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Post by Youngster Joey on Apr 14, 2012 3:21:52 GMT -5
It actually reeaaaaaally bugs me when I see young kids with video games. Don't get me wrong; I had really good memories of playing video games when I was a kid, but I absolutely do not think children under the age of 7 or 8 should be playing video games more than once in a blue moon (or watching TV, for that matter; in fact, TV is worse). It seems such a waste to me to be entertained by something at an age when you can entertain yourself so well. If children do play video games, I'd rather they did it the way my sister and I had to as kids. I'm pretty sure I would have played Pokemon every waking moment in 3rd grade, but my parents wouldn't let us play video games on the weekdays. Playing video games was a real treat, and the rest of the time, we had to find other things to do. I probably wouldn't have read nearly as much as I did, had I had the constant allure of video games (Of course, my brother never had any such restrictions at that age... Oh, how much more lenient parents are with the youngest child )
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Post by supersonic1453 on Apr 14, 2012 13:31:29 GMT -5
Eh, don't need to read.
I dunno. I don't see why not. Worked out alright for me. I couldn't get hooked on Pokemon in 3rd grade because it didn't exist.
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Post by hikarihanazono on Apr 14, 2012 23:25:26 GMT -5
WELL.....I as a kid....started playing like around 4? Which was bad. REALLY. But it was also a great experience. Cause I got to learn something in life. And I got to meet you guys Uhh, weeeeellll, okay, here's something: If I had kids, I wouldn't let them play until 5. Cause of their vision, and I might look like the worst parent in the world. WEEELLLL As long as the game doesn't have sexual content, blood, guns, I'm fine. But sadly, kids nowadays LOOOOVEEEE CoD, BlackOps, andcraplike that, which I see those parents as horrible parents.
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Post by Captain Zelar on Apr 14, 2012 23:29:19 GMT -5
I grew up with video games and look at how I turned out
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Post by sukotsuto on Apr 14, 2012 23:51:48 GMT -5
I started playing really young, and it's more entertaining than regular toys as well as being the reason for memorable times with my cousins. My nephews also played really young and they're all healthy kids who go out a lot, lots of friends, close bonds with each other, and top of their class in school.
So long as parents don't use games as a babysitting tool, and the games being the only the kids obsesses with to the point of having a game a month, it's fine.
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Post by AokiShizuku on Apr 15, 2012 3:53:36 GMT -5
I grew up with video games and look at how I turned out I think that's why people are getting worried. Kidding, kidding. I started playing games around 4 years old however before then I was watching my older brother playing his SNES and that got my interest. Considering how I turned out (Quiet, somewhat anti-social, bad eye-sight etc) it makes sense to put an age limit on when children can play video games. However were it not for those RPGs I played during my childhood I probably wouldn't have learnt some of the things I know today.
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Post by Captain Zelar on Apr 15, 2012 4:05:44 GMT -5
Quiet and anti-social are really more determined by the personality wiring we are born with then by video games, not to mention other factors in growing up. I'm quiet and anti-social because I don't trust strangers and I'm actually quite the talker with friends.
I've been playing videos games since as long as I can remember (around 2 I believe) and I actually learned to read earlier then most kids because of it. My dad still talks about how I started reading the text from Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island before I was in Kindergarten. Of course I didn't play as much back then, mainly 3 hours or so every weekend (my mom didn't get any video games till the 64 and GBC came out.)
So basically I think video games can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how much they play and what they play. It's not really the fault of Video Games if the kids get messed up, it's mainly the fault of the parents for not making sure their kids are healthily stimulated.
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Post by supersonic1453 on Apr 15, 2012 10:41:20 GMT -5
Zelar, high five. Two year olds represent.
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Post by Umbra on Apr 15, 2012 12:33:35 GMT -5
I think the fact that children do have many other things they can do for fun makes it less likely for a bad aspect of gaming like addiction to affect them.
I'd say teens are more prone for addiction. It's their first taste of the rigors of life, and it's much easier to draw back into gaming.
Back on topic of children playing video games, though, I think it's actually healthy. It might help them read better and it gives them an early exposure to the more artistic side of video games.
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Post by hikarihanazono on Apr 15, 2012 14:04:02 GMT -5
Well, here's a better opinion:
Children themselves should play video games, but the right ones anyway. Like, things of war is what goes into addiction, hell, it even started a small fight in my school because of war video games, thats a no-no. As long as the game shows a life lesson, I'd let my child play it. (If I had one) I wouldn't give him/her something that's not his age. And I would let them start young, but not let them play as much as I used to in childhood.
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Post by Phone Master Ion on Apr 15, 2012 15:27:19 GMT -5
I think it should be an earned privilege. I was restricted when I was younger and I did read and do a bunch of other things which developed into positive interests. My younger brother was not, and now he's a nutcase (at least in my opinion ). I also believe that age restrictions should be strictly enforced. Nothing ruins my day quite like a 7 year old with a mic on online servers (good god, do they always have to be talking?) in TF2 which just so happens to be M rated. I was blocked from M rated games so I suppose my interests developed accordingly (books, art, anime), and to bash on my brother again, he whines and complains the moment I hit 17 that he wants to play M rated games too, and before you know it, parents give in and he wants to go to shooting ranges because it's "just like call of duty."
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Post by supersonic1453 on Apr 15, 2012 21:04:54 GMT -5
Dunno, played all the M rated games. Didn't want to do any of that.
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Post by sukotsuto on Apr 15, 2012 23:10:14 GMT -5
If my kid is going to play online FPS, I won't restrict the kid. If I do, some kids will just want what is forbidden even more, and would probably play the game in a friend's house anyway. At least if it's in my house, I won't have to worry about the kid being unsupervised in someone else's house. What I won't tolerate is if it's the only thing he does or if he rages or if he communicates on the mic publicly. I have to teach him how to behave online, something that probably is rarely done in our transition to this digital age. Oh and me or my bro will teach him how to keep his cool in online gaming and to kick ass lol.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2012 10:17:43 GMT -5
I'll put it in a simple way
No child must play any kind of video games because I said so!!!!
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Post by Umbra on Apr 17, 2012 17:06:44 GMT -5
If my kid is going to play online FPS, I won't restrict the kid. If I do, some kids will just want what is forbidden even more, and would probably play the game in a friend's house anyway. At least if it's in my house, I won't have to worry about the kid being unsupervised in someone else's house. I think it's the same with anything forbidden forbidden, like drugs. The more they want it, the more they're going to want to get it even if it's hard to get. In the end, what a person does to themselves is their own fault, but a parent can help prevent a child from inflicting harm on themselves with addiction. On a side note, the reason why a child usually wants to play a certain video like an FPS is because of exposure to culture through another medium like the silver screen. And exposure to culture isn't reversible.
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