Apr 10
When to Introduce Kids to Video Games
Going right along with the Super Mario Bros 3 Nursery, my friend Steve sent me a link to some boards discussing when to introduce your kids to video games. Well, it actually started as, When to Introduce Kids to God of War. HA HA HA HA. That’s funny. But ppl did say some interesting things. … Personally, I don’t know when kids should see GoW. Off the top of my head, I’m thinking kids should never be introduced to GoW. (Kids being those under like 13) Not saying that I absolutely believe ppl over 13 should play the game either. You know what? I still got at least 13 years to think about it.
http://www.gametab.com/news/868133/
November 18th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Introduce ‘em as early as possible – to the right kinds of games of course. My mom had me growing up on Super Mario Bros. on NES and Tank Plus on the Atari 2600. She was taking me to arcades before I could really talk. My mom got me started gaming at an extremely young age, and of course I did the same thing to my brother. The SNES still wasn’t out yet when he was born, so he also got to start out on the NES (the bare minimum requirement for being considered a true gamer IMO – you gotta start out on the NES or earlier).
I think the ESRB ratings system is a generally good guideline to follow. Let your children plays games according to the ratings. Nothing too violent or sexual too early. Now of course Bush, you and I can remember a time when there was no ratings board, and no ratings. I remember all the nonsense with MK and Night Trap when I was a young-’un. My mom generally followed the ratings, but with some leeway. She knew playing something like MK wasn’t going to turn me into a homocidal killer. Not to mention she checked out most of the games I got before letting me play ‘em. She played MK and passed it off as silly nonsense that was not realistic at all, and she was right. So after checking it out she let me play it.
So just show some smart judgement, and it’s all good. My mom was one of those parents who believed in the benefits of playing video games. She felt it greatly improved my reading comprehension, hand-eye coordination (which I needed cuz I was a clumsy oaf), my reaction times and even my driving skills when it came time for me to learn how to drive (she believed in that last part so much she forced my sister to play driving games with me teaching her. I didn’t quite agree that driving games had THAT much impact).
Also gotta show some constraint. Growing up, all the way from first grade to the end of high school, my mom only let me play video games during the weekends (which includes Friday). Never on weekdays. She felt it was a smart combination that led to my high GPAs. Whatever. Everyone at school felt sorry for me. After a few years of it you get used to it. I really don’t care anymore, I’m 24 that was so long ago I can barely remember it.
Playing video games led to other interests as well. It got me into computers, which pleased my dad cuz he’s a computer enthusiast. It got me into programming and studying hardware. It also got me into cars (well games and my dad both). Ever since I was little I wanted to be a hardcore computer and video game programmer. Hopefully I’ll get there (should be there already but I learn VERY slow).
So basically I think introducing kids to video games is a good idea, and the earlier you do it, the better. I have no memory of life without video games. It was there before I was there. As long as it had to do with technology, my parents were happy I had an interest in it (my family is one of those military / medical / science / math / car mechanic families).
Anways I wrote way too much. Supposed to be doing homework. In general, be a good parent when it comes to exposing your kids to video games, and you shouldn’t have any problems. Hopefully, with the right influences, kids will turn out to be great gamers and excel in school.