Parental Gaming Advised
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @chickamungus
When I was a little gaming girl I used to try to get my parents to play video games with me. After all, my sister thought they were stupid, and a lot of times I would have to sit and play Fighting Games on Arcade mode, which gets boring after a while. Well, one day I was actually successful in getting my mom to sit down on the floor with me and play Street Fighter II on the SNES. After fiddling around with the buttons, she figured out how to spam a few moves and started having fun with me. After our match, my dad came over to see what all the laughing was about, and I handed him my controller so he and my mom could face off. And there, sitting on the floor like two little kids, were my parents squaring off in a Fighting Game. I’ll never forget that day! They were the happiest button mashers you’d ever see.
That was the first and last time I’d ever get my parents to play a video game with me. Even though we never played together again, I never got scolded for playing too much. I think it’s because they understood why I loved gaming.
Recently I read a report by The Entertainment Software Association called “Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry”. It stated lots of great information about the gaming demographic, game sales, how many people are online gamers, etc, but the thing that caught my eye was the section labeled “Parents and Games”. This section gives a run down of the monitoring and purchasing of video games by parents, but most interestingly, it divulges the amount of time parents spend gaming with their children and the reasons why.
According to this report, 93% of parents are present when games are purchased or rented, and 64% of parents believe that gaming is a positive part of their child’s life. This got me thinking...
When I’m at a game store I often see the bewildered looks on parents’ faces when they’re standing in front of a wall of video games. Their kids are pulling on their shirts, holding up Halo 3 or Modern Warfare 2, and I’m thinking to myself, “PLEASE DON’T BUY YOUR KID THAT GAME!”. Now I’m not trying to be too much of a hypocrite because I played games like Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct way back when CNN was giving those games a bad rap, BUT to my defense, those games were played offline with my nephews or by myself on Arcade mode. Most of the popular games the kiddos are begging for nowadays are online multiplayer games where they will be exposed to adult language, lewd discussions, and racial denigration (now that’s worse than artificial blood and gore).
I’ve been cursed out and called a N-word by a few elementary school kids over Xbox Live, so you can imagine my surprise when I read in the report that 97% of parents report monitoring their kids “always” or “sometimes” while gaming. Is this real monitoring, or just popping their head in the kid’s room for a few seconds to see if they’re still alive? I’m pretty saddened by the fact that little kids are learning smut like this and being influenced by the older crowd online, and I’m annoyed that parents are ignorant enough to allow it.
But enough of the bad stuff! What can be done about it?
I’m sure one answer is in the 64% of parents who feel gaming has a positive impact on their children‘s lives. These must be the encouraging parents who not only buy the games with their kids, but also sit down on the floor and play with them as a family!
I asked a few parents on face book and twitter about video game‘s effect on their kids‘ lives and why they played together:
“I absolutely believe that gaming has had a very positive impact with my kids. One of the biggest things it's taught my kids is good sportsmanship. Being only two years apart my girls are constantly competing and fighting with one another. When they're playing a game it's actually one of the few times where I don't have to worry about breaking up those fights. They'll sit down and play against each other in Mario Kart and it's just a good time for them. It's also one of the few times I see them work together (it sounds like my kids don't like each other which isn't true but they do like to push each buttons). All the lego games that come out are a big hit with my kids and usually one girl will play the game and the other one will point out things that may have been missed.
Gaming with the kids seemed like a natural thing in our house. My husband was already a gamer. In fact he was a HUGE help when the girls were newborns. He would play a game of Madden while the baby sat next to him watching the TV and I was able to get a few hours of sleep. As the kids grew up they loved hanging out with us while we would play for a bit. The oldest learnt the rules of football while watching her dad play. Now that they're old enough to play themselves the four of us will have game nights. It's a lot easier to keep track of a few controllers to play a game of battleship than it is to keep track of all the little pieces that go with board games. Plus it's great breaking out some of our older systems and showing the girls that mommy and daddy use to play when they were kids. All in all it's simply been a great bonding experience with us.”
“It's a great way to socialize with them but it isn't just video games, we'll play board, card and partake [in] outdoor actives as well. Gaming allows you to grab a few minutes without having set up something. As a parent [you] are always in that "mode" and sometimes acting like a kid yourself helps to connect. Each one has their games they enjoy, and I enjoy all areas so it's fun to play each of them at their own game.
Now what brings happiness to me is the satisfaction of kicking their ass, LOL, it's a lesson that the world isn't fair. I know there is going to be a time (which is starting) when I won't be able to beat them, so now is the time shine. Gaming is just another form of entertainment, like watching a movie, it's fantasy and I try to make sure they understand this. Sure too much of it could have a negative effect, but me playing and understanding helps it to keep it positive.”
“Well I don’t play games much but I really enjoy playing with them the little time that I do. For my son to be only 5 he is actually very good & brings out the competitive side in me so it was very fun. I think it depends on the game as far as it having a positive impact on them. Some games do & some don’t in my opinion.”
So there you have it. It seems to me that the positive impact of video games on children’s lives starts with parental interaction. Especially with small children. Family time, bonding, being able to socially interact with your kids on their level, these are the most important things- with video games being the catalyst. Taking the time out understand what your kids are playing, and why they enjoy it makes a big difference as well.
If you are a parent that is curious of the effect gaming has on your children’s lives, the easiest thing to do is to play with them instead of just buying the game for them and peeking your head in their room a few times to see what they’re doing- especially with online gaming! It will bring a huge sense of awareness to you once you involve yourself into the wonderful world of gaming. You will see first hand what's good and what's bad for your children to play, AND you actually may be surprised at how much fun you will have playing with them!
Tell @chickamungus how much you LOOVEEDDD her article on twitter here!