Lars_H
SFN Regular
Germany
630 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2002 : 12:32:26 [Permalink]
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Interesting statistics.
This could indeed lead to the conclusion that children in the US are desensitized to violence. If you pick the right numbers from the past, you could even construct a case for saying that it has gotten worse.
The point where I get sceptical is when somebody claims that this has anything to do with violent video games, violent movies, volent music or anyting else they want to link it to.
You could as a counterexmple take the statistics of some other country like Japan where the violence in entertainment is worse or Germany where it is not much better then the US despite govermner attempts of censorship. Those countrys are not as desensitized it would seem.
Nobody has really been able to prove that there is some sort of causal link between entertainment featuring violence and violent behavior.
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2002 : 18:37:57 [Permalink]
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quote:
Should I trust that my apparently reasonable, semi-responsible 16 year old can tell the difference between fantasy and reality when it comes to this stuff or should I be searching his closet for a black trenchcoat and boxes of ammunition?
I hope you don't take this the wrong way BUT, 16 years old? And you are wondering if he can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality? I find that a very strange comment/question unless I'm missing that you are trying to be humorous.
I realize various kids learn the same things at different ages, but my boy was getting his own food, reading and dressing himself by age 3, even if some kids do all that at different ages, by 16, sheesh....that's an adult already. I'm only going by what you said 'apparently reasonable' so I assume he's not retarded, that would be different.
quote:
Have to admit to experiencing a small thrill when raiding the "crackhouse'" successfully. Same guilty feeling when playing one gets when you get that urge to follow the fire truck or stop at an accident scene.
Can't say that I ever had an urge to look at an accident at the side of the road. LOL, in fact I enjoy honking at the idiots who do, to try to hurry them up. Maybe it's just that in Los Angeles things are different, there are so many of them. You've seen one, you've seen them all.
quote:
Kept moving from game to game in disbelief that they could get any worse and found myself quite caught up in what was happening.
That reminds me of the computer game Doom. I think that's what it was called. I never got to play, my boy always was using it, but I loved to watch the man go through a maze like fortress and being surprized by a gunman, then would shoot and blood would spurt out. It was funny and tense and exciting. Also skillful.
These games do serve a purpous besides the obvious one of killing a made up enemy and releasing anger, I think it promotes hand/eye coordination, gross motor skills.
BTW, I vagely remember seeing the other link on that site with the little stick people telling a story. Someone once sent me 'Jerry'.
Did you see 'rEFLECTIONS' and 'jET pACK'? I burst out laughing.
Don't be so serious, what we see in the news is out of the ordinary and isn't likely to happen to you. It just frightens people. Hum! Maybe the media has a side line business of burglar alarms.
*
Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 02/27/2002 : 18:43:08 [Permalink]
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quote:
I for one have gone to Stickdeath before it was broughten up here.
Sorry, slightly off subject but What does 'broughten' mean?
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Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
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chee
New Member
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - 02/28/2002 : 11:50:10 [Permalink]
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[quote]
I hope you don't take this the wrong way BUT, 16 years old? And you are wondering if he can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality? I find that a very strange comment/question unless I'm missing that you are trying to be humorus.
[/quote]
Humorous is not quite the right word although I do believe my son grasps the difference between the real world (whatever that is) and the fantasy world of video games. However, my concern about the desensitization of our youths to violence is real. I deal with it everyday in my job. There does seem to be a growing population of young people who don't understand that dead is dead. I remember the sense of invincibility I felt at 16 and 17, but it appears to me to be much more far reaching.
Moment of epiphany - had the thought that perhaps what is really bothering me is more the attitude of the "rules don't apply to me" that is also pervasive. I can see those two concepts intertwining.
A colder place I've never known, than with someone but yet alone. |
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 02/28/2002 : 13:58:22 [Permalink]
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[quote]
Moment of epiphany - had the thought that perhaps what is really bothering me is more the attitude of the "rules don't apply to me" that is also pervasive. I can see those two concepts intertwining.
[/quote]
Ok, now I understand what you are saying BUT I don't understand what games have to do with it.
YES! My son (just turned 18) has exactly that attitude you diescribe. I don't know where he got it. My mother taught me to be respectful of others and my boys father comes from a country and culture where children are very respectful of their elders, so I can't put a finger on how or where this younger generation gets that idea.
A friend of mine was just the other day telling me about a young adult border she has in her house. My friend is in her 80's. She also was mentioning how this young person has no respect for the things that do not belong to her. My friend said it's not that the girl does things just to be nasty, she just doesn't realize she is being rude. My frind did try to hint that the girl shouldn't use things that don't belong to her but now my friend has given up and accepts....That's the way it is.
But back to the games, or the insensitivity, there are a lot of factors to cause that situation. I don't have all the answers but I don't think it's only TV or vidio games, or lack of good education in the schools, or no parent supervision....it's so much more, but who really knows? Of course they've gotten rid of lead paint so maybe it's something in the water. I remember when people protested putting Floride in it, some thought it was a Communist plot. Maybe it was a Right Wing religious plot so years later they could blame TV!
*
Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
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